Invasive species—plants or animals that have been introduced to their current habitat—can cause harm when they establish themselves at the expense of native plants and animals.
Colleen Kenny, a forester with the Maryland Forest Service, and Paula Shrewsbury, a professor at the University of Maryland, describe ongoing efforts to slow the emerald ash borer and save ash trees. (Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)
A team led by fisheries biologist Bob Greenlee (not pictured) of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries use electrofishing to monitor blue catfish in the James River. (Matt Rath/Chesapeake Bay Program)
Mute swans are invasive species that can be found in Maryland and Virginia.
Nutria cause destruction to native plants and grasses. (Steve Kendrot/USDA APHIS Wildlife Services)
Invasive phragmites reeds grow in the town of Fishing Creek on Hoopers Island, Md., on Dec. 10, 2009. (Matt Rath/Chesapeake Bay Program)
A bumblebee visits purple loosestrife, an invasive species, growing in freshwater marsh at McLhinney Park in Havre de Grace, Maryland on July 25, 2003. (Michael Land/Chesapeake Bay Program)
Water chestnut floats between American lotus plants in the Sassafras River on the border between Cecil County and Kent County, Md., on July 14, 2010. (Alicia Pimental/Chesapeake Bay Program)
Dr. Bill Harman, Director of the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station, holds a flip-flop recovering from Otsego Lake and covered with invasive zebra mussels in Cooperstown, N.Y., on May 22, 2015. (Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)
