An American biologist is warning that unless the Pacific's feral goats are controlled or eradicated, many of the region's native plants will not survive.
Mark Chynoweth's study, published in Pacific Science, notes that goats have done well in the region because they are extreme generalists capable of surviving on seawater and a wide variety of food.
He says because the Pacific's native plants have evolved without predators, they lack protection and so the goats eat them all first.
"And then that will open up space for non-native plant species to invade and then we start to see this ecosystem change, right? So if we start losing all the native plant species and they're replaced by non-native species, that may also encourage habitat change and non-native wildlife species such as bird species to invade."
But Mark Chynoweth says getting rid of feral goats can be difficult in the Pacific because people like to hunt and eat them.
