In Guam, the native cycad species, Cycas micronesica, has become endangered as a result of three invasive species that infested the region in the last decade: the cycad blue butterfly, the cycad aulacaspis scale, and a leaf miner. 90 percent of the unique tree has already died off. The University of Guam recently conducted research on the problem, finding that all three insects changed the chemical makeup of the leaves. This shift resulted in sped-up leaf litter decomposition, which has thrown many biological processes that rely in the once-common tree’s steady cycle off-balance.

When we think “invasive species”, we often think of a population that destroys the food chain of or steals habitat space from a native species. What we often don’t consider is that the invader may be causing alterations for other organisms not only externally, but maybe internally as well, as it does in this case. Understanding that species can be affected in both ways is frightening because it proves just how fragile one species can be to another; its entire genetic makeup can be altered as an indirect result of the varying soil properties or other nutrient-retaining conditions it relies on.

Marler, T. (2016, November 4). Non-native Insects Change More Than Native Host Plant Survival? Phys.Org. Retrieved November 19, 2016 from http://phys.org/news/2016-11-non-native-insects-native-host-survival.html.