Invasive species threaten Andaman ecosystem

The researchers from CCMB-LaCONES and other reputed science laboratories contended that there is a negative impact of invasive species such as elephants, goats, bullfrogs, mynas, sparrows and African giant snails on native fauna and flora of Andaman Islands

Hyderabad: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago’s unique terrestrial ecosystems and rich endemism are vulnerable to invasive biological flora and fauna species from the mainland, Hyderabad-based researchers from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)-Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) said.

The researchers from CCMB-LaCONES and other reputed science laboratories, in a study paper titled ‘Impacts of Invasive Alien Species in Island Ecosystems’, contended that there is a negative impact of invasive species such as elephants, goats, bullfrogs, mynas, sparrows and African giant snails on native fauna and flora of Andaman Islands.

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At a meeting held a few days ago on invasive species at the CCMB, senior scientist from CCMB-LaCONES, Dr Kartikeyan Vasudevan, who had led the study on invasive species on Indian islands, especially Andaman and Nicobar, presented details on the issue. “Andaman group of islands are known for its floral diversity, especially it is recognised for its endemic plant species (14 per cent endemicity). Recent studies from this island disclosed that most of the plant species are facing huge risk due to the invasion of large mammals such as elephant and chital,” the CCMB-LaCONES report published by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), said.

In the last few decades, as a whole 3 snail, 4 insect, 12 mammal, 13 marine fish, 19 bird and 566 plant species have been introduced into this archipelago, besides several exotic species. The researchers referred to elephants in the Andaman group of islands that were introduced in the early 20th Century for forestry-related operations, especially for timber extraction operations, and how they became feral over the years.

“Abandoned or escaped elephants caused huge damage to native vegetation, especially they caused damage to cane and bamboo. Numbers of wild trees were debarked and uprooted by elephants,” the report said. Chital, the deer species that was introduced in the Andaman Islands also poses a threat to the local vegetation. “Chital introduction led to large scale forest degradation, vegetative cover, thus influencing factors like local temperatures moisture. As a result, smaller organisms such as microbes, insects and smaller invertebrates also get impacted by this,” the study said.