The value of meaningful nature experiences

A much-anticipated book on the Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Areas has just been published by Routledge/Earthscan.  Former doctoral student Matthew Zylstra, supervised by C·I·B Core Team Member Karen Esler, contributes a chapter on meaningful nature experiences...

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Read more about the article Tall-statured grasses provide an important functional group for invasion research
Tall-statured grasses (TSGs) come in various forms and occur in a range of different ecosystems (e.g. temperate forests, dry grasslands to tropical wetlands). They are useful to humans for food (A and B), ornamental horticulture (C and D), for the production of biofuels (E and F) and other uses (G and H). Several TSGs are associated with environmental impacts in invaded ranges due to their ability to form monospecific stands that exclude other vegetation types (D, F, G and H). Photographs by: Wikimedia Commons (A: Christian Fischer (CC BY-SA 3.0 & CC0); B: Wouter Hagens (CC BY-SA 3.0); E: Bgabrielle (CC-BY-SA- 3.0); F: Daderot (CC0)) and other sources (C: Kijktuinen Nunspeet -http://www.kijktuinen.nl); D: Susan Canavan; G: retrieved from Rossiter-Rachor et al. 2009; H: Michigan Technological University).

Tall-statured grasses provide an important functional group for invasion research

Tall-statured grasses often have generalisable impacts related to their ability to produce and accumulate a large amount of biomass. The idea of tall-statured grasses as being a useful functional group for invasion science was explored in a recent article published in Biological Invasions.

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Read more about the article Can public surveys be effectively used to reconstruct biological invasions?
The Indian bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus) (Photo credit: Harikrishnan S.)

Can public surveys be effectively used to reconstruct biological invasions?

Public surveys can be combined with field surveys to reconstruct invasions, finds a new study by C·I·B researchers Nitya Prakash Mohanty (PhD student) and John Measey (Core Team Member).

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Read more about the article Plant diversity drives global patterns of insect invasions
Fit of the reduced structural equation model predicting native and non-native plant and insect species richness. Regression parameter estimates are shown next to arrows; black arrows indicate positive estimates, blue arrows indicate negative estimates and weight of each arrow is proportional to the estimated value. Dashed arrows correspond to non-significant relationships. Distance represents insularity and is measured by distance to the mainland. (Figure by Liebhold et al. 2018)

Plant diversity drives global patterns of insect invasions

During the last two centuries, thousands of insect species have been moved (mostly unintentionally) outside of their native ranges. Some of these species were able to establish in new areas and in some cases with catastrophic ecological and economic impacts. Why have some world regions been invaded by more insect species than others?

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Alien pine invasions increase the severity of large wildfires

A paper published in the journal Fire Ecology has demonstrated that conversion of natural fynbos vegetation to pine plantations, and subsequent invasion of surrounding land by pine trees, increased the severity of large destructive wildfires in the Knysna region in 2017.

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