Poaceae

Read more about the article Understanding Nassella invasions in South Africa
A paddock completely invaded by serrated tussock grass (Nassella trichotoma) on Boschberg near Somerset East in the Eastern Cape (Photo: Rohan Kruger).
2020 / News

Understanding Nassella invasions in South Africa

Urgent research is needed to guide more effective control measures for Nassella grass invasions in South Africa. This was the finding of an extensive literature review by C·I·B-funded PhD student Anthony Mapaura, with inputs from researchers at the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University and the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa campus, and C·I·B Director Dave Richardson.

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2 November 2020
Read more about the article Tall-statured grasses provide an important functional group for invasion research
Tall-statured grasses (TSGs) come in various forms and occur in a range of different ecosystems (e.g. temperate forests, dry grasslands to tropical wetlands). They are useful to humans for food (A and B), ornamental horticulture (C and D), for the production of biofuels (E and F) and other uses (G and H). Several TSGs are associated with environmental impacts in invaded ranges due to their ability to form monospecific stands that exclude other vegetation types (D, F, G and H). Photographs by: Wikimedia Commons (A: Christian Fischer (CC BY-SA 3.0 & CC0); B: Wouter Hagens (CC BY-SA 3.0); E: Bgabrielle (CC-BY-SA- 3.0); F: Daderot (CC0)) and other sources (C: Kijktuinen Nunspeet -http://www.kijktuinen.nl); D: Susan Canavan; G: retrieved from Rossiter-Rachor et al. 2009; H: Michigan Technological University).
2018 / News

Tall-statured grasses provide an important functional group for invasion research

Tall-statured grasses often have generalisable impacts related to their ability to produce and accumulate a large amount of biomass. The idea of tall-statured grasses as being a useful functional group for invasion science was explored in a recent article published in Biological Invasions.

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16 October 2018
Read more about the article C·I·B researcher contributes to global database of photosynthesis in grasses
2015 / News

C·I·B researcher contributes to global database of photosynthesis in grasses

Millions of years ago a number of species independently evolved a new type of photosynthesis that allowed them to cope better with low CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This “innovation” is called C4 photosynthesis and despite evolving a number of different times, it evolved within just a few groups of plants, most notably among the grasses.

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31 March 2015
2015 / News

Investigating ecological effects of polyploidization in a cosmopolitan grass genus

Polyploidization, the process whereby an organism receives two whole copies of its parents’ genomes (instead of half of each parents’ genome), is very common among plants and is thought to be an important mechanism for creating new species (polyploids).

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17 February 2015