Invasive insects cause staggering impact on native tree

The beautiful, endemic and endangered cycad, Cycas micronesica was once a dominant forest tree on the island of Guam, but recent plant mortality predicts extirpation from Guam habitats by 2019. This dire prediction by scientists at the Western Pacific Tropical Research Center (WPTRC), University of Guam is validated by the research of Thomas E. Marler and John H. Lawrence, which has concluded that Cycas micronesica is the only native host for the invasive scale insect Aulacaspis yasumatsui. "The potential cascading ecosystem responses are yet to be completely understood," says WPTRC research scientist Marler.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg