Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The U.S. Geological Survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in identifying invasion hotspots or environments with suitable conditions for exotic species is crucial for prioritizing management and conservation efforts in order to prevent or mitigate impacts from potential future invasive species. There are watersheds in the U.S. more susceptible to invasion defined by activities (e.g., public access, recreational waterbodies), concentrations of land uses (e.g., high human population densities and urban landscapes), and sometimes by interactions between the two.  Through an invasion hotspot analysis, this project will identify those environments that are at highest risk of invasion of freshwater exotic species in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and island territories. The species being investigated will be derived from watch list species from horizon scanning processes, such as the Organisms in Trade, Transportation Pathway, and other regional and State efforts.