2021

Read more about the article Ecological restoration needs sharing of knowledge to be successful
Workshop on secondary invasion with researchers and practitioners working on biological invasions in South Africa organised by the CIB in 2019. Image: Mlungele Nsikani
2021 / News

Ecological restoration needs sharing of knowledge to be successful

Restoration efforts need to ensure that project components are informed by relevant stakeholders, and this would require (1) identifying and working with stakeholders during a restoration effort; (2) recognising the unique needs and contributions of stakeholder groups; and (3) providing information back to stakeholders through outreach.

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28 June 2021
Read more about the article Botanical gardens and biosecurity
Eight biosecurity hazards presented by botanical gardens and the opportunities they provide to improve management and communication. Materials going into the gardens such as seeds, tubers, cuttings, mulch, compost and soil could potentially transport and introduce pests to the gardens (a, d). On the other hand, materials leaving the gardens such as sold plants, prunings and dead plants can potentially transport pests established in the gardens to the external environment (b, h). Other activities of the gardens, including visits by local and international visitors (f), the use of machinery and equipment (e), and plant exchange between botanical gardens (c) may also serve as pathways of movement of pests to- and from the gardens. Additionally, pests may naturally disperse between managed estates of the gardens and the adjacent natural vegetation (g). (Graphic from Wondafrash et al. 2021)
2021 / News

Botanical gardens and biosecurity

A recent paper, led by Dr Mesfin Gossa and published in Biodiversity and Conservation, reviews the value as well as the hazards associated with botanical gardens for biosecurity at a global scale.

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21 June 2021
Read more about the article Genome size does not predict invasiveness in Cactaceae
Cacti being sold in a South African nursery. (Photo provided by Ana Novoa)
2021 / News

Genome size does not predict invasiveness in Cactaceae

A recent study provides a large number of genome size estimates for species within the cactus family (Cactaceae), offering great opportunities for studying the evolution of genome size in this family. The study, which was published in Biological Invasions, has been carried out at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), with the collaboration of C·I·B Director David Richardson and former C·I·B post-doc Ana Novoa.

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14 June 2021
Read more about the article Body size determines how African herbivores respond to fire
Herbivores such as zebra often prefer recently burnt habitats to utilise highly nutritious post-fire regrowth and improve predator detection. (Photo credit: Brian van Wilgen).
2021 / News

Body size determines how African herbivores respond to fire

African herbivores respond differently to recently burnt environments, and these differences can be heavily dependent on body size. This was the finding from a recent literature review conducted by PhD student Willem Nieman and Dr Alison Leslie (Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University), Prof. Brian van Wilgen (C∙I∙B Core Team Member) and Dr Frans Radloff (Department of Conservation and Marine Science, Cape Peninsula University of Technology) in which they describe the responses of medium- to large-sized African mammals to fire.

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7 June 2021
Read more about the article What evidence do we have that investing in ecological infrastructure produces benefits?
Conceptual framework of the impacts of ecological infrastructure interventions. The potential (not-exhaustive) relationships between ecosystem properties, processes and ecosystem services are shown for the South African case studies. The causal loop diagram shows linkages between native-invader dynamics (figure 5) and internal ecosystem properties (stocks in black boxes with green arrows), processes (black italics), ecosystem services (purple) and external anthropogenic factors (red). The climate system is shown in blue, and fire dynamics in orange (some elements adapted from Luvuno et al. [31]). Ecological infrastructure interventions (EII) are given in red, labelled EII1–10 (no boxes), demonstrating the impacts that investments in ecological infrastructure could have on various key ecosystem processes and services. Links (arrows) where empirical evidence exists to support the relationship between variables for these South African case studies are given in bold.
2021 / News

What evidence do we have that investing in ecological infrastructure produces benefits?

In a study of three South African river catchments (the Berg, Breede and uMngeni) that have received significant investment into ecological infrastructure (e.g. clearing invasive alien trees), the evidence base for the benefits of these investments was found to be empirically weak.

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1 June 2021