Are the most remote islands of the planet safe from the invasion of exotic species thanks to their isolation? It may seem paradoxical, but since man has knocked down natural barriers, it is those islands that host the most invasive species, with risk to their biodiversity.
The US publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) publishes a report on what is happening with the biodiversity of the Earth’s islands.
The signatories of this work, belonging to a score of universities and research centers in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, recall that the islands are often “hot spots for biodiversity”, places where evolution has been tested over millions of years. years to flora and fauna, until shaping species that often only exist in its territory.
Separated from the continents by hundreds or thousands of kilometers, few species used to reach the islands and only those with the greatest capacity to adapt to their territory were able to colonize them.
As a result of this process of natural selection, accentuated by its remoteness from the continents, “the islands harbor a disproportionately high number of unique species or with a geographically restricted habitat, which contribute significantly to global biodiversity .
According to teams at the Universidad Católica, “analyzing the January-July average of 2018, it can be seen that the greatest pessimism shown by the ICC (-2.0 points) with respect to the same period of 2017 is driven by expectations at the level of the economy This is due to the fact that this sub-index, despite being the most recovered in the month, continues to be the one with the highest contraction in the year (-4.2 points), particularly in terms of one-year expectations. (-5.7 points) “.
