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Arctic Fox Invasion
Aleutian Islands, Alaska
In the late 1700s, fur traders populated over 400 Alaskan islands with nonnative arctic foxes. The new predators ate most of the seabirds on the islands they inhabited.
The foxes’ effects have trickled down the food chain. Islands with foxes have fewer bird droppings, which fertilize the soil. Now, their plant life is sparse. Islands without foxes, however, are covered with lush grasslands.
The US government has removed foxes from 40 of the islands. Still, it will take decades for their ecosystems to recover.
Paper
Science, Vol. 307, Issue 5717, 1959, 25 March 2005
Researchers
D. A. Croll, University of California
Santa Cruz (lead)
Image Credits
MODIS satellite data -
NASA
Arctic fox – USFWS
Atlantic puffin – USFWS
Crested
auklet – Art Sowls/USFWS
Data Sources:
- AAAS: Introduced Foxes Transformed Vegetation on Aleutian Islands From Lush Grasslands to Tundrahttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/uoc--ift032105.php
- How Foxes in the Aleutian Henhouse Doomed Islands' Plant Lifehttp://www.sustainablefootprint.org/en/cms/gebruikerscherm.asp?itemId=325
- Croll-Tershy Laboratoryhttp://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/croll/main.html
- IUCN Species Survival Commission Canid Specialist Grouphttp://www.canids.org/SPPACCTS/arcticfx.htm