Ecology and Management of Terrestrial Vertebrate Invasive Species in the United States

This book presents information on vertebrate invasive species for which there is a history of policy and management in the United States. Part I presents information on policy and management topics associated with vertebrate invasive species, including biosecurity threats and risk assessment. Parts II-IV provide specific information related to invasive amphibians and reptiles (Part II), mammals (Part III), and birds (Part IV). Part V of the book proposes challenges and opportunities related to the future of vertebrate invasive species management.

William C. Pitt is the deputy director at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the associate director of Conservation and Science at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. He manages the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s science centers and research programs. He is responsible for the financial and facility programs, the operations of the Smithsonian–Mason School of Conservation, and SCBI’s 3200-acre conservation and research facility and the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation, in Front Royal, Virginia. He oversees more than 220 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and students from universities around the world. Pitt works passionately to improve the conservation of endangered species through collaboration, education, and research. As a researcher, he spent more than a decade researching methods to reduce the effects of invasive vertebrates on native species, mediating human–wildlife interactions, and evaluating the effects of species management in Pacific islands ecosystems. He has worked extensively as a researcher for the USDA’s National Wildlife Research Center in Hawaii. He has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals and science-related publications. He earned both a PhD in Ecology and a MS in Wildlife Ecology from Utah State University. He holds a BS in Fish and Wildlife Biology from the University of Minnesota. He spent 24 years in the military, working as an environmental science officer for the United States Army Reserve, where he identified and assessed potential environmental and entomological hazards to humans.

James C. Beasley is an assistant professor at the Savannah River Ecology Lab and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. Beasley earned a BS in Wildlife Science from SUNY–Environmental Science and a MS and PhD in Wildlife Ecology from Purdue University. His research is focused on understanding the effects of anthropogenic activities on wildlife populations, ecology and management of wild pigs and other invasive species, carnivore ecology and management, and scavenging ecology. Jim is actively involved in research on these topics, both nationally and internationally, including studies on large mammal populations in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Jim is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Society and currently serves as the chair of the research subcommittee for the National Wild Pig Task Force. He also serves as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s wildlife advisor to the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, in response to the nuclear accident that occurred in 2011.

Gary W. Witmer is a supervisory research wildlife biologist and rodent research project leader with the USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services’ National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. He earned his PhD in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University with minors in statistics and forest management, a MS in Wildlife Ecology from Purdue University, and a MS and BS in Biology from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on resolving human–wildlife conflicts and has included ungulates, carnivores, and rodents. Most recently, he has been working on invasive species and has designed successful eradication strategies for invasive rodent species on several islands. He has also worked with a large number of native rodent species in a wide array of settings.