Posted on: Monday, July 9, 2001

Aliens overrun Island environs

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science and Environment Writer

A group of the state's premier scientists who study Hawai'i's natural world have produced a book on its major threat: invading alien plants and animals.

It's so big a problem that the aliens threaten to drown out the native life of the Islands.

There are more introduced mammals than native ones, which isn't so strange because native mammals include only the seal and the bat. But there are also more introduced freshwater fish than natives, more introduced birds than natives, more introduced reptiles than natives.

The book's foreword notes that while only 3.2 percent of insects on the Mainland are aliens, in Hawai'i, 34.4 percent are non-native.

"Clearly, the Islands have a problem," writes Allen Allison and Neal Evenhuis of the Hawai'i Biological Survey at Bishop Museum.

The book is "Hawai'i's Invasive Species." Its authors are all members of the museum's Hawai'i Biological Survey. The volume was edited by George Staples and Robert Cowie. It was co-published by Bishop Museum Press and Mutual Publishing, and sells for $9.95.

Alien species get here in all kinds of different ways.

Early Polynesians intentionally brought species that were important to them, like kukui trees for food, dye, timber, fuel oil, medicine and other uses.

Some creatures, like rats and mice, probably arrived on early ships.

Some marine species arrived on the bottoms of ships. Some insects came in cargo.

People brought in some plants and animals for economic reasons and others because they liked the way they looked.

Folks then brought in biological control species to control the ones that got here first and became problems. And then some of the biological control species became problems themselves.

The invasion has never stopped.

"Hawai'i's Invasive Species," with plenty of photographs and detailed information, reviews the worst of the invaders, and also looks at some of the ones we need to work hard to keep out, such as brown tree snakes and the stinging fire ant.

"As our knowledge of the biodiversity and workings of our planet increases, we have come to realize that alien species are one of our biggest environmental problems," the foreword says.

"If we are to practice good environmental stewardship and safeguard our natural resources for future generations, it is essential that we act quickly to control the introduction and spread of alien species."

Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kaua'i bureau chief and its science and environment writer. Call him at (808) 245-3074 or e-mail jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.