Alien species
love Hawaii
A report finds that non-
By Pete Pichaske
native species are the biggest
threat to endangered plants
and animals here
Star-BulletinWASHINGTON -- Not only is Hawaii the kingdom of endangered species, it is the kingdom of species endangered by non-native, "alien" species, a new report has confirmed.
The report, published in the August issue of BioScience magazine, found that 30 percent of the imperiled plants and 48 percent of imperiled birds in the continental United States are threatened by alien species, those not found here naturally.
In Hawaii, however, 99 percent of the rare plants and 98 percent of the rare birds are threatened by alien species.
"The impact of alien species is most acute in the Hawaiian Islands," concluded the report, prepared by scientists with the Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Institution.
The report also warned that the problem is likely to get worse, as states with the most endangered species, including Hawaii, California and Florida, are expected to have above-average population increases.
The report called the Hawaii finding "unsurprising," and Hawaii conservation experts did not disagree.
Plant and animal conservation in the islands "is almost entirely about alien species prevention and control," said Alan Holt, deputy director for the Nature Conservancy for Hawaii.
The islands are so vulnerable to non-native species, he said, because they are hospitable to nearly all species, including new ones. "We sort of suffer from being paradise," he said.
While the report did not tell them anything new, the Hawaii conservationists lauded it for highlighting a problem they say is not always taken seriously enough by policy-makers.
"This is not news to biologists and environmental groups who work in Hawaii, but our legislators don't seem to know about it," said David Frankel, executive director of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter.
For example, he said, the state does not adequately fund airport inspection programs aimed out keeping alien species from being brought in to Hawaii.
"This (report) adds weight, adds credibility" to efforts to address the problem, said Frankel.
The authors called the report, which ranked the threats to 1,880 rare species, the most comprehensive assessment of its kind ever made. They agreed that, despite well-publicized invaders such as kudzu, the fast-growing plant that in summer covers much of the U.S. South, strangling trees and other native plants, the alien species peril is not well-known.
"Alien invasion is the least recognized threat to wildlife today," said lead author David S. Wilcove, a senior ecologist with the Environmental Defense Fund.
"People understand that habitat destruction and pollution are harmful to wildlife, but they don't realize that alien plant and animal species are everywhere ... driving native species to the brink of extinction."
Wilcove said he hoped the report would be a "wake-up call" for lawmakers. "In Hawaii, there is a heightened awareness of the threat, but you get away from Hawaii, and people don't have a sense of how serious it is," he said.
