List of Invasive Species in Georgia
Updated Invasive Species List Coming Soon!
GISC Invasive Species List Purpose
The purpose of the GISC Invasive Species List is to identify and categorize organisms that pose threats to natural areas in Georgia. Natural areas are those areas that are managed to conserve or restore native biodiversity. For this list, invasive species do not include plants that are only problems in agricultural or pastoral systems. The list does not have regulatory authority; it is intended to aid in land management decisions and increase public awareness of invasive species.
GA EPPC Invasive Plant List - Pending Update
Currently, the Invasive Plant List is a remnant of GA-EPPC and has not been updated. All species listed, including their categories are based on the GA EPPC List, and not the RIPSA protocol. Once the RIPSA protocol is finalized, these species will be re-assessed, the categories will be more clearly defined, and this disclaimer will be removed.
The GA-EPPC Category descriptions are as follows:
Category 1 – Exotic plant that is a serious problem in Georgia natural areas by extensively invading native plant communities and displacing native species.
Category 1 Alert – Exotic plant that is a not yet a serious problem in Georgia natural areas, but that has significant potential to become a serious problem.
Category 2 – Exotic plant that is a moderate problem in Georgia natural areas through invading native plant communities and displacing native species, but to a lesser degree than category 1 species.
Category 3 – Exotic plant that is a minor problem in Georgia natural areas, or is not yet known to be a problem in Georgia but is known to be a problem in adjacent states.
Category 4 – Exotic plant that is naturalized in Georgia but generally does not pose a problem in Georgia natural areas or a potentially invasive plant in need of additional information to determine its true status.
In addition, we will be adding species to the Invasive Wildlife, and Invasive Invertebrates lists preemptively. These are species that we either know to be invasive in the state of Georgia, or are a major risk of becoming invasive in the state of Georgia. Once our listing protocols are finalized, we will be assessing those species formally, assigning them a category based on those results and removing this disclaimer.
List Description
The GISC Invasive Species List is broken up into 3 separate lists: Plants, Wildlife, and Invertebrates. Those lists are then broken up by invasive category using our invasive species listing protocol, the Region Invasive Plant Status Assessment (RIPSA), which is detailed below on this page. The RIPSA was developed specifically for plants, so an adaptation of the RIPSA will be used to assess wildlife and invertebrates.
Political boundaries are not used when determining a species nativity. Instead, a species is defined as being exotic when it is not native to a particular ecosystem, making it possible to have a species that is native to some parts of Georgia, but also considered invasive in others. Unfortunately, the invasive species listing protocol does not function with species that are native to part of the state. As a result, GISC will not list any species that is native to part of Georgia as invasive to another, within the formal invasive species list. Only species that were assessed using the RIPSA protocol will be listed on the formal list. We understand this may be confusing, but this is in an effort to maintain complete transparency with the Georgia Residents we aim to serve. Distinguishing a species that is native to part of GA as invasive to another, can be difficult to prove and we do not want to get lost in native range debates. If a GA native species is largely considered as invasive to another area in GA, we will note those species in a secondary list with references to allow Georgia Residents to make informed decisions on how to treat those species.
That secondary list of Georgia native plants that may be invasive to other areas in Georgia will be added soon.
Invasive Species Lists
Invasive Plant Listing Protocol (RIPSA)
Use the links below to view our invasive species listing protocol Region Invasive Plant Status Assessment (RIPSA) guidelines, questionnaire, and the protocol formula itself.
Coming Soon!