The alien barnacle Balanus glandula has been rapidly spreading down the South African west coast and recently moved east around Cape Point. This left researchers wondering how it is able to spread so far and why it is spreading so fast.
A new study led by C·I·B associate Franz Essl (University of Vienna) and published in Ecography provides the first comprehensive assessment of the environmental and anthropogenic (caused or produced by humans) factors driving bryophyte invasions worldwide.
The water fern (Salvinia molesta) is an aggressive invader of freshwater systems where it affects the services that these ecosystems deliver. Fortunately, the use of a natural enemy of the water fern (a biological control agent), the weevil (Cyrtobagous salviniae) has been highly successful in many countries, including South Africa where the water fern is no longer considered to be problematic.
Prosopis is an agroforestry tree that was introduced globally to over 100 countries – including South Africa. Prosopis went through mass scale distribution and planting, to aid farmers with fodder, shade and fire wood in the arid parts of South Africa.
Global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate. Causes of these declines include the destruction of natural habitats as a result of human development, and the introduction of non-native species.