Student researcher helps to repopulate endangered local cycad

Guam’s only native cycad, called fadang in CHamoru or Cycas micronesia in science circles, is currently endangered due to an invasive insect, Asian cycad scale, that was accidentally introduced to Guam in 2003. Once the most prolific tree in Guam forests with seeds falling to the ground and sprouting naturally, presently it is difficult to find mature seeds on the female cycad plants due to the ravages of the invasive scale.

“We currently have seedlings collected from fadang plants that have sprouted in our nursery that we will rear and eventually outplant at the Atantano Heritage Preserve in Piti,” explained Dr. Else Demeulenaere, “Ripe seeds have seed coats that are brown and slightly wrinkled and they are getting increasingly rare to find.”

The cycads in the nursery are grown inside a netted “greenhouse” to eliminate the potential of windblown scale insects in the crawler stage infecting the young seedlings.

Kaleb Leon Guerrero is in charge of the nursery, where he carefully monitors for any sign of cycad scale on the seedlings. “We are using environmentally friendly integrated pest management (IPM) procedures to keep the seedlings scale free,” noted Leon Guerrero.

The CIS seed bank becomes increasingly valuable as invasive plants, insects, and animals disturb the natural regeneration of landscapes in Guam.

UOG CIS is a partner lab for the NSF INCLUDES SEAS Islands Alliance Guam Hub with Associate Director Else Demeulenaere not only serving as a mentor for the program but also one of its co-principle investigators.