Fuming

A cutely worded article in The London Times reminds that, yes, even royalty must succumb to the rules of The Galapagos, as Prince Charles and his wife arrive for a tour of South America and are thoroughly fumigated before deplaning, so as to prevent any hitchhiking organisms or pathogens from further contributing to invasive species problems that plague the islands.

Galapagosity

If you are curious about the various non-native plants that now call the Galapagos home, this new article over at PLoS one from Guézou et al. will give you all the details. An investigation of the flora of Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island, it includes a list of 261 introduced taxa, from trees and herbs to shrubs and vines. The majority of the species, as would be expected, were introduced for ornamental use. The article's extensive list includes many species known to have invasive tendencies in other parts of the world. It concludes with discussion of a set of nine species recommended for management or further study, including Cuban hemp (Furcraea hexapetala), tropical soda apple (Solanum capsicoides) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica).

It is interesting to consider how the location of an urbanized village could be impacting one of the world's most treasured island ecosystems. It is a potential inroad for new invaders, but at the same time is valuable as a place to do early detection surveys that will help identify and catch known invasive species, both cultivated and accidentally introduced, before they spread out of control.

Fun With YouTube

More bizarre invasive species videos from the world of YouTube:

• Kentucky Afield posted a really interesting video about Bow fishing at night for bighead carp. Not for the squeamish, but if you want to see guys shoot an arrow through the head of a 40 pound carp with a bow and a flashlight, check it out!
• The Mississippi Valley Conservancy has a video about invasive plants. The intro is a bit heavy on the cheese, but on the whole, the video is full of good information.
• dancohen posts Alien Invasion, an educational video put together by some Emerson boys for a class project. It's wicked pissah! (No, no, it's not, it's actually pretty bad. Sorry guys. At least you had some decent factoids in there. But if you could get Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon to parody it: comedy gold!) If you cannot get enough of them with AI Part 1, there's always AI Part 2, which is an interpretive dance. [Via That Biology Girl]
• Flkitesurfer caught a lionfish hanging around a shipwreck in the Bahamas. WOuld be a nice diving video, except for the fact that lionfish are native to the Pacific Ocean!
• bluedotprodux posted a video showing feral goats being removed from Santa Cruz Island, in the Galapagos. I have no idea what the guy being interviewed is saying, but I do know that it cannot be fun to be charged with catching and dragging dozens of goats into a truck.

Outwit! Outlast! Outgrow!

The Washington Post has an article about the continuing effort to rid the Galapagos Islands of non-native plants and animals. Conservationists are making inroads in their goal of removing all the feral goats, pigs, dogs, cats, donkeys, etc., but the article notes there are new problems caused by the spread of more recently introduced ornamental plants that are now spreading in the wild. Interested readers can check out previous ISW posts about the Galapagos here.

Tilapagos

According to posts on the ALIENS-L listerserver today, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, but the exact species is not yet officially confirmed) have been discovered in a lake on the Galapagos Islands. Hundreds of the freshwater fish were removed from the lake on the island of San Cristobal (perhaps El Junco?), indicating that the introduction was not recent. There are no native freshwater fish species native to the Galapagos, and as far I can tell, stocking of freshwater bodies with fish is not allowed there.

Island Hopping

Dr. Uli Reinhardt writes:

Have you ever wanted to get rid of your stress by destroying invasive weeds ? Have you ever wanted to travel to the Galapagos Islands? Now you can realize both wishes at once. Dr. Uli Reinhardt from Eastern Michigan University and the Charles Darwin Research Station on Galapagos have set up a new conservation research project with Earthwatch Institute. The goal of the project is to save the last large remaining stand of the endemic Scalesia pedunculata forest from such nasty invasives as blackberry, guava, quinine an passion fruit. The weeds are displacing the native plants rapidly and research into their spread and the effectiveness of various control methods is badly needed. The NGO Earthwatch sends volunteers to all corners of the planet to fund and carry out research. Details about the Galapagos project can be found at in the Expedition Briefing (.pdf).

Maybe this is not your idea of a vacation, but it sounds like fun to me. Dr. Reinhardt and his team are out on their third trip right now, with two more expeditions planned for the end of 2005.

Amphibious Assault

Frogs are causing more problems, this time on the Galapagos Islands. According to this report from ABCNews.com, Scinax quinquefasciata, a tiny tree frog from nearby mainland Ecuador, has been breeding in the Galapagos since 1998. The frogs have no natural predators on the islands, and populations are booming as a result.

Finch Pinch

From the Environment News Service (by way of heavy discussion on the ALIENS-L listserver) comes this article about parasites infecting Darwin's finches. The finches, theorized by Darwin to have evolved from a single species on the Galapagos Islands into 13 different species, have been infected with fly parasites, including Philornis downsi. Scientists have yet to confirm that the parasites are causing increasedmortality of the birds.

I smell bacon!!

Hurray for the Galapagos Islands! Declaring one of their largest islands finally free of feral pigs, conservationists can congratulate themselves for winning a hard battle in what will probably be a long war. Feral pigs (Sus scropha) are very destructive, and there are several native species that will benefit from their absence. But there are still other pig-infested islands in the chain, and as the list at the end of the article shows, there are many other invasive plants and animals that must be dealt with.