据11月21日的《科学》(Science)杂志报道说,加拉帕戈斯群岛(Galápagos Islands)上有6个种系的植物过去被认为,是在欧洲人于500年前到来之后才被引进到该地区的物种,但其实它们过去数千年以来就一直是这些岛屿上的本土物种。
Jacqueline van Leeuwen及其同事对保留在沉积物中的花粉化石及植物残体进行了研究,并披露了这些物种在数千年中的分布情况。他们发现,有6种特别的物种(它们从前都被至少一个Galápagos植物学当局当作是“非本土”的物种)在人类于该岛屿群上居住之前的数千年就已经存在于该地区了。将这些物种从非本土物种名单上撤除已经成为在Galápagos上进行保护-恢复的一个重点。而在全球范围内,人们每年都会耗资数百万美元来控制入侵的植物物种。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原始出处:
Science,Vol. 322. no. 5905, p. 1206,Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen,Cynthia A. Froyd
Fossil Pollen as a Guide to Conservation in the Galápagos
Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen,1 Cynthia A. Froyd,2* W. O. van der Knaap,1 Emily E. Coffey,2 Alan Tye,3Katherine J. Willis2,4
Paleoecological evidence from the past 8000 years in the Galápagos Islands shows that six presumed introduced or doubtfully native species (Ageratum conyzoides, Borreria laevis/Diodia radula-type, Brickellia diffusa, Cuphea carthagenensis, Hibiscus diversifolius, and Ranunculus flagelliformis) are in fact native to the archipelago. Fossil pollen and macrofossils from four sites in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island reveal that all were present thousands of years before the advent of human impact, refuting their classification as introduced species. These findings have substantial implications not only for conservation in Galápagos but for the management of introduced species and pantropical weeds in general.
1 Institute of Plant Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland.
2 Long-Term Ecology Laboratory, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK.
3 Charles Darwin Research Station, Galápagos, Ecuador.
4 Department of Biology, University of Bergen, N-5007 Bergen, Norway.