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United States Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (US-RIIS) (ver. 2.0, November 2022)

November 18, 2022

Introduced (non-native) species that become established may eventually become invasive, so tracking all introduced species provides a baseline for effective modeling of species trends and interactions, geospatially and temporally.

The United States Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (US-RIIS) (ver. 2.0, November 2022, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9KFFTOD), as of 2022-10-23, is comprised of three lists, for the localities of Alaska (AK, with 545 records), Hawaii (HI, with 5,628 records), and the conterminous (or lower 48) United States (L48, with 8,527 records). Each includes introduced (non-native), established (reproducing) taxa that: are, or may become, invasive (harmful) in the locality; are not known to be harmful there; and/or have been used for biological control in the locality. To be included in the US-RIIS, a taxon must be non-native everywhere in the locality and established (reproducing) anywhere in the locality. Native pest species are not included.

Each record has information on taxonomy, a vernacular name, establishment means (introduced unintentionally, or assisted colonization), degree of establishment (established, invasive, or widespread invasive), hybrid status, pathway of introduction (where available), habitat (where available), dates of introduction (where available), associated taxa (where applicable), native and introduced distributions (where available), and citations for the authoritative source(s) from which this information is drawn. All versions of the US-RIIS builds on a previous dataset, A Comprehensive List of Non-Native Species Established in Three Major Regions of the U.S. (ver. 3.0) (Simpson et al., 2020, https://doi.org/10.5066/p9e5k160).

In summary, ver. 2.0 of the US-RIIS has 14,700 records in the master list and 12,571 unique names. The list is derived from more than 5,800 authoritative sources, was reviewed by or based on input from more than 30 taxonomic experts and invasive species scientists.

ACKNOWEDGEMENTS:
Many thanks to these additional reviewers and contributors: Rachael Blake (data science), National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC); M. Lourdes Chamorro (Curculionidae), USDA-ARS Entomology; Meghan C. Eyler (data reviewer), US Fish & Wildlife Service; Danielle Froelich (Hawaiian botany), SWCA Environmental Consultants; Thomas Henry (Heteroptera), USDA-ARS Entomology; Sam James (Annelida), Maharishi University; Nancy Khan (Hawaiian botany), Smithsonian Institution; Alex Konstantinov (Chrysomelidae), USDA-ARS Entomology; Andrew P. Landsman (Arachnida), National Park Service, C&O Canal National Historical Park; Christopher Lepczyk (Vertebrata), Auburn University; Sandy Liebhold (Coleoptera), USDA-FS; Steven Lingafelter (Cerambycidae), USDA-APHIS; Waltern Meshaka (Herpetology), State Museum of Pennsylvania; Gary L. Miller (Aphididae), USDA-ARS Entomology; Allen Norrbom (Tephritidae), USDA-ARS Entomology; Shyama Pagad (global invasive species), IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialists' Group; John Reynolds (Annelida), Oligochaetology Laboratory; Alexander Salazar (Lycosidae), Miami University, Ohio; Elizabeth A. Sellers (data manager), USGS; Derek Sikes (Alaskan invertebrates), University of Alaska; Bruce A. Snyder (Annelida), Georgia College and State University; Alma Solis (Pyralid moths), USDS-ARS at the Smithsonian Institution; Rebecca Turner (data manager), Scion Inc., New Zealand; Darrell Ubick (Arachnida), Cal Academy; Warren Wagner (Hawaiian botany), Smithsonian Institution; Mark Wetzel (Annelida), Illinois Natural History Survey; and James D. Young (Lepidoptera), USDA-APHIS-PPQ-PHP. Our apologies to the many contributing experts we may have inadvertently omitted.

VERSION HISTORY:
Revised: 2022-10-23 (version 2.0, November 2022)
First posted: 2021-11-30 at https://doi.org/10.5066/P95XL09Q (version 1.0, 2021)
 

Publication Year 2022
Title United States Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (US-RIIS) (ver. 2.0, November 2022)
DOI 10.5066/P9KFFTOD
Authors Annie Simpson, Pam Fuller, Kevin Faccenda, Neal Evenhuis, Janis Matsunaga, Matthew Bowser
Product Type Data Release
Record Source USGS Digital Object Identifier Catalog
USGS Organization Science Analytics and Synthesis Program