If you're a regular reader of this blog, you probably know the story of brown tree snakes. In case you don't, here's how how the United States Geological Survey describes it:
Shortly after World War II, and before 1952, the brown Treesnake was accidentally transported from its native range in the South Pacific to Guam, probably as a stowaway in ship cargo. As a result of abnormally abundant prey resources on Guam and the absence of natural predators and other population controls, brown Treesnake populations reached unprecedented numbers. Snakes caused the extirpation of most of the native forest vertebrate species; thousands of power outages affecting private, commercial, and military activities; widespread loss of domestic birds and pets; and considerable emotional trauma to residents and visitors alike when snakes invaded human habitats with the potential for severe envenomation of small children.As bad as that is, it appears that the situation is even worse.
At last week's annual meetings of the Ecological Society of America, Haldre Rogers and her colleagues presented a paper on The impact of bird loss on seed dispersal in the forests of Guam. Their conclusion?
[T]he full effects of the Brown Treesnake on the forests of Guam's may far exceed their direct impact on the bird fauna; the indirect impacts caused by the loss of ecosystem services performed by frugivorous birds are more subtle, but have potential to be equally devastating to the forest community.See also the report on Rogers's work in The Washington Post.
Leave a comment