Title: Weeds endanger rare Fijian rainforest plants

[sciencewa 15 Feb 2012 by Hope Holborow] -- RARE and endangered plants endemic to Fiji are being seriously threatened by four invasive plant species accidentally discovered by a Curtin University researcher. Curtin research fellow Dr Gunner Keppel came across the invasive species whilst researching rare and endangered tree species native to Fiji. “When I began working at Curtin, I consulted colleagues both in Fiji and here in Australia about setting up a project which we decided on as looking for rare and endangered tree species found only in Fiji. All four of these species are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, which lists threatened species throughout the world,” Dr Keppel says. During this project, we stumbled upon four invasive species¬– Pinanga coronata (Arecaceae), Shefflera actinophylla (Endl.) Harms (Araliaceae), Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv. (Bignoniaceae) and Swietenia macrophylla King in Hook. (Meliaceae). This was reported for the first time in primary lowland rainforest in Fijis south-east Viti Levu. [Photo caption: Curtin research fellow Dr Gunner Keppel came across the invasive species whilst researching rare and endangered tree species native to Fiji. Image: nigelpepper]

“We noted [in particular] the presence of an invasive palm, Pinanga coronata, covering most of the understory of the rainforest. This posed many concerns regarding regeneration of the rare species and other native species in Fiji,” Dr Keppel says. “I found this discovery scary in the sense that, especially with the palm species, it covered the whole ground floor in the understory of the rainforest and there was nothing else, nothing native, growing in that lower layer of the rainforest. I found this to be very concerning and also very important,” he says.

News of the discovery was published late last year in The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, with the intention of raising awareness and funds for action and eradication of the invasive plants. “Left undiscovered, the invasive species would have continued silently spreading through the rainforest—which they still will do unless something is done about their eradication. If left, there will be too many seeds and too many populations,” Dr Keppel says.

“The exciting part about the discovery is that removal—before it causes major damage to the native biodiversity—is still possible,” he says. The palm Pinanga coronate poses the biggest threat to the native biodiversity of Fijian rainforests and immediate eradication is suggested.

“I very strongly hope that this discovery will lead to the eradication of these species in Fiji, especially seeing as we managed to find and report about their invasion while they still had a very limited distribution,” Dr Keppel says.

Original source



Attachments:
Fiji_rainforest.jpg
Article: WeedsNews2914 (permalink)
Categories: :WeedsNews:research alert, :WeedsNews:rainforests
Date: 16 February 2012; 12:15:15 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time

Author Name: David Low
Author ID: adminDavid