Coconuts as Invasive Exotics?

[JasonD]

I read an article about Cocos nucifera on Palmyra Atoll in the Stanford University News recently. Researchers discovered that the coconut groves on the island don't attract much native wildlife (birds) and thereby reduce the fertility of the soils (lack of guano).

It inspired my recent post on the Palm Broker blog. Check it out: http://floragrubb.com/pbBlog/.

[PalmatierMeg]

I suppose that is certainly possible, esp. if Cocos are crowding out native plants. BTW, what are the atoll's native plants, trees, palms? One advantage of invasive coconuts over invasives like Syagrus and Washingtonias is that Cocos seeds are quite large, fewer, thus easier to deal with. And with an island/atoll that small, mitigation, i.e., removal of invasive Cocos is well within the realm of possibility. Not cheap, but manageable. Then replace the Cocos with native species. My company has done that with melaleuca, australian pine and brazilian pepper on a 4600-acre island wildlife preserve in FL.

[Tyrone]

I wish they were invasive at my place.

How do they know that the coconuts are not part of the original vegetation?

Coconuts inhabit an area that many plants just don't grow, just above the high tide mark, at the forest beach boundary. I noticed this in the Daintree rainforest in North Queensland. The coconuts were all along the beach boundary above the high tide mark and maybe along stream banks, but never in the forest. They can't handle low light conditions competing with other plants. It's interesting that the same argument came up in North Queensland that the coconut was invading the forest and was a weed that "must be removed". But I never saw it in the forest. I saw coconuts in some peoples gardens further away from the beach, but where they got too much dense shade from the wild forest they looked terrible and mouldy. I think where some may see an encroachment of the coconut is where the original dark forest has been cleared by man, and the light levels are now high enough to allow the coconut to colonise. But look at them all on a beach. They all lean away from the coast to absorb as much light as possible especially reflected light off of the water.

I don't buy "the coconut is a weed" argument at all.

Best regards

Tyrone

[JASON M]

I wish they were invasive at my place.

I second that!

[tikitiki]

Third

I wish they were invasive at my place.

I second that!

[Explorer]

I always thought the seeds where spread by the currents and in this way could spread all over the world. And where conditions are right they could grow into palmtrees. And naturally they only grow along tropical coasts.

Alexander

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

I would bet that Cocos are native to Palmyra Island.

Any attempt to wipe them out would be just plain immoral.

jeff

[tropicbreeze]

Coconuts were considered weeds on the Great Barrier Reef islands and National Parks there removed a lot of them. But many of those were actually planted by people and then subsequently spread by fruits drifting. Later it was decided that they were native to some localities so the emphasis on removal has diminished. When I was on Hinchinbrook Island, all of which is a national park, there were coconuts growing on a lot of the beaches.

I don't know where Palmyra Atoll is located. Maybe it's a long way off from currents which would normally bring floating nuts in. In the early days sailors introduced a lot of animals and plants onto islands in case anyone was shipwrecked. Sort of like self regenerating food supplies. That caused a lot of environmental damage on some islands. Pigs, goats and rabbits were some of the most disasterous introductions.

[Don]

A very interesting article though it's rather vague on what plants are there and what is actually native. I think I'm going to read up on this atoll and maybe learn something in the process. More facts are needed before passing judgment.

[Kumar]

I wish they were invasive at my place.

How do they know that the coconuts are not part of the original vegetation?

Coconuts inhabit an area that many plants just don't grow, just above the high tide mark, at the forest beach boundary. I noticed this in the Daintree rainforest in North Queensland. The coconuts were all along the beach boundary above the high tide mark and maybe along stream banks, but never in the forest. They can't handle low light conditions competing with other plants. It's interesting that the same argument came up in North Queensland that the coconut was invading the forest and was a weed that "must be removed". But I never saw it in the forest. I saw coconuts in some peoples gardens further away from the beach, but where they got too much dense shade from the wild forest they looked terrible and mouldy. I think where some may see an encroachment of the coconut is where the original dark forest has been cleared by man, and the light levels are now high enough to allow the coconut to colonise. But look at them all on a beach. They all lean away from the coast to absorb as much light as possible especially reflected light off of the water.

I don't buy "the coconut is a weed" argument at all.

Best regards

Tyrone

I agree. Over here, Coconuts are extensively found in urban areas where the natural plant cover has been removed but despite its popularity among townsfolk and farmers it never manages to penetrate too deep into forested areas - where the few palms to be seen are ironically the slow growing p.sylvestris and borassus. So I'd say it can hardly be termed as a 'weed'.

[Zeeth]

I've gotta agree with Tyrone on this one

[Kai]

Hmmm interesting... Somehow they seem to have invaded my livingroom too...

[Xenon]

I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to extract coconuts from their "non-native" areas, even though we don't know for sure where they came from. I was under the impression that C.nucifera was native to the South Pacific?

Jonathan

[PalmatierMeg]

This morning we read the local newspaper and - well, howdy, the first question to the gardening column involved "invasive, exotic coconuts." So I am copying the question and answer here.

Question: According to the 2009 IFAS assessment list, coconut palms are not recommended and are considered invasive here in South Florida. However, unincorporated Lee County has them on the list of "protected" trees and palms. How much trouble will I be in for replacing dead coconut palms with another palm like a sabal(sic)?

Answer: For those trying to avoid planting exotic invasive plants, there are two encompassing lists worth checking. The IFAS Assessment list is from the University of Florida. The other list is from the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Both lists survey the entire state with regards to what plants are detrimental to natural areas.

In addition, a third list, Lee County Development Code, prohibits plants that are invasive to Lee County natural areas. All three lists have plants in common. However, the coconut palm is treated discordantly by all these lists. It is considered an invasive species by IFAS; not listed by FLEP-PC, and thus not prohibited by that council; and finally, it is often considered a native species by the Lee County Development Code. Thus, a case of science versus sentimentality.

OK, class, time for a pop quiz. Only in Florida......

[Kumar]

This morning we read the local newspaper and - well, howdy, the first question to the gardening column involved "invasive, exotic coconuts." So I am copying the question and answer here.

Question: According to the 2009 IFAS assessment list, coconut palms are not recommended and are considered invasive here in South Florida. However, unincorporated Lee County has them on the list of "protected" trees and palms. How much trouble will I be in for replacing dead coconut palms with another palm like a sabal(sic)?

Answer: For those trying to avoid planting exotic invasive plants, there are two encompassing lists worth checking. The IFAS Assessment list is from the University of Florida. The other list is from the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Both lists survey the entire state with regards to what plants are detrimental to natural areas.

In addition, a third list, Lee County Development Code, prohibits plants that are invasive to Lee County natural areas. All three lists have plants in common. However, the coconut palm is treated discordantly by all these lists. It is considered an invasive species by IFAS; not listed by FLEP-PC, and thus not prohibited by that council; and finally, it is often considered a native species by the Lee County Development Code. Thus, a case of science versus sentimentality.

OK, class, time for a pop quiz. Only in Florida......

This is confusing - How can anyone get into trouble for replacing a dead tree, even if it's protected? Or does protection extend beyond the life of the plant ?

[Zeeth]

Interesting... I wouldn't think that coconuts would be invasive anywhere, let alone in Fl, where they either have to deal with LY or exceptionally cold winters. Also, their seed is so big and bulky, the only places they would be able to spread would be on the shoreline, and our cities have already, for lack of a better word, raped most of the shoreline in Southern Florida, so they don't really stand to lose anything if a coconut palm lands ashore and starts growing in front of the 50 story condos. Also, the malayan dwarves that are so frequently planted don't really do as well on pure sand as the Jamaican talls do. I call BS on coconuts being invasive.

As for native, maybe. Endemic no, but if you define "native" as present before columbus, then we really don't know. Columbus didn't find coconuts when he landed in the Caribbean, but that doesn't mean that they were non-existent. Roystonea wasn't discovered until 1791, and they're everywhere in the Caribbean, so it shouldn't be out of the question that Columbus didn't see a coconut palm when he landed. Maybe they were there, but the natives didn't really exploit them as much as they did in the Pacific. I think we probably can't tell for sure whether or not they are native, but they are "Florida friendly" at the very least.

[Lowey]

Coconuts were considered weeds on the Great Barrier Reef islands and National Parks there removed a lot of them. But many of those were actually planted by people and then subsequently spread by fruits drifting. Later it was decided that they were native to some localities so the emphasis on removal has diminished. When I was on Hinchinbrook Island, all of which is a national park, there were coconuts growing on a lot of the beaches.

I don't know where Palmyra Atoll is located. Maybe it's a long way off from currents which would normally bring floating nuts in. In the early days sailors introduced a lot of animals and plants onto islands in case anyone was shipwrecked. Sort of like self regenerating food supplies. That caused a lot of environmental damage on some islands. Pigs, goats and rabbits were some of the most disasterous introductions.

Coconuts that grow on the high water line anywhere in the Pacific should be considered native in my opinion as currents can be affected at times by other events.

The previous lunacy of removing Coconut trees from National Park islands in Australia was just someone inside National Parks and Wildlife attempting to justify the funding they receive from the Government and more than likely their jobs, thank God sense has prevailed here at least.

[Dave-Vero]

John Dowe was in Orlando today. He commented that coconuts were present in Australia before the British showed up. His book on Australia's palms hasn't been shipped yet, so I can't cite his words from the book.

In the Caribbean (including Bahamas and Florida), it's clear that coconuts are introduced. Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne fudged the matter by planting rows of coconuts at the lighthouse as "historic" species that had been associated with the lighthouse. They are banned elsewhere in the park, which was planted with native species after hurricane Andrew of 1992.

[Tyrone]

Coconuts were considered weeds on the Great Barrier Reef islands and National Parks there removed a lot of them. But many of those were actually planted by people and then subsequently spread by fruits drifting. Later it was decided that they were native to some localities so the emphasis on removal has diminished. When I was on Hinchinbrook Island, all of which is a national park, there were coconuts growing on a lot of the beaches.

I don't know where Palmyra Atoll is located. Maybe it's a long way off from currents which would normally bring floating nuts in. In the early days sailors introduced a lot of animals and plants onto islands in case anyone was shipwrecked. Sort of like self regenerating food supplies. That caused a lot of environmental damage on some islands. Pigs, goats and rabbits were some of the most disasterous introductions.

Coconuts that grow on the high water line anywhere in the Pacific should be considered native in my opinion as currents can be affected at times by other events.

The previous lunacy of removing Coconut trees from National Park islands in Australia was just someone inside National Parks and Wildlife attempting to justify the funding they receive from the Government and more than likely their jobs, thank God sense has prevailed here at least.

Agree. If someone was to bring a coconut to a previously coconut free area, would they plant them at the high tide mark????????? I doubt it. They'd plant it around their beach front Bungalow, or Balinese style Beach hut. Coconuts growing near the high tide mark landed their naturally in my opinion. Also, anywhere coastal in the tropics is likely to get coconuts self colonising the high tide mark as the conditions should be ideal provided rainfall is high enough and consistent enough. Anywhere coastal, tropical and rainy enough is the coconuts rightful domain as a sea travelling species. The nuts float all over the globe by themselves (even Norway). I can't believe that National Parks did that in Hinchinbrook Island. That's what I call Eco-terrorism.

Best regards

Tyrone

[tropicbreeze]

The term "weed" is very imprecise and subjective. Anything can be a weed if you don't want it.

There's lots of coconuts sprouting around my place. I can't be bothered dehusking them, don't want to eat them, don't want to start a copra or coconut milk enterprise, can't give them away. So they're thrown in an out of the way place and end up sprouting. I've got small "forests" of coconuts coming up. The previous owner of my place used to throw them into the swamp, that's still got lots of dead shells (they don't grow in swamps). But I wouldn't call them weeds, I've plenty of other plants over running my place that come under that category, both officially and by my reckoning.

In some spots on Hinchinbrook Island there were some sawn off stumps of coconuts. So looks like they started removal. But there's still lots of very large palms there now so the job was only partially done at most. The reason they never occured on the mainland, I've heard, was that the termites would wipe them out. I know termites can play havoc with them here.

[Lowey]

There are plenty of trees on the mainland coast of NQ, most of them got there naturally and despite termites and other pests ( like the National Parks and Wildlife Department )I am glad to say they are thriving

[Explorer]

I have heard that in the old days before the Europeans colonised Australia the aboriginal people collected coconuts wich got washed ashore. So they had no chance of germinating and growing into a tree. But after mosrt of the aboriginals where gone the coconuts could colonize the coast of Northern Queensland. Well maybe they could do reasearch on pollen of Cocos nucifera in swamp and lake deposits.

Alexander

[Tyrone]

I thought that the aboriginals knew how to use pretty much every part of the coconut palm and the FNQ aboriginal tribes consider the coconut part of their culture. That kind of tells me that coconuts lined the shores long before white settlement. Just because Captain Cook didn't mention them doesn't mean they weren't there. The botanical scientists on board (Banks) were likely more interested in new species than ones they already knew of.

Best regards

Tyrone

[amazondk]

Would not everything on such a small island in the middle of the Pacific be invasive? It would be hard to believe that coconuts would be new arrivals anyway in the middle of an ocean full of islands full of coconuts.

dk

[Don]

Here's an article that says scale is the problem not cocos though cocos are increasing in numbers it would seem the loss of dense canopy came 1st enabling the cocos more area to grow ie: more sun.Terrestrial Resources of Palmyra National Wildlife Refuge

[JasonD]

Here's an article that says scale is the problem not cocos though cocos are increasing in numbers it would seem the loss of dense canopy came 1st enabling the cocos more area to grow ie: more sun.Terrestrial Resources of Palmyra National Wildlife Refuge

Thanks for this contribution. I will update my post on Palmbroker.com with the information in this article.

What I find interesting is the presence of the coconut crab. What are its habitat requirements? Does its ability to consume coconuts equate to dependency on that species, or can it thrive & reproduce without Cocos nucifera?

If it's clearly thriving on Palmyra, a couple of possible scenarios come to mind: 1) In early stages of its life cycle it forms part of the zooplankton and is capable of colonizing territory with suitable habitat (pre-existing mature coconut groves required?), or it can travel inter-island at a later stage of its life cycle; 2) it was introduced by chance or intention at a point when coconuts had arrived and already begun fruiting; 3) it was introduced by chance or intention long before coconuts, and survived on pre-existing forage species, enjoying the addition of coconuts later.

Also, the Caribbean scale attack on the Pisonia grandis could easily be the key to coconuts' expansion. It would be interesting to learn whether the scale affects the Pisonia equally throughout the forest or is more detrimental at the interface with the coconuts, where the soils were shown to be less fertile (and the plants less nutrient-rich) by the Stanford researchers. This might indicate that the coconuts are influencing the success of the scale.

Fascinating article!

[JasonD]

Speaking of Pisonia, I saw a beautiful variegated specimen of a New Zealand-Lord Howe-Norfolk-Australia-Hawai'i native species, P. brunoniana (or possibly P. umbellifera, from Polynesia & Australia), at Richard Josephson's garden today at the Northern California Palm Society's meeting. Nice big leaves with three-tone variegation: cream, pale green, and regular green, plus pinkish overlay on new growth.

Richard's garden contains an impressive collection of rarities, both palms and other plants.

[John Case]

Speaking of Pisonia, I saw a beautiful variegated specimen of a New Zealand-Lord Howe-Norfolk-Australia-Hawai'i native species, P. brunoniana (or possibly P. umbellifera, from Polynesia & Australia), at Richard Josephson's garden today at the Northern California Palm Society's meeting. Nice big leaves with three-tone variegation: cream, pale green, and regular green, plus pinkish overlay on new growth.

Richard's garden contains an impressive collection of rarities, both palms and other plants.

Hmmm....some of those other plants were very interesting......

[Explorer]

Well the coconuts are good for those crabs. So they have their role in that ecosystem as well.

Alexander