Press Briefing
Supplementary Document
Morden Infestation in the City of Saplus
Report by Lirs Tirtully, Apprentice Planetary Custodian
As you know, the city of Saplus is built in the trees of the Richian Forest. The Richian Forest is made up of a peculiar type of tree known as the richo tree. These trees are an essential planetary resource, for they are the only known source of the sistola fiber, which we use in our fiber optic international communication. Denizens of Saplus have lived in those trees for thousands of years and have developed a commensalistic relationship with them. The richo trees over-produce foliage which would cause dense biomatter to build up and clog the forest canopy, blocking the sunlight from reaching the richo tree leaves. But, the Saplusans did not harvest excess foliage in order to produce sistola. This careful balance is being threatened by the mordens, an omnivorous species of rodent that lives on the forest floor and plays an essential role there in scavenging the remains of other dead animals, and clearing vegetable matter from the forest floor. Their population is kept in check by the the ippicat and the flir, natural hunters of the morden.
The morden looks harmless, but in the wrong environment can cause vast amounts of damage.
The trouble is, the mordens have begun migrating up into the tree structures of the Saplusans, up in the canopy of the forest. In the complex system of houses and public buildings in the trees, the mordens have no natural predators. Since the first few mordens made their way into Saplus, their population has increased exponentially, without a predator to keep it in check. In the trees, the mordens consume massive quantities of richo foliage and the trees are at risk of dying from over-pruning.
I visited Saplus to see what I could learn about the trouble. When I visited, the population of mordens was around 11,000. Now, three months later, the morden population has increased according to the formula Nn = N0Qn, if N0 is the initial population, Nn is the population after n generations, and Q is the number of offspring per generation. Mordens produce an average of four offspring per generation and the average length of a generation is one month. I visited Saplus three months ago, so three generations have elapsed. Just to give you an idea of how swiftly the population is increasing, let me calculate how many mordens there are in Saplus now:
11,000 * 4^3 = 704,000
As you can see, this is drastic increase in population. The Saplusans practice strict non-violence and are hesitant to kill any living creature. While this is an admirable stance for a people living in harmony with the trees, as Planetary Custodian, I will recommend that an extermination program be put in place for the mordens in the trees of Saplus. Death is a part of the natural order and for balance to be maintained, the death of the morden infestation is necessary.
The Richian Forest is one of the largest forests on Epicinea.
