Lead
Two hundred years ago, Macquarie Island was still quite ecologically sound, with a large number of birds inhabiting the island, which is of great significance for ecological protection and is also recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
But with the rise of the seafaring industry, a large British ship with a crew of dozens began to arrive at Macquarie Island, and a story of Macquarie's ecological disaster began.
1. The ecological disaster at Macquarie Island.
A botanical researcher who spent two years investigating the botanical landscape of Macquarie Island finally discovered that the ecology of Macquarie Island had changed a lot, and instead of the beautiful scenery it used to be, it was full of bird waste and some delicate droppings.
The excrement also introduced a lot of moss and moss plants to cover the trees where the birds lived, making the trees very scattered and the birds' nests scarce.
For this reason, almost none of these birds have a place to live, and they have to build their nests on the ground instead of perching on the cliffs hundreds of meters high.
Plant researchers thought there might be a lot of bird decline, so he decided to travel to the north-east of Macquarie Island to take an observation, only to be taken aback by what he saw.
The decline in the number of birds he had assumed was not at all, but rather the number of birds on Macquarie Island was much more prolific, and the number of birds perched on the trees was also very high.
Most importantly, plant researchers discovered squirrels on the island, a species that was not found on Macquarie Island, and there are very few plants on the island.
Therefore, it is very likely that Macquarie Island was caused by human intervention, which caused this serious ecological disaster.
According to scholars' research, many of the plants they found on Macquarie Island grow in the Mediterranean climate, which is why vegetation cannot grow on Macquarie Island.
This can also prove that humans are on Macquarie Island because they want to modify or intervene in the flora and fauna of Macquarie Island.
Plant researchers conducted a detailed analysis of the bird problem on Macquarie Island, and in the course of the analysis, it was found that the number of sparrows living on Macquarie Island was very large.
Later, local farmers introduced sparrows from Macquarie Island, mainly to deal with some grain in the fields, which could not only reduce the pressure on farmers' crops, but also solve the problem of survival of baby sparrows.
However, what the farmers did not expect at that time was that the number of sparrows introduced was too large, and to a certain extent, it could only reduce the number of pests and diseases in the fields.
So the local government decided to move the sparrows out in moderation, so a boat went to Macquarie Island to remove the sparrows from the farm and release them.
But after the war, with the British invasion of Algeria, the local Muslim people rebelled against the British aggression, so many Algerian Muslims were captured and imprisoned by the British.
In prison, there is only one warden in charge of the Algerian Muslim population, but there are too many of them for him to manage alone.
So the warden began to observe the rats in the prison, because there are many rats, and they can alleviate the problem of food shortage.
So local farmers then took the rats from Macquarie Island and placed them in prison to solve the food problem, but with it came a deadly threat.
The rats grew in number to the point that they once spiraled out of control and multiplied on a large scale, but due to the closed nature of the prison, the rats were unable to find food to eat.
They then go and eat the paper, books, grease and other edible things in the prison, but when the prison food is finished, the rats will embark on a journey to find food.
However, there is not much vegetation on Macquarie Island and it is difficult to find food, so these rats can only eat the eggs and young of the birds.
Given this situation, there are only two ways to solve it, either a significant reduction in the rat population, or a bird migration.
So the local government made a hasty decision to control the number of sparrows on Macquarie Island, so the boats went to Macquarie Island again to remove the sparrows from the prison and release them in a moderate amount.
Second, the introduction of mice.
But as the sparrows moved out of Macquarie, local farmers believed that fewer birds would lead to more snakes, which were not found on Macquarie.
Therefore, they suggested that farmers bring in some ferrets from Mayotte to eliminate the problem of excessive rat populations, but this also led to a series of ecological problems.
It wasn't until later that an Englishman observed and analyzed Macquarie Island, and when he learned about the ecology of Macquarie Island, he decided to conduct a thorough survey of Macquarie's flora and fauna.
The investigation report was then submitted, in which it was clearly stated that there were no snakes on Macquarie Island and that the introduction of snakes was unnecessary, and the proposal was rejected.
Later, due to the frequent appearance of British ships on Macquarie Island, a British sailor found a relatively small rat on Macquarie Island, which was very large and suitable for breeding, so he named it "Rabbit".
Because of the large number of rabbits, they can solve basic food problems, so the local government has carried out appropriate breeding and stocking of rabbits on Macquarie Island.
But at the same time, another captain brought two domestic cats from England, whose rations were used to deal with mice, but domestic cats did not appear in the rabbit's food chain.
It wasn't until after the disappearance of the cats that the captain found a large number of rabbits on Macquarie Island, and because of the large number of rabbits, the cats also reproduced.
However, the number of domestic cats at this time is also limited, so when their numbers are no longer increasing, there will be a large increase in the number of rabbits.
This was followed by a "100 domestic cats to 100 rabbits" program, which was used to control the rabbit population, but it did not work very well.
By 1958, Macquarie's rabbit population had proliferated to an uncontrollable level, destroying vegetation and land, and even eating human vineyards.
Later, stoats and ponies were introduced, but these two animals preyed on birds, and the extinction of the species occurred.
Third, the number of rabbits is safely controlled.
As the number of rabbits skyrocketed, the number of rabbits in Macquarie Island was close to 6 million by 1960, and the only way to control the rabbit population was to go back in time and reintroduce alien species for further control.
These alien species also introduce many diseases that cause the death of many plants and animals, but in the end, these rabbits adapt to the changes in the environment and gradually develop immunity.
As diseases continued to emerge on Macquarie Island, rabbits were herdally immune, and they became the first group in the world to be immune to rabbit myxomavirus.
After 1980, the local government of the Chewonkis Islands carried out a large-scale hunting operation on Macquarie Island, and finally in 1984, the number of rabbits on Macquarie Island was finally controlled to less than 5,000.
However, at this time, a disease called "myxoma" appeared on Macquarie Island, and due to the herd immunity of rabbits on Macquarie Island, it had little effect for a while.
But as the disease grew, eventually in 1989, Macquarie's rabbit population plummeted.
It wasn't until 1991 that an animal protection worker on Macquarie Island found an emaciated cat on a beach with a fast-wasting disease.
In light of this situation, the staff weighed whether the cat was a free-range animal, but it was eventually released, despite the fact that the vegetation and birds that live forever on Macquarie Island are small.
It wasn't until 2000 later that the staff found a large number of cats on Macquarie Island, and Macquarie Island fell into a cat disaster, and cats began to prey on birds on a large scale, resulting in the extinction of many birds on Macquarie Island.
It wasn't until 2009 that Macquarie's ecology improved, the bird population returned to normal levels, and Macquarie's ecology gradually returned to its former beauty.
epilogue
Foolish human intervention in nature can sometimes lead to irreversible ecological catastrophes, so more caution is needed, as well as continuous monitoring and management measures.
You know, the ecosystem is very fragile, once broken, it is difficult to repair, although our ecological environment is getting better and better, but the consequences and lessons are there, we need to seriously summarize this accident and protect our earth.