For the last two decades, conservationists on the remote Pacific atoll of Palmyra have been working to uproot invasive palm trees and restore native wildlife.
For the last two decades, conservationists on the remote Pacific atoll of Palmyra have been working to uproot invasive palm trees and restore native wildlife. A new study finds that native fungi could be instrumental to that process.
Palmyra Atoll, a U.S. territory, was stripped of its forests in the 19th century to plant palm trees for the production of coconut oil. Even after its plantations were abandoned, palms continued to dominate the atoll, displacing native trees. Further threatening wildlife was the inadvertent introduction by the U.S. military of black rats, which destroyed seedlings and ate seabird hatchlings and crabs.
Conservationists working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have since made great progress in undoing this damage. In 2011, they eradicated black rats, and by 2022, they had removed 1.5 million coconut palms. But to fully restore Palmyra’s native Pisonia trees, they may need the help of the underground fungi that nourish island forests.
Read More: Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: Peggy_Marco via Pixabay
