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Re: Go native, for the birds' sake



On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 jspippen@duke.edu wrote:
>
> While I agree that exotic invasives are bad, here's a question to ponder.
> Many of us enjoyed some great birds at Lake Mattamuskeet two weekends ago,
> especially along the causeway: Western Kingbird, several lingering
> warblers, etc.  All of these were surviving there because of the food and
> shelter offered by all the Chinese Privet.  In fact, scores of outstanding
> bird records have come from this causeway of privet over the decades, if
> I'm not mistaken.  Do I gather from the recent discussions that the "right
> thing to do" would be to go chop it all down?  Is this what birders want?

I think there are two issues to mention here:

1. The point is to not just get rid of the exotics; the point is to
restore the ecosystems. So removal of the privets would have to be
accompanied by planting of native species like Yaupon Holly, Viburnums,
etc. This would slow things down for a few years or so while the new
plants grew and filled in, but eventually might lead to there being *more*
rarities there, and those rarities surviving longer, as a result of the
native species having more insect food in them and fruit higher in lipids
and protein (as opposed to the typically high-carb avian junk food most of
the exotics produce). Many exotic plants have been spread becase they are
used in erosion control (Elaeagnus-Olives, Kudzu, English Ivy), so natives
have to be established to replace the exotics in this capacity.

2. As in many cases, we have to weigh the rarities that we value as
listers against the breeding birds we value as conservationists. Is it
really worth Mattamuskeet having a few more Western Kingbirds, Wilson's
Warblers, and so on - species which are quite common in the western US,
and which occur as vagrants in many places which don't have privets - if
to have them we're threatening the habitats of those species which we
might find less exciting, but which are the birds that make the Carolinas
special on a national scale, such as Bachman's and Henslow's Sparrows?

As a third point, of course, there's also the issue of bird value vs.
value of other taxa. Are the vagrant birds - again, species which are
plenty common elsewhere, and which occur as vagrants at sites with native
vegetation too - worth protecting at the expense of all the other taxa -
plants, fungi, insects, reptiles, amphibians - which disappear as the
exotic species spread?

Not that my stance on the issue was in any doubt, but that's my
reasoning...

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/