for Florida and most of the U.S. Because it was such a threat as an invasive species, one of the first cost-effective broadscale herbicide controls developed was fluridone. Unfortunately, this single-use herbicide resulted in fluridone-resistant Hydrilla. “As Hydrilla spread rapidly to lakes across the southern United States in the past, the expansion of resistant biotypes is likely to pose significant environmental challenges in the future.”, Hydrilla populations have caused economic, environmental, and ecological damage. Hydrilla is known to be an aggressive and competitive plant, even out-competing and displacing native species, such as pondweeds and eelgrass. Due to its competitive nature, Hydrilla has created monocultures, an area dominated by a singular species, rather than having a balance among many species, like in a normal ecosystem. In Australia, Hydrilla can become invasive if the nutrient levels are raised in disturbed ecosystems, though is not generally known to be problematic. Hydrilla can host a biofilm of the cyanobacteria Aetokthonos hydrillicola which can produce the brominated neurotoxin aetokthonotoxin which is the causative agent of Avian vacuolar myelinopathy, a fatal brain wasting disease of waterfowl and raptors. Management Hydrilla can be controlled by herbicides, as well as grass carp, itself an invasive species in North America. Insects used as biological pest control for this plant include weevils of the genus Bagous and the Asian hydrilla leaf-mining fly (Hydrellia pakistanae). Tubers pose a problem as they can lie dormant for a number of years, making it even more difficult to remove from waterways and estuaries. Hydrilla holds the advantage in that it can spread efficiently through both tubers and turions. In 2011 the inlet of Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in New York State, used the chemical herbicide endothall to try to head off a possible future disaster. The first year nearly $100,000 and numerous man-hours were spent trying to eradicate the Hydrilla infestation. Follow-up treatments were planned for at least five years. The City of Ithaca as well as other local officials are willing to pay the price because without quick action the plant could get into the lake and possibly spread to other Finger Lakes in the region. In August 2021 “Hydrilla” was discovered growing in a small boat marina that is connected to the Niagara River in the city of North Tonawanda New York. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is involved and working to contain the infestation according