Declining soil Crustacea in a World Heritage Site caused by land nemertean

Invasive non-native species are of great concern throughout the world. Potential severity of the impacts of non-native species is assessed for effective conservation managements. However, such risk assessment is often difficult, and underestimating possible harm can cause substantial issues. Here, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-09, Vol.7 (1), p.12400-8, Article 12400
Main Authors: Shinobe, Shotaro, Uchida, Shota, Mori, Hideaki, Okochi, Isamu, Chiba, Satoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2178
631/158/672
Animals
Arthropoda
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Crustacea
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Humanities and Social Sciences
Indigenous species
Introduced species
Introduced Species - trends
Invasive species
Islands
Japan
multidisciplinary
Native species
Nonnative species
Predation
Predatory Behavior
Risk assessment
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Soil
Soil fauna
Soils
Tropical environment
Tropical environments
World Heritage Areas
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Summary:Invasive non-native species are of great concern throughout the world. Potential severity of the impacts of non-native species is assessed for effective conservation managements. However, such risk assessment is often difficult, and underestimating possible harm can cause substantial issues. Here, we document catastrophic decline of a soil ecosystem in the Ogasawara Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site, due to predation by non-native land nemertine Geonemertes pelaensis of which harm has been previously unnoticed. This nemertine is widely distributed in tropical regions, and no study has shown that it feeds on arthropods. However, we experimentally confirmed that G. pelaensis predates various arthropod groups. Soil fauna of Ogasawara was originally dominated by isopods and amphipods, but our surveys in the southern parts of Hahajima Island showed that these became extremely scarce in the areas invaded by G. pelaensis . Carnivorous arthropods decreased by indirect effects of its predation. Radical decline of soil arthropods since the 1980s on Chichijima Island was also caused by G. pelaensis and was first recorded in 1981. Thus, the soil ecosystem was already seriously damaged in Ogasawara by the nemertine. The present findings raise an issue and limitation in recognizing threats of non-native species.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-12653-4