Alien Insects: Threats and Implications for Conservation of Galápagos Islands

By C. Causton, Stewart B. Peck, B. Sinclair, L. Roque-Álbelo, C. J. Hodgson, Bernard Landry. 2006

267 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Alien species are the principal threat to the conservation of the Galápagos Islands, but little is known about the status of nonindigenous Galápagos insects and their effects on the biota. Currently, 463 alien insect species have probably been introduced to the Galápagos, an increase of 186 unintentional species introductions since an inventory in 1998. Alien insects now constitute 23% of the total insect fauna. Six species are known to be invasive and a threat to the biota: two species of fire ant and two wasps, a scale insect, and an ectoparasitic dipteran. The ecological impacts of the remaining species are unknown, making the prioritization of action for conservation management difficult. Thus, a newly developed and simple scoring system is presented to predict their potential invasiveness based on trophic functional role, distribution in Galápagos, and history of invasiveness elsewhere. An additional 52 species are predicted to be highly invasive. The endemic flora is most at risk because the largest proportion (42%) of the introduced species is herbivores. Plant populations are threatened principally by vectors of plant disease and by phloem and leaf feeders. Introduced predators and parasitoids (17%) may either be affecting, or have the potential to affect, the status of terrestrial invertebrate populations. At least 10% of the species are considered to be negligible threats to Galápagos ecosystems.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ff1be6d2f6f4add7ec0b040c4a8d3c5791eb6177

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Genetics

In Insect Science

Citations in the corpus

Classical biological control for the protection of natural ecosystems (2010, background): “Rodolia cardinalis was released on ten Galápagos islands in 2002 to protect threatened native plants (Causton et al., 2006; Causton, unpublished data).”
The potential distribution of an invasive mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis and its threat to cotton in Asia (2010, background): “The mealybug was first recorded in the Galapagos Islands in 2001 (Causton et al., 2006), and was reported from Chile (Larraín, 2002), Argentina (Granara de Willink, 2003), Brazil (in Espírito Santo state;”
Ecological effects of invasive alien insects (2008, background): “In the Galapagos, a parasitic fly, Philornis downsi Dodge & Aitken, significantly decreases fledging success of finches by infesting and killing juvenile birds (Fessl et al. 2006).”
Effects of the parasitic flies of the genus Philornis (Diptera: Muscidae) on birds (2006, background): “Until very recently, the earliest known occurrence of P. downsi was 1981, but this has been predated by the identification of six archived specimens of P. downsi from the island of Santa Cruz from collections made by D. Q. Cavagnaro and R. C. Schuster in 1964 (California Academy of Sciences, San Fra”
Host-parasite ecology, behavior and genetics: a review of the introduced fly parasite Philornis downsi and its Darwin’s finch hosts (2016, background): “The local population extinctions and/ or changes in finch abundance are happening concurrently with increasing numbers of introduced predators and pathogens [26, 54], habitat alteration due to human activity [36, 55–59], chemical weed management [36], frequency of extreme climatic events (e.”
Soil fauna responses to natural disturbances, invasive species, and global climate change: Current state of the science and a call to action (2017, background): “Invasive ants can reduce predatory arthropod abundance by displacement (Causton et al., 2006; Human and Gordon, 1997; Lubin, 1984; O'Dowd et al., 2003), and negatively impact grazing and detrital communities through predation (Dunham and Mikheyev, 2010; Human and Gordon, 1997).”
Conservation of oceanic island floras: present and future global challenges. (2010, methodology): “Similarly, in Galápagos, 463 alien insect species had been recorded by 2006, an increase of 186 introductions since an inventory in 1998 (Causton et al., 2006), almost all of them brought accidentally to the islands.”
Ecological effects and management of invasive alien Vespidae (2011, background): “It is now considered to be one of the most serious invasive alien insects of the archipelago (Causton et al. 2006).”
Invaders are not a random selection of species (2009, background): “Moreover, introduced insects are very common in terrestrial systems (e.g., Pellizzari and Dalla Monta 1997; Brockerhoff et al. 2006; Causton et al. 2006).”
Rethinking the Galapagos Islands as a Complex Social-Ecological System: Implications for Conservation and Management (2008, background): “Despite the significant efforts and resources that have been invested to improve the inspection and quarantine systems, a recent inventory of alien insects introduced to Galapagos recorded 463 species, 186 more than in the previous inventory in 1998 (Causton et al. 2006).”