Who is CIB

Overview

The Centre for Invasion Biology (C∙I∙B) is an academic and research entity of Stellenbosch University (SU) with a national, regional, and international scope and mandate to conduct research and training in biodiversity science especially as it applies to understanding the impacts of, and managing and preventing biological invasions.

The C∙I∙B resides within the School for Climate Studies at Stellenbosch University and has affiliated researchers at a range of academic and non-academic institutes throughout South Africa. The C∙I∙B’s activities are significantly interdisciplinary in nature, and it aims to enhance its activities and contribution within Africa, especially through scientific risk assessment in national and multi-lateral forums and global scientific and policy bodies, advancing technical guidance, and implementation of response actions.

Vision

The raison d’être of the C∙I∙B is to provide the scientific understanding required to manage the rate and impacts of biological invasions in a manner that will improve the quality of life of all Africans.

Mission

The Centre for Invasion Biology (C∙I∙B) is a transdisciplinary, African–rooted hub that generates and applies knowledge on biological invasions to support biodiversity conservation, policy, and ecosystem management across Africa and the world.

The mission of the C∙I∙B is to:

  • undertake research and education that investigate changes in biological diversity as a consequence of biological invasions, their effects on ecosystems and the remediation thereof, including the effects on ecosystem services under climate, land–use, and other relevant environmental changes;
  • pioneer internationally leading research regarding biological invasions by pursuing research excellence, inter–disciplinarity, and local, regional, and international exchanges;
  • coordinate innovative research that is disseminated in the international literature; graduates who are sought after for their knowledge, expertise, and creative and critical thinking; a well–supported staff who are respected and trusted;
  • conduct policy– and management–relevant independent research that supports managers, policymakers, and those tasked with monitoring and reporting on biodiversity change;
  • be relevant to the needs of the community, focusing on Africa and the global community;
  • help build an Africa–wide research community of practice on biological invasion;
  • foster linkages within broader themes such as One Health and One Biosecurity, and institutional partners.

Core Features

  • Context–sensitive (Ubuntu): Research and interventions grounded in African ecosystems, governance, and socio–economic realities from local communities to regional (and international) decision–makers.
  • Ethical and inclusive: uphold integrity, equity and respect, ensuring diverse voices shape our research and impact.
  • Impact–orientated: The scientific outputs and human–capacity produced demonstrably support evidence–based policy and management.
  • Collaborative: Strong active research networks linking African institutions with global partners that are strategically connected to end users of research.
  • Agile and resilient: Adaptive operational models that can pivot and diversify funding.
  • Focused on excellent science: The research conducted is globally recognised for its quality and integrity.

Strategic Goals

  • Develop financially sustainability to support, nurture, and develop researchers.
  • Attain globally recognition in the science of biological invasions and become a key research centre for the African continent.
  • Strengthen African research networks.
  • Translate research for policy.

Research Partners, Management and Location

The C∙I∙B’s management team and administrative hub are based in Stellenbosch, while the core research team of twenty‐four senior researchers and their associated postdoctoral researchers and graduate students is distributed between ten higher education and R&D institutions in South Africa. Biographic profiles and research specialities of core research personnel can be found at www.sun.ac.za/cib.

The expertise of the core team covers a wide range of fields including bio‐indication, community ecology, conservation biology, environmental management and planning, evolutionary physiology, insect behavioural ecology, invasion ecology, landscape ecology, macroecology, marine ecology, freshwater ecology, molecular ecology, phylogeography, pollination biology, population biology, risk analysis, spatial ecology, thermal ecology, restoration, and resource economics.

Specific research and training topics covered by the C∙I∙B include long‐term impacts of invasions, determinants of invasion success, impact and risk assessment, interactions between biological invasions and climate change, modelling of invasion success and spread and the efficacy of bio‐control agents, the determinants of species abundance and distribution, the consequences for ecosystem functioning of invasions and the removal of invasive species, and the social consequences of invasions. C∙I∙B researchers have experience in environments ranging from sub‐tropical to temperate and arid Africa, tropical to sub‐Antarctic islands, central America, Australia, and the Antarctic, and from terrestrial to freshwater and marine biomes.

C∙I∙B Hub and Partner Facilities

Stellenbosch University is the host institution for the C∙I∙B hub and provides the following facilities:

Human resources Besides the key academic and management personnel, the C∙I∙B is supported by several technical staff, a database manager, several personnel concerned with outreach, and three administrative staff. The C∙I∙B also draws in various ways on the human resources that are contained within a large, modern University. It is also supported by a Research Assistant based at the C∙I∙B’s Northern Hub at the University of Pretoria.

Physical resources: Offices, a display area, seminar room, storage facility and large laboratory in the C∙I∙B hub complex; access to lecture rooms, ecophysiology and molecular laboratory facilities and post‐graduate offices in the Department of Botany and Zoology to which the C∙I∙B is affiliated; central University information technology infrastructure.

Academic and administrative resources: Library resources in the form of books, journals and electronic media; central analytical facilities including DNA sequencing and mass spectrometry; a language centre providing tuition in scientific writing; academic marketing resources provided routinely by student recruitment services; research and contract support via the Research Development division; student administration; international student liaison; financial and human resources administration.

Partner institutions: The Universities of Pretoria (Northern Hub), Cape Town, Witwatersrand, KwaZulu‐Natal, and Venda, as well as South African National Parks (SANParks), the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) are hosts to one or more core team members of the C∙I∙B. The C∙I∙B also supports students at several other tertiary institutions across South Africa. The structure of these institutions and the support they provide to core team members is set out on the institutional home pages which can be accessed via www.sun.ac.za/cib.

Research and Training Experience

The C∙I∙B is a highly respected research organization, and its staff regularly publish their work in a wide variety of sources including internationally‐acclaimed journals such as Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, American Naturalist, BioScience, Biological Reviews and Ecology Letters. The research standing of the C∙I∙B researchers is further reflected in their editorial positions with several leading international journals, and participation in international science organizations at an executive level. The C∙I∙B has played a major role in providing scientific expertise to policy‐makers, including identifying the way forward for the development of alien and invasive species indicators for the Global 2010 biodiversity targets and contributing extensively to the development of regulations for Chapter 5 of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act.

The C∙I∙B team draws on many years of collective experience in training at the post‐doctoral, graduate and undergraduate levels. They are all members of or affiliated with accredited South African training institutions. In addition, several team members have been involved or are currently involved in regional training programmes. C∙I∙B staff members have also been involved with a variety of community‐based outreach programmes spanning several levels of work from extension regarding particular problems in biodiversity conservation, to teacher in‐service training and learner education at the secondary level (see ‘Outreach’ below).

Cutting-edge Research

The C·I·B’s research targets all aspects of the phenomenon of biological invasions and species range changes, across all taxonomic groups, and all ecosystems. Better understanding of invasion patterns and processes is required, and options for management and remediation of the impacts and processes relating to endemic and introduced alien species need to be explored. Each stage of the invasion process (pre-introduction; initial incursion; expansion; and dominance) demands its own tools, insights, and types of study.

The C·I·B undertakes work in several overarching themes:

  • Biological or biodiversity foundations
  • Model systems (e.g., invasion syndromes)
  • Human dimensions
  • Basic inventories
  • Modelling capacities
  • Policy formulation
  • Risk analysis (including impact assessments).

This suite of themes provides the scope for cutting-edge, innovative work in invasion science, while providing opportunities to draw in students and collaborators from diverse biological fields (from fundamental to applied) and many other disciplines.

The C∙I∙B’s research spans all biomes in South Africa, including Sub-Antarctic Marion Island, and is geared to understanding invasions across southern Africa and more broadly across Africa, elucidating rules that apply to biological invasions globally.

Outreach

The C∙I∙B runs a highly‐acclaimed science education outreach project that focuses on building capacity in biodiversity science and providing quality schooling for learners and educators in communities where school capacity is limited. The Iimbovane Outreach Project (‘Iimbovane’ means ‘ants’ in iSiXhosa) increases the understanding of biodiversity among educators and learners through training and by actively involving them in the monitoring of ants. The project is implemented directly in 18 secondary schools with an additional ten subscription schools using our materials, and has reached approximately 11 475 learners between 2006 and 2016. It exposes learners to hands‐on science projects in order to inform, excite and motivate them to follow careers in biodiversity science.

C∙I∙B Partnerships

The C∙I∙B has a wide range of international collaborations and formal partnerships with R&D and training institutions. These span many countries and a range of organizations from government agencies to University Departments. Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Natural Resources Management Programme (formerly Working for Water), the Western Cape Education Department (through 18 participating Iimbovane schools) Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (CapeNature), the City of Cape Town’s Environmental Resource Management Department, BirdLife South Africa, Statistics in Ecology, Environment and Conservation (SEEC at UCT), the Institute of Botany at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Institute for Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) of the University of Concepción (Chile). The C∙I∙B is also the founder and co‐host of the Soil Ecosystem Research Group in South Africa. A number of C∙I∙B research associates located in South Africa and abroad work on collaborative projects that contribute to all key performance areas.

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