Natural environment pests

Insects, diseases, and invasive weeds threaten California's natural environments as well as homes, gardens, and agriculture. This page contains links to articles, fact sheets, and other information prepared by UC scientists on topics related to pests in natural environments.

Insects & other arthropods | Plant diseases | Weeds & other unwanted plants
Aquatic invasives | Vertebrate pests

Insects & other arthropods

• Asian longhorned beetle
  • Pest alert (PDF) from Western IPM Center
  • News: Collective effort produces Asian longhorned beetle information
• Bagrada bug
  • Bagrada bug
• Bark beetles
  • Bark beetles
• California oakworm
  • California oakworm
• Eucalyptus longhorned borers
  • Eucalyptus longhorned borers
• Goldspotted oak borer
  • Goldspotted Oak Borer
  • Goldspotted Oak Borer Field Identification Guide (5 MB, PDF)
  • News: Don't Move Oak Wood in San Diego County! (PDF)
  • Web site: Goldspotted oak borer
  • Fact sheet (tri-fold brochure): Goldspotted oak borer, a new threat to oaks in Southern California (PDF)
• Grasshoppers
  • Grasshoppers
• Light brown apple moth
  • Fact sheet: Light Brown Apple Moth: Quarantine, Management, and Potential Impacts
• Mosquitoes
  • Mosquitoes
  • Managing Mosquitoes in Surface-Flow Constructed Treatment Wetlands
• Oak pit scales
  • Oak pit scales
• Obscure scale
  • Success story: Biological control of an exotic oak pest
• Pitch moths
  • Pitch moths
• Redhaired bark beetle
  • News: Research findings shed light on new urban pest of pine trees
  • Fact sheet: The redhaired pine bark beetle, Hylurgus ligniperda fabricius (PDF)
• Sycamore scale
  • Sycamore scale
• Ticks
  • Lyme Disease in California
• Walnut twig beetle
  • Thousand cankers disease and walnut twig beetles in California
  • Field Identification Guide: Walnut Twig Beetle and Thousand Cankers Disease (PDF)
  • Quick Guide: Installing and Maintaining Walnut Twig Beetle Pheromone-baited Traps (PDF)
  • Detecting and Identifying the Walnut Twig Beetle: Monitoring Guidelines (2.5 MB PDF)
  • Video: Installing Walnut Twig Beetle Traps (5 mins)
  • Video: Maintaining Walnut Twig Beetle Traps (5 mins)
• Wood wasps and horntails
  • Wood wasps and horntails

Plant diseases

• Pitch canker
  • Frequently asked questions on pitch canker (4 MB, PDF)
  • Pitch canker
  • News: Douglas-fir trees are cunning carriers of pitch canker disease
• Pierce's disease
  • Web site: Xylella fastidiosa
• Sudden oak death
  • Sudden Oak Death
  • Web site: Sudden Oak Death from UCCE Sonoma
  • Success story: UC a leader in the fight against sudden oak death
  • Web site: Sudden oak death from the California Oak Mortality Task Force
• Thousand cankers disease of walnuts
  • Thousand cankers disease and walnut twig beetles in California
• Wood decay fungi
  • Wood Decay Fungi in Landscape Trees

Weeds & other unwanted plants

• Barb goatgrass
  • Barb Goatgrass (2.4 MB, PDF)
• Brooms
  • Brooms
  • Getting a handle on broom: Scotch, French, Spanish and Portuguese broom (PDF)
• Burning & stinging nettles
  • Burning & Stinging Nettles
• Dodder
  • Dodder
• Eurasian watermilfoil
  • News: Fishing for a solution for a destructive aquatic weed
• Invasive plants
  • Invasive plants
  • Web site: California Invasive Plant Inventory from California Invasive Plant Council
  • Exotic pest plants (PDF)
  • Herbicide resistance: definition and management strategies (PDF)
  • Fact sheet: Invasive plants and wildfires in southern California
  • Web site: UC Weed Research and Information Center
  • Web site: Invasive weed management from UCCE Central Sierra
  • Web site: Invasive species from UCCE Lake County
  • Web site: Invasive species from UCCE Los Angeles
  • Book: Weeds of California and Other Western States
  • CD: Broadleaf weed identification
  • CD: Grass weed identification
• Giant reed
  • News: Researchers find wasp can strike down giant reed
• Medusahead
  • Success story: Controlling medusahead with intensive grazing
• Mistletoe
  • Mistletoe
• Perennial pepperweed
  • Perennial pepperweed
• Plantains
  • Plantains
• Poison hemlock
  • Poison hemlock
• Poison oak
  • Poison oak
• Puncturevine
  • Puncturevine
• Russian thistle
  • Russian thistle
• Sahara mustard
  • News: UC scientists find answers about Sahara mustard's spread
• Wild blackberries
  • Wild blackberries
• Woody invaders
  • Woody weed invaders
• Yellow starthistle
  • Yellow starthistle
  • Yellow starthistle management guide

Aquatic invasives

• Crustaceans, mollusks, worms, and fish
  • News: Scientists propose new warning system for invasive marine species
• Hull-borne invasive species
  • Managing hull-borne invasive species and coastal water quality for California (PDF)
• Invasive aquatic plants
  • Web site: UC Weed Research and Information Center
  • Pond management from UCCE Central Sierra
  • Invasive species from UCCE Lake County
  • Book: Aquatic and Riparian Weeds of the West
  • Book: Aquatic Pest Control (Pesticide Application Compendium Volume 5)
• Mosquitoes
  • Mosquitoes
  • Managing Mosquitoes in Surface-Flow Constructed Treatment Wetlands
• New Zealand mudsnail
  • New Zealand mudsnail research and extension from UCCE
  • Invasive species from UCCE Lake County
• Quagga and zebra mussels
  • Driessenid mussel research and extension from UCCE
  • Invasive species from UCCE Lake County
• Sargassum muticum
  • News: Scientists untangle seaweed’s effect on other species
• Sabellid polychaete (a fan worm)
  • News: What a difference a day makes—abalone pest is in the dunk tank

Vertebrate pests

• Coyote
  • Coyote
• Deer
  • Deer
• Deer mouse
  • Deer mouse
• Ground squirrel
  • Ground squirrel
• Rattlesnakes
  • Rattlesnakes
• Wild pig
  • Wild Pigs
  • News: Wild pigs couldn’t keep this researcher away
• Woodpeckers
  • Woodpeckers