Aquatic invasive species are non-native plants and animals that disrupt ecosystems, harm wildlife, and impact recreation. Learn how they spread, the problems they cause, and safe methods for control and management.
According to Nick Brown, DNR invasive species specialist, herbicides used to treat curly-leaf pondweed on Minnesota lakes may not lead to improvements in water quality. Curly-leaf pondweed is an invasive plant found throughout much of Minnesota. The plant grows slowly throughout the winter under the ice, but once the ice has left the lake the
According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the invasive quagga mussel is primed to make a comeback despite years of slowed growth. The reason? Quaggas can be spread by watercraft, and recent boat sales data from the National Marine Manufacturers Association shows that sales are robust. More vessels are filling state lakes, rivers, reservoirs
According to a Fish and Wildlife study, almost 80 percent of non-native species found on the West Coast were first sighted in California. You might have heard about ballast water. Cargo ships fill their holds with seawater to stay balanced, but that water can also carry invasive species. Since 1999, ships have been required to
In 1909, the United States was suffering a shortage of meat. At the same time, Louisiana’s waterways were being choked by invasive water hyacinth. The solution seemed to be simple, the American Hippo Bill. Hippos could be imported to the United States to eat the water hyacinth and people can eat the hippos. The bill
In the fight against alien animals that invade and overrun native species, the weird and the wired sometime win. Invasive species are plants and animals that thrive in areas where they don’t naturally live, usually brought there by humans, either accidentally or intentionally. Sometimes, with no natural predators, they multiply and take over, crowding out
Aquatic plants, whether invasive or native, can be described as either a mess or a resource. Natural plant growth covers 20 – 40% of the water and includes a diversity of plants. However, invasive plants such as Eurasian watermilfoil, hydrilla and water hyacinth quickly take over a lake covering 60% and sometimes 100% of the
In a research pond in La Crosse, Wisconsin, scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and U.S. Geological Survey are testing the effectiveness of a new strategy to ward off an Asian carp invasion that’s threatening the health of the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan. The study called for placing a carbon dioxide infusion
Introduced to Malheur Lake as early as the 1920s, likely as a food source for people living in the arid region, the invasive carp have now taken over the lake. Historically, Malheur Lake was utilized by up to 35% of the Pacific Flyway’s canvasback population, was the second most important redhead production site in the
Asian carp were imported from China to the U.S. in the 1970s to remove algae from catfish farms and wastewater treatment ponds. Somehow they escaped and migrated north through the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The species spawn in rivers and feed on phytoplankton, disrupting the food chain for younger fish. The voracious eaters can weigh