Non-indigenous trees

Vance Wood

Some of the highest peaks in the Islands get snow. I cannot now remember the name of the extinct volcano but there is an observatory at the top and they get a good deal of snow in the winter.

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dtree

I have read that most (something like 90 percent) of all the fauna and flora in Hawaii has been introduced, and that you have to look long and hard to find true indigenous stuff there. The orchid flowers used for the traditional lei- introduced, not indigenous.

Vance Wood

I sure could be wrong here but I think you are wrong. It seems to me that Hawaii has a very strong environmental tradition to preserve native Flora and Fauna from incursion from non indigenous species.

Jerry Meislik

Never fool with Mother Nature as she knows best.
I had the opportunity to visit an the Wind River Arboretum in Washington where over an 80 year period trees were introduced to see which would do better than the native trees for lumber and ornamental purposes.
Guess what the result was!
The trees that did the best were the native trees!
Gives you food for thought.
My original article on this can be viewesd at
http://www.bonsaihunk.8m.com/info/B...theLongRun.html
Jerry

__________________
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/

dtree

I will try to find the source- by indigenous I believe the author meant pre- human settlement of the island chain. He stated that most of the original life forms on the islands have been replaced by dominant ones brought by humans either on purpose or inadvertantly. Just trying to show the human impact of civilisation. Again, I will locate the source for you.

Will_Heath

One Hawaii

Flora and Fauna

Hawaiian Native Plant Genera

University of Hawai`i at Manoa

Hawaii fauna guide

The Nature Conservancy

dtree

pre human- new species once every 10,000 years ( according to one biologist's estimate )

post human Hawaiian islands - 4600 new plant species in the last 200 years and currently 20 new species of plant and animal per year.

- this from the Hawaiian Dept. of Natural Resources

rockm

"I will try to find the source- by indigenous I believe the author meant pre- human settlement of the island chain. He stated that most of the original life forms on the islands have been replaced by dominant ones brought by humans either on purpose or inadvertantly. Just trying to show the human impact of civilisation. Again, I will locate the source for you."

Island ecosystems are among the least stable on the planet. Species that evolve on those isolated islands can be toppled pretty easily by another species arriving by sea (crocodiles, snakes, etc.) aboard floating vegetation (insects, rodents, oher predators), by wind (gulls, birds of prey, insects, fungus, microorganisms), whatever. If a larger agressive predator like a monitor lizard makes it to an island where birds have become flightless, it will kill them and eat them all. Situations like that happen without man's help. Man has certainly helped this process along, but he is far from the sole reason it happens.

tuckerg

Here in some parts of Ireland,Rhododerians(spelling?) have become a pest.Cant wait till maples,white pines,black pines et al get to that stage .Roll on the next 1000000 years