Nonindigenous plants and plant pests that find their way to the United States and become invasive can often cause problems. They cost more than $100 billion per year in crop and timber losses plus the expense of herbicides and pesticides. And this figure does not include the costs of invasions in less intensively managed ecosystems such as wetlands.

Nonindigenous Plants and Plant Pests examines this growing problem and offers recommendations for enhancing the science base in this field, improving our detection of potential invaders, and refining our ability to predict their impact.

The book analyzes the factors that shape an invader’s progress through four stages: arriving through one of many possible ports of entry, reaching a threshold of survival, thriving through proliferation and geographic spread, and ultimate impact on the organism’s new environment. The book also reviews approaches to predicting whether a species will become an invader as well as the more complex challenge of predicting and measuring its impact on the environment, a process involving value judgments and risk assessment.

This detailed analysis will be of interest to policymakers, plant scientists, agricultural producers, environmentalists, and public agencies concerned with invasive plant and plant pest species.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• COMMITTEE ON THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR PREDICTING THE INVASIVE POTENTIAL OF NONINDIGENOUS PLANTS AND PLANT PESTS IN THE UNITED STATES
• BOARD ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
• BOARD ON LIFE SCIENCES
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
  • TROUBLE ON THE BORDER
  • SCOPE OF THIS STUDY AND STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
• 2. Immigration: Predicting the Mode and Pathways of Introduction
  • NATURAL MODES AND PATHWAYS OF INTRODUCTION
  • HUMAN-MEDIATED ARRIVAL OF NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES
  • PREDICTING ARRIVALS OF NONINDIGENOUS PLANT PESTS
  • KEY FINDINGS
• 3. Establishment
  • STOCHASTIC EXTINCTION— THE PERILS OF SMALL POPULATIONS
  • THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
  • LIFE HISTORY TRAITS
  • KEY FINDINGS
• 4. Biotic Invasion
  • DISPERSAL AND SPREAD
  • COMPETITION FOR RESOURCES
  • EVOLUTION
  • KEY FINDINGS
• 5. The Impact of Invasions
  • DEFINING AND MEASURING IMPACT
  • KEY FINDINGS
• 6. Evaluating Predictive Systems
  • PREDICTION BASED ON CLIMATE-MATCHING
  • PREDICTION BASED ON TRAITS
  • A SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR PREDICTION?
  • RISK ASSESSMENT
  • KEY FINDINGS
• 7. Enhancing the Science in a Science-Based System
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
  • USDA-APHIS ACTIVITIES
  • DOCUMENTATION AND STANDARDIZATION
  • RESEARCH
  • INFRASTRUCTURE AND EXPERTISE
• References
• Glossary
• About the Authors

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Grant No. 00-8100-0518-GR from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.