The team found that 27–60 percent of invasive species were discovered by the public in that time span, 8–17 percent by researchers or extension personnel, and 32–56 percent by government agencies. (The wide range for each category results from uncertainties over who first found the species. For example, a pest could be first recorded by an extension agent during the agent’s regular field activities or while the agent responds to a homeowner’s concerns about a pest-infested tree.)
In addition, the team found that members of the public detected a wide diversity of pest types, including 31 percent of high-impact pests. Quantifying sources of detection can help ecosystem managers best utilize resources and identify where more investment may be needed.
“Regulatory and land management organizations invest substantially to protect agriculture, ecosystems, and economies from harmful invasive species, and the public serves an important role in this. The more eyes we can get on the problem, the better,” Epanchin-Niell says.
Efforts to control invasive pests, combined with the damage they cause to ecosystems and economies, cost over $160 billion each year in the United States. Leveraging the contributions of the public—who can be low-cost contributors in the fight against invasive species—can help reduce that price tag and potentially lead to earlier detections.
The RFF team outlines several ways to further engage the American public. Communities, conservation organizations, and agricultural agencies can encourage people to be on the lookout for pests by appealing to their sense of community, environmental stewardship, and economic concerns. Pest hotlines or phone apps can make it easier to report new species, and ecosystem managers can leverage existing platforms like iNaturalist, where people already record species observations, as additional sources of pest survey information. And agencies can incentivize those who regularly work outdoors, such as landscapers, to report unusual organisms that they notice at their work sites.
New pests undoubtedly will continue to present problems in the United States—global trade and travel ensure that non-native species will continue to hitch rides to unsuspecting destinations. The question, then, becomes how to stop those pests in their tracks once they arrive.
“It’s got to be all-hands-on-deck,” Epanchin-Niell says. “And it’s an effort we can all contribute to.”
