The tag on a Chicago resident’s new parkway tree clearly shows the species as “Aristocrat” pear, one of some two dozen cultivars of the invasive callery pear tree. (Courtesy of Eliza Rohr)

Just because a species is known to be invasive doesn’t mean it’s officially regulated as such. One Chicagoan learned that lesson the hard way.

A non-native subspecies of common reed is an invasive bully (l), crowding out its native counterpart in wetlands. (Credits: Caleb Slemmons, National Ecological Observatory Network, Bugwood.org (l); Rob Rutledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org)

For the last in our series on invasive species that can be mistaken for natives, here’s one of the trickiest: phragmites, also known as common reed.

Native lilliput mussels (l) and invasive zebra mussels (r). (Credits: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Flickr Creative Commons)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today we’re featuring two tiny freshwater mussels that couldn’t have less in common.

Native climbing rose (l) and invasive multiflora rose (r). (Credits: Peter Chen, College of DuPage, Bugwood.org (l); James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today brings us to a truly unexpected subject: the rose.

Can you tell them apart? That’s rusty crayfish, left, and virile crayfish, right. (Credit: Flickr Creative Commons)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today we’re tackling crayfish.

Prairie (or field) thistle on the left, cutleaf teasel on the right. Which is native and which is invasive? (USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we'll be posting daily "dupes" — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. 

Adult spotted lanternfly. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Experts said the pest’s eggs, which will hatch in spring, are able to withstand the recent arctic blast.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Technician James Stone works to remove a floating solar-powered telemetry receiver from the Mississippi River backwaters near La Crosse, Wis. on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo / Todd Richmond)

Over the last five years, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have employed a new seek-and-destroy strategy that uses turncoat carp to lead them to the fish’s hotspot hideouts.

Spotted lanternfly adult (left) and nymphs. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The first sighting of the invasive pest was confirmed in Chicago, but we’re years from a major infestation and have learned from cities like Pittsburgh how to minimize the nuisance, an expert said.

Adult spotted lanternfly. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The insect was found in the Fuller Park neighborhood of Chicago, according to a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Illinois Beach State Park boasts some of the highest quality remnant habitat in the Midwest, but it’s being threatened by invasive plant species. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

A kick-off event Sept. 16 is aimed at recruiting more volunteer stewards, whose work helps safeguard the nature preserve’s endangered and threatened species.

Volunteers at LaBagh Woods help remove invasive buckthorn. Chicagoans might be surprised to learn which other popular ornamental plants are invasive. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

It’s National Invasive Species Awareness Week. Think you would know an invasive species if you saw one?

Callery pear blossoms. (sharonshuping0 / Pixabay)

The candidates include well-known banes like garlic mustard and wild parsnip, but also a plant adored by landscapers and property owners: the Callery pear tree.

A silver carp captured in June 2017 below the T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam is pictured. (Courtesy Illinois Department of Natural Resources)

Officials say the invasive carp’s presence does not necessarily mean there is a reproducing population of the species in the area, which is located above electric dispersal barriers. The fish captured Thursday was more than 38 inches long and weighed about 22 pounds. 

(WTTW News)

Illinois is rebranding Asian carp as “copi” in a bid to get people to eat the invasive fish into submission. Fishermen are catching thousands of pounds a day and barely making a dent in the number of carp in waterways like the Illinois River, where it's estimated 20 million to 50 million could be harvested annually.

Invasive cheatgrass, shown in the foreground, is fueling wildfires in the western U.S. (National Park Service / Emily Hassel)

As problematic as invasive plants, pests and pathogens already are, climate change will only magnify the havoc they wreak on habitat, wildlife and even humans.