Conservating Island Biodiversity: Unique Threats and Challenges

6/28/20231 min read

green trees on cliff
green trees on cliff

Invasive species – particularly mammals – pose an immense threat to biological diversity in island communities, and play a role in more than 85% of the loss of island species in the past 5 centuries (Spatz et al 2017). A mere 30 invasive species have been implicated in the global loss of 738 animal species (UNESCO).

Island species tend to be more vulnerable to anthropogenic influences due to their unique characteristics and circumstances. Such circumstances include islands’ geographical detachment from other areas and the relative lack of complexity of its ecosystems (Spatz et al 2017). They also tend to exist in modest numbers, have evolved to adapt to their particular circumstances, are not highly fecund, and are less prepared against predators compared to continental species (Spatz et al 2017). Indeed, in an assessment of 3,000 threatened species appearing on the IUCN Red List, 41% were noted to be island species (UNESCO).

Further, biodiversity conservation of island populations has progressed slowly, given that islands tend to be under-studied and less well-understood, likely because islands represent a small proportion of the world’s land, are often located in isolated regions, and are not reachable easily (Spatz et al 2017).

In order to stem further biodiversity loss in islands, island conservationists have turned their focus to a number of broad and more specific strategies.

First, practitioners have recognized the need to eliminate invasive mammal species from island ecosystems as well as to pre-emptively stop any further incursions by such species (Spatz et al 2017). Second, conservationists have also enlisted grassroots cooperation by local island communities in building physical barriers against invasive species, transporting vulnerable species to more secure environments, building capacity through education and training, and strengthening regulations relating to invasive species (Spatz et al 2017). Finally, by the use of databases such as the Threatened Island Biodiversity Database, information on affected islands and their respective threatened and invasive residents, can be more cohesively linked and acted upon.

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