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August 19
Ithaca, NY
State and local agencies meet about Hydrilla discovery in Cayuga Inlet
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August 16
Ithaca, NY
Hydrilla discovered in Cayuga Inlet
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July 21
West Point, NY
Emerald Ash Borer found in Orange Co.
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July 21
Lake George, NY
Second population of Asian clam found in Lake George
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June 16
Buffalo, NY
Emerald Ash Borer found in Erie Co.
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6 April 2011
You can find new and updated EMERALD ASH BORER educational materials temporarily available on the web-site of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango Co. while NYIS.INFO is being rebuilt.
Click Here to visit the site!

30 March 2011

Proceedings of the 2010 Symposium on Ash in North America. Click here to download.

Welcome to NYIS.INFO, the website of the New York Invasive Species Clearinghouse. NYIS.INFO is your gateway to science-based information, breaking news, and new and innovative tools to prevent, detect, control and manage biological invaders in New York. NYIS.INFO links scientific research, State and Federal management programs and policy information, outreach education and grassroots invasive species action to help you become part of the battle against invasive species in and around New York.

Hydrilla found in Cayuga Inlet
Click plant to view species profile for this major invasive aquatic plant

NYIS.INFO is now home to the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Clearinghouse Aquatic Invasive Species Database. Click here to search the database.

Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)

What is an invasive species? The Executive Summary of the National Invasive Species Management Plan defines an invasive species as “a species that is non-native to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.” This definition was adopted in the 2005 Final Report of the NYS Invasive Species Task Force. The Task Force refined the definition stating that to be considered “invasive”, a non-native species‛ harm must significantly outweigh any benefits.

Why should New Yorkers care about invasive species? Invasive species affect the lives of all New Yorkers and we pay a significant price to deal with them. Invasive species damage our crops and infrastructure, cause power failures and food and water shortages, harm the environment, and cause human and livestock diseases. For example, controlling Asian longhorned beetles in New York City and Long Island has cost between $13 million and $40 million per year since 1996. Zebra mussels have caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage in the Great Lakes since their introduction in 1988.

Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)

What other invasive species are in New York? Some of the species already having a major impact on NY include: round gobies, Asian shore crabs, Phragmites (the common reed), Eurasian watermilfoil, Japanese knotweed, garlic mustard, mile a minute vine, purple loosestrife, water chestnut, viral hemorrhagic fever (a fish disease) and West Nile virus. Scores more are just on our doorstep. [See the species list in the left hand navigation bar of this website.]

Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)

Mute Swan (Cygnus Color)

Photo credits:

David Jude, University of Michigan

Emerald ash borer - David Cappaert, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org

Japanese knotweed - Tom Heutte, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Mute swan - Meghan O'Neill