Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Sep 14 (EFE).- No one knows exactly how or when it arrived on the Galapagos Islands, but the aggressive blackberry has spread far and wide on this Ecuadorian archipelago, the plant is a threat to flora and fauna, and appears to be here to stay.
How did blackberries get to the Galapagos?
This non-native species of blackberries can be found particularly at higher elevations, this specific kind, was brought in the 1970s or 1980s to those islands located 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador’s coast and has become a veritable menace to endemic species.
“The problem on Galapagos is that when it was introduced it didn’t have any competitor species, and took over empty ecological space,” Diego Ortiz, ecology and molecular biology researcher at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, told Efe.
Of the four types of blackberries on the Galapagos, the most widespread is “Rubus niveus,” a species native to southern Asia.
It was introduced to the archipelago as an agricultural endeavor when people were unaware of its potential impact, and before stringent biosafety measures were put in place to impede the entry of invasive species.
How do blackberries affect the ecosystem of the Galapagos?
The coordinator of the “Barcode Galapagos” citizen science project, which for the past year has been collecting samples of soil and water containing the DNA of land and marine species to make an inventory of the flora and fauna of those remote volcanic islands, Ortiz said the blackberry plant completely covers the ground in the areas where it spreads.
“It creates a blanket on the surface and underground that prevents other endemic species from developing,” Ortiz added.
The big picture
One of the main problems is the sheer number of seeds a single plant can produce, taking up to 7,000 per square meter, according to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.
Their impact on the ecosystem extends far beyond soil “conquest,” agricultural development, or the displacement of other species of flora. The blackberry plants also form a thick barrier for the passage of fauna due to their size with a height of more than 20 inches, a dense concentration, and thorn-covered branches.
Among the affected species are Galapagos tortoises, which are known as “gardeners” because they defecate millions of intact seeds during their slow migration between different areas of the islands and thereby renew the different ecosystems.
“The blackberries obstruct the passage of animals and impede these ecological processes,” Ortiz said.
The researcher said he is aware that at this stage blackberry plants are virtually impossible to eradicate.
“It’s very difficult to combat the blackberry but with the ‘Barcode Galapagos’ project we’re establishing a knowledge base for future controls, studying the soil to see what bacteria are associated with this plant and to learn how we can reduce its impact,” Ortiz said of a plant that has carried out a hostile takeover of that archipelago in a span of just three decades.
Text courtesy of EFE