Seems like every week a species from somewhere else shows up in a new area and takes over, wreaking havoc. The latest hotspot: the Galapagos, where non-native mosquitoes are arriving via aircraft and tour boats.
The southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, already messed up Hawaii. It arrived there, most likely in airplanes, in the late 19th century and had a devastating effect on the islands’ endemic birds.
The new bird house at the Philadelphia Zoo has an exhibit explaining what happened. About 20 to 50 alien species of plants and animals arrive in Hawaii every year, and one of them was the mosquito. It proved an excellent vector for the transmission of diseases among birds, and today most of the surviving avian species live more than 2,000 feet above sea level, where it is too cold for the mosquitoes.
The honeycreeper was particularly hard-hit. Only 19 out of 42 species and subspecies now remain, and many of the extinctions are considered to have been caused by diseases spread by the mosquito.
Now, scientists from the University of Leeds, the Zoological Society of London, the University of Guayaquil, the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, have shown that the mosquito is regularly hitching a ride from the mainland to the Galapagos and breeding with existing populations. They’re also spreading via tourist boats that visit the islands.
Arnaud Bataille, a Leeds doctoral researcher said that, on average, the number of mosquitoes per airplane is low, “but many aircraft arrive each day from the mainland in order to service the tourist industry, and the mosquitoes seem able to survive and breed once they leave the plane.”
Fellow researcher Andrew Cunningham said their studies who “that everything is in place for a similar disaster to occur in Galapagos as occurred in Hawaii. Unless immediate and forceful mitigating actions are taken, it is only a matter of time before Galapagos wildlife meet the same fate as the Hawaiian honeycreepers.”
Tourism to these islands, so rich in wildlife, provides a lot of funds. But now, some are wondering if the cost outweighs the benefits.
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
 | Follow on Twitter |
- Facts of the Day Former DEP secretary John Hanger
- WolfeNotes NJ environmental policy expert Bill Wolfe
- PennFuture Pennsylvania environmental advocacy
- A Rube With a View NJ wildlife and conservation expert Larry Niles
- View From the Cape What’s happening birdwise at Cape May
- Beverly Milestone Maisey Environmental issues and Transition Cheltenham
- My Plastic-Free Life California’s Beth Terry goes without
- GreenFaith Interfaith Partners for the Environment
- LA Times Greenspace blog
- B’More Green Baltimore Sun’s environmental blog
- Blue Marble Mother Jones' enviro blog
- All about Philly recycling
- RecycleNOW Philadelphia
- Next Great City Philly urban sustainability
- Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
- Transition Town Media
- Transition Cheltenham
- Wissahickon Growing Greener
- Sustainable Delaware County
- One If By Land Bucks County Citizen journalism on the environment.
- PhillyCompost
- Regional air quality partnership
- Philadelphia Air Management Services
- Clean Air Council in Philadelphia
- Clean Water Action in PA
- Sierra Club, NJ Chapter
- Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter
- Energy Coordinating Agency
- Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
- Delaware River Basin Commission
- Academy of Natural Sciences’ Center for Environmental Policy
- Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future
- Pennsylvania Environmental Council
- PennEnvironment
- Delaware Riverkeeper Network
- Philly Rivercast A daily forecast of water quality in the Schuylkill River
- Environment New Jersey
- New Jersey Environmental Federation
- NJ PIRG
- NJ’s American Littoral Society
- NJ’s Clean Ocean Action
- The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania Chapter
- NJ Pinelands Commission
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance
- New Jersey Audubon Society
- Bucks County Audubon Society
- Valley Forge Audubon Society
- Wyncote Audubon Society
- Delaware Valley Ornithological Club
- Pennsylvania Center for Environmental Education
- Philly’s Women’s Health and Environmental Network
- Dumpster Divers of Philadelphia
- Environmental news and commentary from grist.org
- National Geogoraphic’s Green Guide
- Treehugger green living site
- The Daily Green
- Green Living from the Natural Resources Defense Countil
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
