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Ever wonder what Union professors are up to when they aren’t teaching? Just about everything, as it turns out. Nothing is beyond their collective reach or curious minds. Here’s a glimpse of the diverse and intriguing work they do.
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UNION COLLEGE | SUMMER 2021
Plant pirates of the Caribbean: Studying biological invasions J E F F C O R B I N , professor of biology
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n December 2016, Jeff Corbin was part of a team of ecologists who traveled to Cuba to learn how the country’s unique political and economic history might have altered its natural history. Specifically, they explored how the Cuban Revolution and the U.S. embargo that followed influenced the island’s present-day biodiversity. The group’s research showed that trade and tourism in the Caribbean are among the most important factors in understanding the establishment of invasive species in the region. However, Cuba’s recent history makes it stand out. “We found that Cuba has hundreds fewer invasive plants than expected for its area, and the plant species that do occupy Cuba are distinct from other large Caribbean islands,” Corbin said. “This result is consistent with Cuba’s limited economic openness, such as less trade and tourism per area compared to other Caribbean islands.”
In 1959, Fidel Castro helped rebels overthrow a U.S.-backed dictator and install a Communist-run country. That in turn led to a decades-long U.S. embargo. As Cuba’s revolutionary economy took hold, the Caribbean emerged as a tourist mecca, introducing hundreds of invasive species to the area. As Cuba became more economically self-sufficient, it was cut off from the forces that brought invasive species to the region, researchers found. “Species invasions are one of the major ways—along with climate change and pollution—that humans have altered the globe,” Corbin said. “When species arrive in new places they can have far-reaching effects on the region’s biodiversity and ecology. As a result, Cuba’s unique 20th century history resulted in hundreds of missing invasive plants there.” So what does the research mean going forward? According to Corbin, the work offers one of the best demonstrations of the role that tourism plays in spreading new species around the globe. This is critical, because Cuba is expanding its tourism economy, already the second-largest industry on the island. That, along with the prospect of thawing Cuba-U.S. relations, may open up the pathway for a species invasion. Cuba’s large size and unparalleled richness of native plants are indications of the Caribbean island’s capacity to support many more plants that are non-native in the future, Corbin said. Such a threat, Corbin warned, requires cooperation between Cuba and its neighbors, including the U.S. and Puerto Rico, to limit species moving to and from the island. “The explosive rates of species invasions in recent decades are the product of widespread exchange of
