Slithery hitchhikers could decimate local bird populations
An international research team led by University of Queensland scientists has discovered how brown tree snakes, native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, invaded the island of Guam and devastated its native bird populations. The scientists say a similar fate threatens the Hawaiian Islands.
In the study published in the Journal of Molecular Evolution, the team discovered that brown tree snakes invaded Guam by sneaking aboard airplanes during World War II. The snake’s venom, though not dangerous to humans, is extremely toxic to birds.
“The snake hitchhiked on troop carriers from the Australian region and has since driven multiple native bird species into extinction, with only three species now found on the island,” Bryan Fry, one of the researchers, said in a statement.
The same thing could happen in Hawaii, where the United States continues to fly military planes from Guam and the snakes continue to hitchhike, according to Fry.
“They’re regularly intercepted in the Hawaii airports, so if these direct flights are allowed to continue, it’s only a matter of time until they get to Hawaii and wipe out the birds like they did on Guam,” he said. —J.B.
Comments
MM
Posted: Thu, 10/04/2018 06:33 pmIs the size of the plastic piece ingested by mosquito larvae supposed to read 5 microns? 5 millimeters seems quite large.
Web Editor
Posted: Fri, 10/05/2018 11:22 amThank you for raising the question. Microplastics are defined as being 5 mm or less, not that mosquito larvae necessarily ingest pieces that large. The article has been edited to clarify that.
jrmbasso
Posted: Thu, 10/04/2018 07:02 pmHow much do each of these hoppers weigh in the gravity of the asteroid?
Cyborg3
Posted: Fri, 10/05/2018 10:30 amI once went to a conference and paint companies had an interest in developing paint that could change color. For example, you wanted to go home and you are in a lively and spiritually joyful mood, so you say, “Siri play home music Jira” where your home music system comes on with the following on:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4arh_ZzoL7g
”Siri set paintings to victorious Christians” and your paintings switch appropriately on, one being the following:
https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/show_picture.pl?l=english&rais=1&oiu=https%3A%2F%2Fmfas3.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fobjects%2FSC197441.jpg&sp=3ec9adb0272008a7e8fb901c1f739595
Next you say, “Siri set inner house color serious, hopeful, joyful and victorious. The colors are instantly set where the living room has gold trim and white walls. The other rooms are set with different colors but complimentary.
Next, you say “Siri home lighting soft and temperature 68 F. Fountain set to gentle brook.” All is set accordingly and you are ready to arrive home optimal in comfort ready to prepare your study on “Victorious Christian Living” based on John 15.
Just imagine this scenario with color adjusting walls and other mood enhancing effects in the IoTs world of the future!
Judy Farrington
Posted: Fri, 10/05/2018 01:17 pmGreat article about the snout weevil. And how amazing that so many willfully miss the Grand Designer. Thank you!
DakotaLutheran
Posted: Sat, 10/06/2018 09:56 amThe story of the brown tree snakes is fairly common: where an organism from one part of the globe is introduced into another resulting in dramatic changes in the populations in the "invaded" region. The "invasion" of kudzo from Japan into the American South is another example. There are two things that I wonder about in all these cases. First, did these species produce the kinds of "catastropic" effects in the places from which they originate? If not, why not? I suspect it is something like the disasterous affect that the introduction of Europeans into the Native American populations produced. Europeans had developed strategies for surviving these diseases. The Native Americans had not. So is the same thing going on in the case of brown tree snakes and kudzo? That is, the snakes and the vegetation are not nearly as successful in the regions where they are originally form because strategies have been developed to prevent them from being overly successful. The reason to believe this is the case is evidenced by my second question, viz., if these organisms are too successful, wouldn't that be ultimately detrimental to their own survival? If the snakes wipe out all on the birds on Quam, what will be left for them to live on? Hence, the very survival of the snake requires that some kind of strategy arise that prevents them from being overly successful. The "dilemma" is not so easily seen in the case of the Europeans and the kudzo, but nonetheless instructive. We have been granted by God an incredible capability, one which by its very power can overwhelm its environment and ultimately undermine our very existence. Whether or not one believes in anthropomorphic climate warming or not, the possiblily is there, one that might be interpreted as a natural law, one established for our own good.