Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a commercially grown small tree, which also invades pastures and abandoned fields in South Africa. The tree acts as a pioneer species in recovering degraded landscapes thus making ecological restoration a challenge.
A recent study by Fahimeh Jami, together with C·I·B researchers Jaco Le Roux and Dave Richardson, had a closer look at the geographical and host range of Botryosphaeriaceae, a family of fungi that are common pathogens on woody plants. The study, published in the journal, Fungal Biology, provided the first Botryosphaeriaceae records for both the locations and hosts studied.
Guttural toads (Sclerophrys gutturalis) have been invasive in Mauritius and Reunion for nearly 100 years (since ~1922), and have been in Constantia (near Cape Town) for another 20 years, but where did those colonising toads come from?
The first meeting of authors for a new global assessment of invasive alien species and their control for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), was held recently in Japan.
Clearing the invasive alien tree Port Jackson (Acacia saligna) doesn't necessarily lead to the recovery of native plant communities because secondary invaders may be dominant and persist up to three years after clearing at levels similar to, or higher than the first year after clearing.
