Can Forests Survive Without Birds? News story originally written
on January 30, 2009 Take one species out of an ecosystem and you
could see lots of changes in the other living things. This is
what is happening in the forests on the western Pacific island
of Guam where bird populations have been decimated. There used
to be birds on Guam until the brown tree snake was accidentally
brought to the island in the 1940s. The snakes multiplied as
they ate Guamís birds. Today 10 of the 12 forest bird species
are gone and there are about 13,000 snakes per square mile in
Guamís forests. Haldre Rogers, graduate student from the
University of Washington, wants to know how the loss of birds is
affecting Guamís forests. She and a team of researchers have
been examining whether the loss of birds is having an effect on
the forest trees. They are studying whether there are changes in
how the seeds from these trees are spread through the forest.
Birds move seeds around a forest. They eat the fruit from a tree
swallowing the see