Guam and Coqui

A coqui frog was intercepted on a shipment of plants on its way into Guam from Hawaii. Looks like the frog was caught at the border, so Guam for now remains coqui-free.

Shaking The Trees

The story of the brown tree snake's (Boiga irregularis) decimation of the birds of Guam has been well documented in invasive species literature (and here at the ISW as well). But now, word comes from The Washington Post that the impact of the introduced snakes is being felt much farther down the food chain. A graduate student at the University of Washington has done research indicating that the typical distribution of trees with bird-dispersed fruits has been thrown completely out of whack (instead of being spread out across the island, new trees grow right around the parent plant) across Guam, because, as you can guess, nothing is around to disperse the fruits. This is sure to have implications for the population biology of the plant species being impacted, and could threaten the longevity of certain species by causing an increase in inbreeding. More details about the research are available in this article from UW News.

Thanks to Julie A. for sending in a link to this story.

Snakes Eyed

The Army Times is reporting that a group of political leaders from the Pacific Island region known as Micronesia have joined together to ask US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to make sure that the US military doesn't allow the invasive brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) to spread from Guam. The officials want the US to set an official policy that guarantees sufficient prevention measures are in place. Included in these measures: funding for new invasive species detection tools, and a lofty goal of completely eradicating the brown tree snake from Guam.

Rhino Blasty

Guam is in the midst of fighting off an invasion of coconut rhinoceros beetles (Oryctes rhinoceros) that are attacking the island's palm trees. The beetles were first spotted this past September, and a quarantine has been in effect since October in an attempt to keep the beetles from spreading. The Pacific Daily News is reporting that one local resort, the Pacific Island Club, is extremely concerned that damage to their palm trees translates to damage to Guam's tourism industry. They have taken the initiative and set their own pheremone traps to capture the beetles. The Guam Department of Agriculture has also set out over 100 traps and together the two groups have caught almost 20 beetles so far.