If you didn't know, this project has a corresponding Facebook group by the same name. Feel free to join the conversation over there and share your observations of Missouri non-natives. Many folks do not know the breadth of introduced species they encounter on a daily basis, sharing your observations helps to bring awareness to the differences between natives and non-natives.
I renamed the project from "Missouri Invasives," to "Missouri Non-Natives," due to the fact that the term "invasives," is a specific group of non-native species. Determining which species fit into that group is broadly debated. For instance, honey bees are non-native to North America, but are beneficial to pollinate crops. Do they compete with native pollinators for resources? Have they become "naturalized" in the United States? Therefore, I thought it was best to keep the broader term and not debate over if a species is invasive or not. In addition to tracking non-native species, I would like for this project to increase public knowledge on what species were introduced intentionally or unintentionally into the state.
