https://www.futurity.org/animals-plants-mauritius-2891772-2/
"If the extinction of the many plants and animals on Mauritius continues, the
flourishing nature and diverse animals may dwindle to very few. They are part
of a particularly sensitive ecosystem where animals help plants spread their
seeds. If the animals disappear or are replaced by other species, the seeds
will not spread in the same way as before, according to the study in
Nature
Communications.
“Many plants, especially on tropical islands like Mauritius, rely on animals to
help spread their seeds. If the animals that can help spread the seeds become
extinct, the plants get into trouble because the animals which humans have
brought to the island destroy the seeds instead. This increases the risk of the
plants that are still on the island dying out,” says first author Julia Heinen,
postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for
Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate at Globe Institute.
If the plants die, the fruits growing on them will also disappear from the
island. And this in turn creates new problems for the island’s own small
ecosystem, because the animal species that feed on the fruits will also have
problems.
Probably the most famous Mauritian bird that no longer exists is a dodo. It was
last seen on the island in the 1600s. And it is nowhere else.
The same fate has befallen other of the island’s special plants and animals
such as giant tortoises. And even though new animals have come to the island,
they will not have the same characteristics as, for example, the dodo and giant
tortoises, says Julia Heinen.
“After the dodo and other Mauritian animals have become extinct, other animals
have come to the island. They have either come with the people or they have
found their way to the island themselves. But they cannot replace the function
of extinct animals in the ecosystem,” she says.
This is because they do not quite behave in the same way as the animals that no
longer live on the island.
“Now there are rats, pigs, monkeys, and some other types of birds. And they
actually eat the same fruits, but they handle them in a different way, and it
doesn’t have a positive effect on the plants,” she says."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
