Conservation Metrosideros polymorpha

a specimen of species colonizing thirty-year-old pahoehoe flows kīlauea @ kalapana, hawaii.

metrosideros polymorpha forests in hawaiʻi have been invaded myriad alien species. in wet forests these include strawberry guava (psidium littorale), albizia (falcataria moluccana), , purple plague (miconia calvescens). in drier areas, problematic invaders include faya tree (myrica faya) , christmasberry (schinus terebinthifolius). alien grasses such meadow ricegrass (ehrharta stipoides) may form understory prevents or inhibits natural regeneration of forests. in drier areas, m. polymorpha has compete silk oak (grevillea robusta) , fountain grass (pennisetum setaceum). more recently, strain of ceratocystis fimbriata has attacked ʻōhiʻa forests of big island, causing rapid oh ia death. while ʻōhiʻa remains extremely abundant, species depend on such ʻakekeʻe (loxops caeruleirostris) , longhorn beetles in genus plagithmysus have become endangered due shrinkage of forest areas.