Native areas that are invaded by the invasive alien tree Port Jackson can experience soil legacies for up to 10 years after its removal. This was the finding of a recent study by a group of C·I·B researchers, led by C·I·B PhD student, Mlungele Nsikani.
The areas between land and a river or stream (riparian habitats) forms a small fraction of the landscape, but support a high diversity of birds. Invasion of these riparian areas by invasive alien plants can negatively affect bird groupings and the important services such as seed dispersal and pollination that birds provide in the ecosystem.
The South African biocontrol programme for invasive Tamarix has begun, with host-specificity testing of Tamarisk beetles. This news comes from a recent review article by Dr Danica Marlin, C·I·B Core Team Member Prof Marcus Byrne and colleagues, all from the University of the Witwatersrand.
The 2017 Routledge Handbook of Ecological and Environmental Restoration incorporates a chapter on Mediterranean-type shrublands and woodlands; these ecosystems are of high biodiversity importance and include the Cape Region of South Africa.
The theory about the mechanisms underlying the coexistence between species has been developed with a focus on interactions between pairs of species, often ignoring more complex and indirect interactions that can appear in competition networks.
