WARC SSP Goal 2

Chicopit Bay, part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Florida, is a small embayment at the intersection of San Pablo Creek (part of the Intercoastal Waterway) and the St. Johns River. Home to a number of small oyster beds, this area is now being dredged to help eliminate cross currents from the main shipping channel of the St. Johns. WARC researchers collect baseline environmental...

The Great Lakes Aquatic Nuisance Species Information System (GLANSIS) was developed by the NOAA Great Lakes Science Center to monitor nonindigenous aquatic species introductions into the Great Lakes region.

In parts of Asia, wild-caught and aquaculture-reared swamp eels are widely consumed as food by humans and are a common source of human gnathostomiasis, a food-borne zoonosis caused by parasitic nematodes of the genus Gnathostoma spp. In humans, the larvae of these nematodes can cause tissue damage and, in some instances, death. Over the past two decades, many thousands of Asian swamp eels have...

Mozambique tilapia, a highly invasive non-native fish of the family Cichlidae, were discovered in a wetland in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park on the Big Island of Hawai'i. As the U.S. National Park Service works to restore the natural communities and functions of wetland ecosystems on the island, the eradication of the tilapia population is considered necessary to fully achieve wetland...

The Asian tiger shrimp began appearing in commercial shrimp catches in 2006. They grow larger than native shrimp and are known to be fierce predators - so shrimpers and managers are concerned about the potential effects this species might have.

Welcome to the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) information resource for the United States Geological Survey. Located at Gainesville, Florida, this site has been established as a central repository for spatially referenced biogeographic accounts of introduced aquatic species. The program provides scientific reports, online/realtime queries, spatial data sets, distribution maps, and general...

Invasive Asian carp are problematic for native species, and managers are implementing control measures without well-quantified detection limits or a means to assess the accuracy and precision of existing or future survey data for the fish. Environmental DNA - eDNA - is already used to detect the presence of invasive species, and can be used to identify locations to focus carp control efforts.

Traditional approaches to locating Burmese pythons - including visual searches and trapping - have resulted in low detection. Environmental DNA - or eDNA - is increasingly being used to detect the presence of non-native species, particularly when traditional methods may not be adequate.

Invasive Burmese pythons threaten the success of Everglades restoration efforts. To assist with management and population control decision making, USGS scientists are implementing genetic studies to identify potential new entry pathways and to help quantify the size of the breeding population.

Black carp have likely been present in the Mississippi River since the 1990s, but their current distribution and spread is not well understood. Genetics is helping to shed light on this species, including its diversity, the relatedness of wild and captive fish, and its introduction history.

Tegus are breeding, they have a diverse diet, and they are established in areas throughout South Florida. USGS is tracking this problematic reptile species to better understand their movements and habitat use to help managers prevent dispersal into new areas.

Nonindigenous - non-native - species threaten biodiversity, but the distribution of these species is not well-known. The Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database tracks occurrence data on non-native aquatic plant and animal species throughout the United States, and provides the public with species profiles, distribution maps, and online/real-time queries for state/hydrologic basin- specific...