Current invasive species research being conducted at MSU
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Project 10

Project Title: Estimation of the Stock of Non-Indigenous Insect Species and the Determinants of Their Invasion
Investigators: Vladimir Hlasny, Michael Livingston
Contact: Vladimir Hlasny (vhlasny@gmail.com)

Abstract: The arrival of harmful non-indigenous organisms has been linked to international trade. The contributions of individual factors such as agricultural and other imports, immigration, tourism and military movements are poorly understood, because data on the stock of arriving organisms are not available. The stock of non-indigenous insect species currently present in the United States is also unknown. We examine the record of documented discoveries of non-indigenous insects, and their relationship with the trends in international trade and trends in invasive species management programs. Using a maximum-likelihood technique with the Kalman filter we infer the stock of non-indigenous insect species present in the United States and the determinants of the likelihood and timing of their arrival and discovery.