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10 results found for Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health

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The Joro Watch team is pursuing a number of approaches to Joro spider research, looking into their impact on native species — like pollinators and native spiders — habitat, lifecycle and management. To help facilitate more conclusive research, UGA experts ask that the public help gather critical data by monitoring spider populations in the environment. (Photo by Carly Mirabile)

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Joro Watch Initiative 09/26/22 Jordan Powers

They have been described as palm-sized, parachuting creatures with the potential to spread up the East Coast. Now dozens of webs are appearing in trees, on fences and in gardens around the Southeast, and social media and message boards are buzzing with Joro spider sightings. Discussions of eradication methods ranging from chemical sprays to “Joro sticks” are rampant. Joro season is here.

Argentine black and white tegus, the largest of all tegus, can reach 4 feet long and weigh 10 pounds or more.

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Georgia First Detectors 08/23/22 Maria M. Lameiras

The University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health offers a unique opportunity for anyone interested in helping to preserve the state’s native ecology with its Georgia First Detectors Program. The next training for the program will be held at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on Sept. 30.

The East Asian Joro spider, officially known as Trichonephila clavata, likely arrived in the U.S. on a shipping container around 2013. The species is native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China.

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Joro Spiders 07/13/22 Leigh Beeson

Joro spiders are polarizing figures. If you live in Georgia, you’ve likely seen the massive-but-harmless spiders hanging between power lines or from the eaves of your house, their golden webs glistening in the sunlight. While some find them a fascinating effect of globalization, others don’t care how they got here. They just want them gone.

Adaptable and hungry, Argentine black and white tegus pose a significant threat to native wildlife, from gopher tortoises to ground-nesting birds. The public should report tegus seen in the wild, alive or dead. (Photo by Dustin Smith/Georgia DNR)

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Report Tegus 04/08/22 Rick Lavender

Warming temperatures will have tegus on the move in southeast Georgia. Reporting sightings of tegus, alive or dead, is needed to keep the big, South American lizards from gaining a foothold in the state, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Mosquito control is a five-step process that includes education, surveillance, source reduction, larviciding and adulticiding. (Photo by David Cappaert, Bugwood.org)

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Managing Mosquitoes 06/24/21 James Murphy

With summer and the first tropical storm of the season arriving simultaneously this year, we're getting warm, wet weather at a time when more folks are spending time outside. This combination is sure to signal a rise in mosquito interactions, making it a perfect time to think about mosquito control around your home and community.

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Invasive Tegus 06/03/21 Courtney Cameron, Rick Lavender

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is assisting the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) in the effort to find and remove tegus from the wild in southeast Georgia, and the public’s help remains critical to keeping these big, South American lizards from getting a toehold in the state.

Longtime UGA Tifton entomologist Michael Toews will become the assistant dean of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to oversee the Tifton Campus at the end of this month.

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Toews will succeed retiring West 02/13/20 J. Faith Peppers

Michael Toews has been named assistant dean of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to oversee the Tifton Campus.

Michael Toews, entomology professor and co-director of UGA's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, and his graduate student team of Apurba Barman (foreground), Lauren Perez (background, left) and Sarah Hobby inspect sorghum plants near Tifton for signs of invasive sugarcane aphids.

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Unwelcome Visitors 12/26/19 Eric Rangus

Earlier this year, Chuck Bargeron learned how to catch a Burmese python.

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Wild Spotter App 07/31/18 Clint Thompson

Thanks to a new app, citizen scientists can help researchers track and stop the spread of invasive species like feral pigs, Chinese privet, cogongrass and kudzu bugs by reporting and mapping sightings of these invasive species.

An Asian longhorned beetle chews through wood.

CAES News

Invasive Species 06/28/17 Sharon Dowdy, Clint Thompson

Over the next 10 years, the number of cargo containers operating out of the Port of Savannah, Georgia, is expected to double. While additional cargo means increased revenue for the state, Chuck Bargeron, associate director of the University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, is concerned it could also lead to the establishment of more invasive species.