{"id":5030,"date":"2022-09-02T13:44:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T11:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/?p=5030"},"modified":"2022-09-02T13:44:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T11:44:35","slug":"study-assesses-fleshy-fruited-alien-plants-invading-kwazulu-natal-coastal-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/study-assesses-fleshy-fruited-alien-plants-invading-kwazulu-natal-coastal-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Study assesses fleshy-fruited alien plants invading KwaZulu-Natal coastal forests"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent study by \u00a0C\u2219I\u2219B funded PhD student, Nasiphi Bitani, and co-authors Dr Tinyiko Shivambu, Dr Ndivhuwo Shivambu, and C\u2219I\u2219B Core Team member Prof Colleen Downs \u00a0assessed the impacts of fleshy-fruited alien plants invading KwaZulu-Natal coastal forests.<\/p>\n

For their study, the authors focused on 16 plants with high-risk invasiveness due to their \u00a0relationships with birds for seed dispersal services. The authors assessed the ecological and socio-economic impacts posed by these plants, using the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS)<\/a>. Environmental impacts look at the alien species\u2019 impacts on plants or vegetation, on animals, through competition, through disease transmission, through hybridisation and on the ecosystem. Whereas socio-economic impacts consider the impacts on agricultural production, animal production, forestry production, human infrastructure, human health and human social life.<\/p>\n

The authors found that 12 of the species they assessed had environmental impacts and 14 had socio-economic impacts. Species with high impacts and some with high magnitude for certain mechanisms and that need to be prioritised for management included: lantana (Lantana camara<\/em>),<\/em> camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora<\/em>), <\/em>white mulberry (Morus alba<\/em>), <\/em>American bramble (Rubus cuneifolius<\/em>)\u00a0<\/em>and Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe introduction pathways of fleshy-fruited invasive alien plant species need to be identified and managed to prevent their future spread,\u201d <\/em>says Nasiphi Bitani, first author of the study published in NeoBiota.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOur study showed that impacts on human health, forestry and agricultural production were the main socio-economic impacts associated with fleshy-fruited alien species, with lantana and the tree of heaven (<\/em>Ailanthus altissima) having the highest impacts. Lantana, for example, habours pests that cause major human health issues, whereas some fleshy-fruited plants form thick stands that reduce agricultural land productivity,\u201d <\/em>adds Bitani.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The study also showed that the impacts of many fleshy-fruited invasive plants are not yet documented.<\/p>\n

Bitani recommends, <\/em>\u201cFor future research, we need \u00a0more studies to evaluate the impacts, especially the socio-economic impacts associated with fleshy-fruited invasive plant species.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full paper<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bitani, N., Shivambu, T.C., Shivambu, N. and Downs, C.T. (2022). An impact assessment of alien invasive plants in South Africa generally dispersed by native avian species. NeoBiota<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3897\/neobiota.74.83342<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, contact Nasiphi Bitani at bitaninasiphi@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Nasiphi Bitani presenting the study at the National Symposium on Biological Invasions in July 2022, at the University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape.(Photo credit: SANBI).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A study by PhD student, Nasiphi Bitani and C\u2219I\u2219B Core Team member Prof Colleen Downs assessed the impacts of fleshy-fruited alien plants invading KwaZulu-Natal coastal forests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11009,"featured_media":5036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[76390,3256],"tags":[72777,72519,76451,76454,76457,72780],"class_list":["post-5030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76390","category-news","tag-environmental-impacts","tag-giss","tag-impact-score","tag-management-strategy","tag-nemba","tag-socio-economic-impacts","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5030"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5048,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5030\/revisions\/5048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}