Control and Management

No current technology can specifically target Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella for control within aquatic ecosystems. Other than TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol) for Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus control, available control chemicals used in aquatic invasive species management programs are non‐selective and typically applied throughout the entire water column, resulting in equal exposure of...

Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and Fort Collins Science Center are coordinating a long-term, landscape-scale Burmese python research strategy for South Florida.

WARC researchers are addressing an urgent need to identify specific habitat use of pythons on Key Largo, FL.

The USGS is adapting the Chinese Unified Method, a fishing harvest method that uses herding techniques and a variety of nets to drive fish and concentrate them into a concentrated area for capture, in the fight against invasive Asian carps. This “Modified Unified Method” incorporates adapted techniques and modern technology for efficient, mass removal of bigheaded carp in North American waters...

Research on Guam has led to development and validation of numerous effective control tools, including the advancement of reptile control to support native species recovery.

ʻŌhiʻa ( Metrosideros polymorpha ) is the dominant tree in Hawaiian forests, but Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), a newly emerging disease that stands to cause high mortality of this ecologically important tree, may lead to invasions by exotic plants as gaps open in the forest. To better understand if planting of ʻōhiʻa seedlings can be used as a restoration tool, we investigated the survival of ʻōhiʻa...

Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been suggested as a chemical control for a variety of invasive aquatic organisms, including Asian Carp. USGS researchers and partners evaluated the efficacy of low CO2 concentrations for preventing zebra mussel larval (veliger) settlement and during summer 2019 in a harbor of the upper Mississippi River. The lowest CO2 concentration...

Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels USGS researchers and partners conducted an experimental application of low dose copper, as EarthTecQZ, to a bay in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. The veliger density and settlement were compared to that of an untreated bay within the same lake. The copper application produced a substantial reduction in zebra mussel abundance of early life stages, juvenile...

Spatial maps showing locations of invasive plants equip land managers with a valuable tool. Properly acquired aerial imagery provides vegetation mappers or machine learning software an efficient venue to map invasive plants, in contrast to the effort required for an on-the-ground census of plants. Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) can yield quick acquisition of aerial imagery over localized...

Invasive Carp Control: Carbon Dioxide Carbon dioxide (CO2) is being evaluated as a new fishery chemical for general aquatic invasive species control. Most research has focused on its effectiveness as a behavioral deterrent and lethal control or invasive carps. However, because CO2 is generally non-selective, there is potential for this new control chemical to be applied across a wide range of...

Researchers will determine movement rates and habitat-use patterns of pythons across the South Florida landscape by conducting a telemetry study tracking pythons simultaneously in several locations

We aim to develop a control tool for eliminating zebra mussels that exploits natural gene regulation mechanisms (RNA-induced gene silencing; RNAi) to be specific to zebra mussels without non-target effects. In addition to the nuisance they pose, Pimentel et al . estimated that zebra mussels cost the U.S. economy over $1 billion annually. Zebra mussels are among the International Union for...