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 helminth parasites harboured by invasive rodents in South Africa are closely related to geographically distant counterparts. This was revealed by research conducted on parasitic worms of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), the black rat (Rattus rattus) and the Asian house rat (Rattus tanezumi) in urban areas of Gauteng Province by C·I·B doctoral student, Rolanda Julius at the University of Pretoria.
The South African biocontrol programme for invasive Tamarix has begun, with host-specificity testing of Tamarisk beetles. This news comes from a recent review article by Dr Danica Marlin, C·I·B Core Team Member Prof Marcus Byrne and colleagues, all from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Genetic analyses of a population of invasive French platannas suggest they came from all over South Africa.