A recent study by C·I·B research fellow Dr Arne Witt and core team member Prof Brian van Wilgen, has found that over 50 alien plant species have established naturalised populations in the iconic Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in Kenya and Tanzania.
The discovery of a clump of broad-leaved paper-bark trees (Melaleuca quinquenervia) in 2009 by a field ranger lead to an exciting study on this global wetland invader.
Invasions of alien species begin with the human-assisted movement of living individuals or propagules across biogeographic barriers. As a result, the contributions of specific pathways to introduction and subsequent invasion—and the changes in the importance of pathways over time—are receiving increasing attention from scientists and policymakers.
Recently there have been a series of debt crises in economies around the world, from Greece to Argentina to the U.S.A. Unfortunately we also have a global biodiversity-debt crisis. These debt crises share one important feature in common—managers need to respond to the emergency.
Many invasive species provide both benefits and costs to society and the environment. These benefits include aesthetic values, but also provide resources such as timber, fuelwood, fodder and food.