This MSc will aim to determine how best to integrate diverse (and often opposing) ecological and social goals in developing a rigorous landscape/catchment scale restoration plan. The context is the Dwars River, Western Cape, within a significantly altered and human-occupied catchment.
There have been major developments recently towards an international standard system for reporting the impacts of biological invasions, but these are yet to be implemented or integrated with risk analyses. In particular, a framework for the listing of alien taxa under regulations has recently been developed for South Africa.
The project aims to quantify the economic impacts of changes to the Western Cape water supplies resulting from different invasive alien tree control scenarios.
The Guttural Toad has successfully invaded the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, as well as Constantia near Cape Town. All invasions seem to have originated near Durban, KZN. Recent research has shown ways in which these toads have adapted to their invaded habitats. But how would these react if they were moved back to Durban?
This project seeks to quantify the effects of the interaction between tadpoles of the two species, Guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) and Western Leopard toad (Sclerophrys pantherina) in an experimental enclosure.
