Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T14:57:33.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The status of two exotic terrestrial Crustacea on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Penelope Greenslade
Affiliation:
School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
Brett A. Melbourne
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Kendi F. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Mark I. Stevens
Affiliation:
Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

Two terrestrial Crustacea, Puhuruhuru patersoni (Amphipoda: Talitridae) and Styloniscus otakensis (Isopoda: Styloniscidae), were discovered on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island in 1991 and 1992, respectively. Each species was identified as having been described, and previously only known, from South Island, New Zealand and from some of New Zealand's southern offshore islands. The distributions of the two species on Macquarie Island have been mapped in detail on four occasions over the last fifteen years, each mapping extending previously existing distributions or showing changes from the earlier records. Details of all four years' mapping are figured. It is concluded that these species were most likely introduced between 1810 and 1919 and that populations of the amphipod have not expanded to any extent in the twelve years between 1992 and 2004 but that the isopod has slightly increased its range. Both species are macrodetritivores, a trophic group not well represented on the island, so there is the possibility of an irreversible change to the Macquarie Island ecosystem if they become more widespread with warming climates. However no such change has yet been observed. The advantages and feasibility of removing these two exotic species from the island is discussed, as are the possible routes by which the species were introduced to the island.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon. 2003. Macquarie Island nature reserve and World Heritage Area. Draft Management Plan 2003. Hobart: Parks and Wildife Service.Google Scholar
Chown, S.L., Hull, B., and Gaston, K.J.. 2005. Human impacts, energy availability and invasion across Southern Ocean Islands. Global Ecology and Biogeography 14: 528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cumpston, J.S. 1968. Macquarie Island. Melbourne: Antarctic Division Department of External Affairs.Google Scholar
Duncan, K.W. 1969. The ecology of two species of terrestrial Amphipoda Crustacea: Family Talitridae living in waste grassland. Pedobiologia 9: 323341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, K.W. 1994. Fauna of New Zealand No 31: terrestrial Talitridae (Crustacea:Amphipoda). Canterbury New Zealand: Manaaki Whenua Press.Google Scholar
Farnsworth, E.J., and Rosovsky, J.. 1993. The ethics of ecological field experimentation. Conservation Biology 7: 463472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenslade, P. 2006. Invertebrates of Macquarie Island. Kingston: Australian Antarctic Division.Google Scholar
Greenslade, P., and Farrow, R.. 1994. Insect migration and monitoring studies on Macquarie Island. Tasmania: Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage (ASAC Project 104. Unpublished report).Google Scholar
Greenslade, P., Stevens, M.I., and Edwards, R.. in press. Invasion of two exotic terrestrial flatworms to subantarctic Macquarie Island. Polar Biology doi:10.1007/s00300.007-0254-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, B.S., Wood, S., and Cheshire, M.V.. 1989. Liberalization of 14C labelled plant material by Porcellio scaber (Crustacea: Isopoda). Pedobiologia 33: 355360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunnarsson, T., Sundin, P., and Tunlid, A.. 1988. Importance of leaf litter fragmentation for bacterial growth. Oikos 52: 303308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, A. 1894. Notes on a visit to Macquarie Island. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 27: 559579.Google Scholar
Hampicke, U. 1994. Ethics and economics of conservation. Biological Conservation 67: 219231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hänel, C., and Chown, S.. 1998. The impact of a small, alien invertebrate on a subantarctic terrestrial ecosystem: Lymnophyes minimus Diptera, Chironomidae at Marion Island. Polar Biology 20: 99106.Google Scholar
Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H., and Shachak, M.. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mawson, D. 1942. Macquarie Island, its geography and geology. Sydney: Government Printing Office (Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–1914, Scientific Reports, Series A, V).Google Scholar
Payne, R.W. (editor). 2002. The guide to Genstat. Part 2 statistics. Oxford: VSN International.Google Scholar
Petersen, H., and Luxton, M.. 1982. A comparative analysis of soil fauna populations and their role in decomposition processes. Oikos 39: 287388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, A.M.M. 1993. The distribution of coastal landhoppers (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) related to sea spray at Cox Bight, Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 127: 5560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, A.M.M., and Jackson, J.E.. 1995. The first record of a terrestrial landhopper (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) from Macquarie Island. Polar Biology 15: 419422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, A.M.M., and Morton, H.P.. 1986. Terrestrial amphipods (Crustacea Amphipoda Talitridae) and soil respiration. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 18: 197200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, A.M.M., Swain, R., and McCoull, C.J.. 2001. Salt spray limits the inland penetration of a coastally restricted invertebrate: a field experiment using landhoppers (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae). Functional Ecology 15: 435442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seastedt, T.R. 1984. The role of microarthropods in decomposition and mineralization processes. Annual Review of Entomology 29: 2546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selkirk, P., Seppelt, R.D., and Selkirk, D.R.. 1990. Subantarctic Macquarie Island: environment and biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Studies in Polar Research).Google Scholar
Slabber, S., and Chown, S.. 2002. The first record of a terrestrial crustacean, Porcellio scaber (Isopoda, Porcellionida), from subantarctic Marion Island. Polar Biology 25: 855858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephensen, K. 1927. Papers from Dr. Th. Mortensen's Pacific Expedition 1914–16. XL Crustacea from the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Vidensk Meddelelser Dansk naturhitorisk Forening 83: 289390.Google Scholar
Teuben, A.T., and Roelofsma, T.A.P.J.. 1990. Dynamic interactions between functional groups of soil arthropods and microorganisms during decomposition of coniferous litter in microcosm experiments. Biology and Fertility of Soils 9: 145151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townrow, K. 1989. Survey and excavation of historic sites on Macquarie Island. Tasmania: Department of Lands, Parks and Wildlife (Occasional Paper No. 20).Google Scholar
van Klinken, R.D., and Green, A.J.A.. 1992. The first record of Oniscidea, terrestrial Isopoda, from Macquarie Island. Polar Record 28 (166): 240242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Wensem, J. 1989. A terrestrial micro-ecosystem for measuring effects of pollutants on isopod-mediated litter decomposition. Hydrobiologia 188/189: 507–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar