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Invasive Species impact threatened and endangered species, biodiversity, and the economy. Once established, these non-indigenous invaders have the ability to displace or replace native plants and animal species, disrupt nutrient and fire cycles, and cause changes in the pattern of plant succesion. (Lovich, JE)

"Biodiversity is our most valuable, but least appreciated resource." - E.O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life

For Nebraska Invasive Species news, click here!

Pictured above: Feral hog (Sus scrofa)

Read about Feral Hogs in Nebraska
in the latest Crop Watch (click here)

The Invasive Species Threat to Nebraska

Biological invasions are a growing threat to both human enterprise and ecological systems. The rate of introductions continues to increase, and many countries are developing organized plans to strengthen bio‐security in the face of these threats. The negative impacts of biological invasions are economically and ecologically significant, and while they remain incompletely quantified, they are clearly substantial. In 2000, David Pimental of Cornell University, and colleagues, estimated that the economic costs of invasive species for the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, India, and Brazil exceeded US 314 billion dollars per year. David Pimental and colleagues made conservative estimates of costs associated with invasive species in the United States, which exceeded US 120 billion dollars per year in 2005. Ecological and environmental costs are considerably more difficult to quantify, but include the extinction of native biota, disruption of community structure, and changes in ecological processes, with associated losses of ecosystem services and capital. Some of these ecosystem services we may not yet have identified, such as human health and medical applications or fuel innovations.

The cost of mitigation measures for invasive species, plant and animal, is a reason for concern. For example, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service increased its annual spending on emergency eradication programs more than twenty‐fold during the 1990s—from $10.4 million to $232 million.

Invasive non‐native species negatively impact a number of vertebrate and invertebrate species, and by direct or indirect means may change ecological process, structure and function. For more than half of the vertebrate species recently extinct, invasive non‐native species are a major cause of decline, second only to habitat loss. In the United States, it is estimated that invasive non‐native species negatively affect more than 40% of threatened and endangered species. In Nebraska, the Legacy Blueprint identifies invasive non‐native species as the second most important threat to at‐risk native species and communities. Loss of native species is a major threat to the biodiversity, and overall health, of ecosystems. Therefore, it is important to identify and target detrimental species before they are firmly established. But how do Nebraskans find an enemy who has not yet struck or whose damage may yet to be identified?

Zebra mussel invasions have caused tremendous economic and ecological damage. Many water treatment and power facilities must now treat their systems to keep them free of zebra mussels, beaches must be periodically cleaned of decaying masses of dead zebra mussels, and bottom‐dwelling organisms and fisheries have been negatively impacted. In the United States, Congressional researchers estimated that zebra mussels cost the power industry alone $3.1 billion in the 1993‐1999 period, with their impact on industries, businesses, and communities over $5 billion.

West Nile Virus is a virus carried by infected birds, and passed to animals, including equine species and people, via a mosquito vector. The cost attributed to death or euthanasia of equine West Nile Virus cases in Colorado and Nebraska for 2002 is estimated to be $600,660 (USDA‐APHIS).

Feral hogs, which include Eurasian wild boars native to Europe and Asia, and domestic pigs that have escaped captivity, are quickly becoming a threat a Nebraska agriculture and ecosystems. Feral hogs cause significant property destruction to both rural and urban landowners. Feral hogs are omnivorous and root through crop and pasture land, as well as lawns and gardens, in search of food. This process not only destroys property, but can irreversibly damage forest systems, ponds, and wildlife, including turkey and rare bird species. Feral hogs have already become established in over half of the states in the USA. Wildlife agencies and landowners fight vigorously to prevent the economic and ecological damage caused by these invaders. Their high reproductive rate and adaptability make them difficult to control. And now, they have entered Nebraska. For Nebraska, prevention is the only effective and cost‐effective method. There are currently feral hog populations in 39 states. The national population is estimated at around 4,000,000. The estimated annual agricultural damage from feral swine is nearly $52 million. The annual landowner expense to control feral swine is nearly $7 million.