This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: In 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph). It devastated communities and infrastructure, was associated with nearly 3,000 deaths and caused tens of billions of dollars in losses.
The storm was a disaster for nature, too. On land, severe forest damage led to dramatic declines in forest birds. In the sea, storms moved large amounts of sand and mud across the seafloor, burying and destroying native shallow seagrass meadows.
However, amid all this destruction, some species not only survived but thrived. One example is the invasive Halophila stipulacea, a seagrass native to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean that has been introduced to the Caribbean and the coast of the continental United States through human activities. Invasive species are those that have never occurred in an area before but have been brought there by humans.
Once established, they proliferate and spread to other regions like an advancing wave that is difficult to stop. Following the storm, the invasive seagrass rapidly recovered and spread throughout the shallow Caribbean seascape, reaching dominance in some areas. This single invasive species has the potential to substantially alter fish communities that depend on a diversity of native seagrasses for shelter.
Climate change may not have caused Hurricane Maria, but this example illustrates how extreme events can damage native communities and create opportunities for invasive species to spread. In our recently published study, we tested the hypothesis that climate change can boost invasion potential through a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis involving 67 studies of 30 marine invasive species. Across the studies we examined, climate change generally increased the abundance or establishment of invasive species, but the strength of this relationship varied among species, environmental conditions and study designs.
Invasive species get a bad rap, and rightly so. They cause dramatic declines in native species. In some cases, they have precipitated local extinctions.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
