Fossa
Junior Member
Posts: 77 
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Post by Fossa on Jul 10, 2013 20:22:39 GMT
New Zealand scientists believe that they have found a link between climate change and invasive mammal species that could threaten biodiversity and spread disease. The link is via gradual, global warming-induced disruption of periodic tree seeding (which is known as masting and occurs every few years) in forests. The seeding is a major food source for local wildlife and invasive mammal populations have often been seen to explode as a result. Data suggests that seeding has been happening more often, and in New Zealand invasive mammals have consistently been seen to outcompete native species in mast years. www.salon.com/2013/07/08/climate_change_could_spark_mammal_invasion_partner/ |
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ollie
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by ollie on Jul 15, 2013 17:14:12 GMT
Interesting article, Fossa!  It seems the US also has a problem with a feral swine invasion, though to a much lesser degree than New Zealand has with its invaders (not pigs), as a result of this masting (which I must admit I'd never heard of before and don't really see how it's so different from how trees normally go about reproducing). Of course, the US contributes a considerable proportion of greenhouse gas emissions (that causes global warming) so maybe they'll clean up their act when they see more of the havoc it can cause the nature on their own doorstep. I have to confess to thinking the invasive species would mainly be rats and rabbits. I guess rabbits are grazers though (as opposed to browsers / omnivores). I see stoats get a mention, but surely they're just carnivores? I guess their mention was down to them being an invasive pest in general (and nothing to do with masting, directly). BTW, did you see this the other day? The empire strikes back?  |
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Fossa
Junior Member
Posts: 77
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Post by Fossa on Jul 15, 2013 18:48:48 GMT
It's really not clear about the stoats, is it? The only other thing I can think is that the masting causes small rodent populations to boom, which in turn increases the number of stoats, which then also prey on other species like birds. Really just an uneducated guess. Thanks for the link to the other article - I think it's actually the same topic as Thylacine's previous post! - but nice to see it from a different angle. |
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Post by cabbage on Jul 18, 2013 1:09:51 GMT
excellent read fossa thanks
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