climate change

Read more about the article Assessing lizards’ vulnerability to warming: how close should we zoom in?
To measure the habitat temperatures available to Girdled Lizards (left), the study’s authors used 'operative temperature models' (right). These models were hollow copper replicas of the lizards, with a temperature sensor inside that was connected to a central data logger. By mimicking the thermal properties of live organisms in the absence of physiological function, these models can accurately predict the temperature that a live organism would experience in the same location. (Photos by Raquel A. Garcia)
2019 / News

Assessing lizards’ vulnerability to warming: how close should we zoom in?

Climate data are increasingly accessible and are being used to predict which species are most vulnerable to climate change. The available datasets often consist of monthly measurements or predictions for locations every dozens or hundreds of kilometres. Can such coarse data provide realistic vulnerability assessments for small organisms?

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25 February 2019
Read more about the article Temperature influence impacts of invasive fish in Cape Fold Ecoregion’s rivers
a) Thermal patchiness among deep and shallow habitats on upper Berg River, b) a dead trout at a site on the Amandel River – presumably a result of thermal stress or low dissolved oxygen, c) isolated pools on the upper Amandel River during mid-summer 2017 – surface flow mostly disappeared, and d) a site on the Amandel River dried up in March 2017, leaving the temperature logger exposed to air (Photo credit: Jeremy Shelton)
2018 / News

Temperature influence impacts of invasive fish in Cape Fold Ecoregion’s rivers

A new study, led by C·I·B post-doctoral fellow Jeremy Shelton, has shown that water temperature plays a role in the impacts that an introduced fish has on native fishes.

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4 June 2018
Read more about the article Climate change detected in our National Parks
Flood damage to the Skukuza golf course following an extreme period of rainfall in 2012. Events like this one are predicted to increase in future with more variable and extreme rainfall. (Photo credit: Nicola van Wilgen)
2015 / News

Climate change detected in our National Parks

Most of us have heard that climate change is likely to impact our lives in the next few decades, but in many instances the reality of climate change has not been made apparent. One of the key questions is what will happen to our national parks and the biodiversity that they conserve?

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11 August 2015
Read more about the article C·I·B authors contribute to book on invasive species and climate change
2014 / News

C·I·B authors contribute to book on invasive species and climate change

Researchers at the Centre for Invasion Biology (C·I·B) are among the contributors to a new academic textbook that examines what will happen to invasive species with current and expected man-made climate change. The book, entitled “Invasive Species and Global Climate Change” describes the distribution, success, spread and impact of invasive species for a series of case studies from countries around the globe.

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20 October 2014
Read more about the article Proactive land management can help reduce natural disasters
2014 / News

Proactive land management can help reduce natural disasters

Climate change is predicted to have serious consequences for people, who will be exposed to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, fires and coastal storm surges that are linked to climate change. It is further predicted that climate change will be inevitable, even under the most optimistic of scenarios, as the world continues its commitment to the use of fossil fuels.

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22 August 2014