Annual: a plant that completes its entire life cycle (grows from seed, blooms, makes more seeds, dies) within a year.
Biennial: a plant that completes its entire life cycle (grows from seed, blooms, makes more seeds, dies) within two years.
Biocontrol: the method of using living organisms, such as predators, parasites, or pathogens, to manage and suppress pest populations like insects, weeds, or diseases.
Biological invasion: the process by which a non-native species arrives in a new environment, establishes a self-sustained population, and spreads, often causing negative environmental, economic, or social harm.
Biologically Unique Landscape (BUL): priority landscapes that, if effectively managed, would conserve most of Nebraska’s biological diversity. These landscapes have known occurrences of at-risk species and natural communities and support a broad range of common species.
Control: as appropriate, eradicating, suppressing, reducing, or managing invasive species populations, preventing the spread of invasive species from areas where they are present, and taking steps such as restoration of native species and habitats to reduce the effects of invasive species and to prevent further invasions.
Early detection: a process of surveying for, reporting, and verifying the presence of a non-native species before the founding population becomes established or spreads so widely that eradication is no longer feasible.
Ecoregion: areas where ecosystems (and the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources) are generally similar.
Ecosystem: a community of living organisms, such as plants and animals, interacting with each other and their non-living environment, such as soil, water, and sunlight.
Established: A species having a self-sustaining and reproducing population in a specific geographic area without the need for human intervention. Applies to both native and nonnative species.
Introduced: A species brought to a new geographic area intentionally or unintentionally by humans.
Invasive: A species that (1) is nonnative to a specified geographic area, (2) was introduced by humans (intentionally or unintentionally), and (3) does or can cause environmental or economic harm or harm to humans.
Microorganism: a tiny living organism that is still small to be seen with the naked eye and is found in virtually every environment on Earth.
Native: A species that occurs naturally in a specified geographic area.
Nonnative: A species that does not occur naturally in a specified geographic area.
Noxious: a plant designated by a government authority as harmful to public health, agriculture, ecosystems, or property.
Nuisance: An individual or group of individuals of a species that causes management issues or property damage, presents a threat to public safety, or is an annoyance. Can apply to both native and nonnative species.
Organism: any individual living thing, from a single-celled bacterium to a complex, multicellular being like a human or a plant.
Pathogen: a microorganism or other agent that can cause disease, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
Perennial: a plant that lives for more than two years because its roots will survive through the winter and new growth will emerge every spring.
Range Change: The circumstance of a species' current/existing range growing, shrinking, or shifting over time. This change can happen to native and nonnative species with or without human assistance.
Rapid response: a process that is employed to eradicate the founding population of a nonnative species from a specific location.
Species: a group of organisms all of which have a high degree of physical and genetic similarity, generally interbreed only among themselves, and show persistent differences from members of allied groups of organisms.
Stakeholder: includes, but is not limited to, state, tribal, and local government agencies, academic institutions, the scientific community, nongovernmental entities including environmental, agricultural, and conservation organizations, trade groups, commercial interests, and private landowners.
Weed: a plant growing in a place where it is not wanted, often competing with or harming other plants.
Toxic: a plant that contains chemical compounds that are harmful, poisonous, or potentially fatal to humans and animals if touched, inhaled, or ingested.