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Global Warming May Have Severe Consequences for Rare Haleakala Silverswords

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2013Environment, Natureargyroxyphium sandwicense macrocephalum, biodiversity, biological hotspots, climate change, climate induced stresses, climate related decline, climate trends, decline, extinction, flower heads, geological survey, global climate change, global warming, haleakala national park, haleakala silversword, haleakala volcano, human, inflorescence, lloyd loope, manoa, marcia mcnutt, native habitat, patterns of precipitation, paul krushelnycky, plants, population growth rate, rare haleakala silverswords, risk of extinction, rosette, silversword, tropical agriculture, university of arizona, university of hawaii, usgs director, volcano summit

HONOLULU — While the iconic Haleakalā silversword plant made a strong recovery from early 20^th-century threats, it has now entered a period of substantial climate-related decline. New research published this week warns that global warming may have severe consequences for the silversword in its native habitat.

Known for its striking rosette, the silversword grows for 20-90 years before the single reproductive event at the end of its life, at which time it produces a large (up to six feet tall) inflorescence with as many as 600 flower heads. The plant was in jeopardy in the early 1900s due to animals eating the plants and visitors gathering them. With successful management, including legal protection and the physical exclusion of hoofed animals, the species made a strong recovery, but since the mid-1990s it has entered a period of substantial decline. A strong association of annual population growth rates with patterns of precipitation suggests the plants are undergoing increasingly frequent and lethal water stress. Local climate data confirm trends towards warmer and drier conditions on the mountain, which the researchers warn will create a bleak outlook for the threatened silverswords if climate trends continue. (more…)

Invading Species Can Extinguish Native Plants Despite Recent Reports

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2013Environment, Naturebenjamin gilbert, california, colonization, ecologist, eeb, effect of invasion, eth zurich, extinction dynamics, federal institute, habitat, initial invasion, invaded ecosystem, invading exotic plants, invasive grass, james cornwell, jonathan levine, local extinction, native biodiversity, native habitat, native plants, non native species, pnas, quantitative model, sea of exotics, species, species to extinction, swiss, technology zurich, university of toronto, wild

TORONTO, ON – Ecologists at the University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have found that, given time, invading exotic plants will likely eliminate native plants growing in the wild despite recent reports to the contrary.

A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reports that recent statements that invasive plants are not problematic are often based on incomplete information, with insufficient time having passed to observe the full effect of invasions on native biodiversity. (more…)

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Global Warming May Have Severe Consequences for Rare Haleakala Silverswords

Invading Species Can Extinguish Native Plants Despite Recent Reports