Photo Gallery

Healthy cycads growing in the southern savanas of Guam. Cycas micronesica K.D.Hill is the only native gymnosperm from the Mariana Islands. It is endemic to Guam and the surrounding islands and can be found in numerous habitats.

Cycads in coastal habitat of northern Guam.

Guam cycad covered with Asian cycad scale insect. In many cases the plant dies within one year of infestation.

Cycad petiole completely covered with scale. Without intervention infestation is lethal.

Scale-eating ladybug beetle, Rhizobius lophanthae. In 2004 WPTRC entomologist, Dr. Aubrey Moore, imported this bio-control beetle from Maui. These beetles feed only on scale insects and were released on wild fadang (Chamorro name for cycad) plants throughout Guam to control the scale population.

 Dr. Irene Terry fits cycad plant with monitoring device. Her work and collaboration with Dr. Marler revealed that cycads attract and disperse insects using aromatic compounds.

Irene Terry monitors temperature to gain an understanding of  how cycads use signals to interact with insects in Guam's forests.

 Thomas Marler fills a void in the literature regarding cycad biochemistry with his research on seed chemistry.

Concentration of steryl glucosides decline as cycad seeds age. These two-year-old seeds are at the appropriate age for preparing flour which the Chamorro people used in their diet.

Cycads most likely beyond recovery due to the onslaught of the invasive asian scale.  

Leaf damage caused by alien insects. Food synthesis by the remaining green leaves cannot keep up with the energy needs of the plant. 

 Michael Calonje supported cycad research with one month of independent work in Guam and Rota to characterize the population in 25 distinct locations. He is the cycad biologist with the Montgomery Botanical Center in Miami, Florida.

Eric Brenner is an expert in plant molecular genetics and genomics. He is Assistant Curator with the New York Botanical Garden and is interested in looking at the unique seed structure of Guam's cycads that allows them to float from island to island. He has supported several projects that Dr. Marler conducted in Guam, Rota, and Tinian.

A cycad conservation project funded by the US Navy establishes a collection of Guam's cycad plants on the neighboring island of Tinian.

 Young planting in Tinian of Guam cycad in a conservation project funded by the US Navy.

Thomas Marler uses global positioning technology to mark the location of a newly planted Cycas micronesica seedling in Tinian.