• An assessment of climate, weather, and fuel factors influencing a large, destructive wildfire in the Knysna region, South Africa 

  Kraaij, T.; Baard, J.A.; Arndt, J.; Vhengani, L.; van Wilgen, B.W. (Springer Open, 2018)

  Background: In June 2017, wildfires burned 15 000 ha around the town of Knysna in the Western Cape, destroying > 800 buildings, > 5000 ha of forest plantations, and claiming the lives of seven people. We examined the factors ...

• Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide 

  Moser, D.; Lenzner, B.; Weigelt, P.; Dawson, W.; Kreft, H.; Pergl, J.; Pysek, P.; van Kleunen, M.; Winter, M.; Capinha, C.; Cassey, P.; Dullinger, S.; Economo, E.P.; Garcia-Diaz, P.; Guenard, B.; Hofhansl, F.; Mang, T.; Seebens, H.; Essl, F. (National Academy of Sciences, 2018)

  One of the best-known general patterns in island biogeography is the species–isolation relationship (SIR), a decrease in the number of native species with increasing island isolation that is linked to lower rates of natural ...

• Reaching new heights: can drones replace current methods to study plant population dynamics? 

  Tay, J.Y.L.; Erfmeier, A.; Kalwij, J.M. (Springer, 2018)

  Spatially explicit data on heterogeneously distributed plant populations are difficult to quantify using either traditional field-based methods or remote sensing techniques alone. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer new ...

• Rapid, field-deployable method for collecting and preserving plant metabolome for biochemical and functional characterization 

  Skubel, S.A.; Dushenkov, V.; Graf, B.L.; Niu, Q.; Poulev, A.; Kalariya, H.M.; Foxcroft, L.C.; Raskin, I. (Creative Commons Attribution License, 2018)

  Study of plant metabolome is a growing field of science that catalogs vast biochemical and functional diversity of phytochemicals. However, collecting and storing samples of plant metabolome, sharing these samples across ...

• Behavioral thermoregulation is highly repeatable and unaffected by digestive status in Agama atra 

  van Berkel, J.; Clusella-Trulla, S. (John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, 2018)

  The precision and the extent of behavioral thermoregulation are likely to provide fitness benefits to ectotherms. Yet the factors driving variation in selected or preferred body temperature (Tset) and its usefulness as a ...

• Plant diversity drives global patterns of insect invasions 

  Liebhold, A.M.; Yamanaka, T.; Roques, A.; Augustin, S.; Chown, S.L.; Brockerhoff, E.G.; Pysek, P. (Nature, 2018)

  During the last two centuries, thousands of insect species have been transported (largely inadvertently) and established outside of their native ranges worldwide, some with catastrophic ecological and economic impacts. ...

• What predicts the richness of seeder and resprouter species in fire-prone Cape fynbos: Rainfall reliability of vegetation density? 

  Cowling, R.M.; Gallien, L.; Richardson, D.M.; Ojeda, F. (Ecological Society of Australia, 2018)

  In ecosystems subject to regular canopy fires, woody species have evolved two general strategies of post-fire regeneration. Seeder species are killed by fire and populations regenerate solely by post-fire recruitment from ...

• High resolution temperature data for ecological research and management on the Southern Ocean Islands 

  Leihy, R.I.; Duffy, G.A.; Nortje, E.; Chown, S.L. (Nature, 2018)

  Southern Ocean Islands are globally significant conservation areas. Predicting how their terrestrial ecosystems will respond to current and forecast climate change is essential for their management and requires high-quality ...

• Impacts of alien 'ecosystem engineers' overwhelm interannual and seasonal shifts in rocky-shore community composition on Marcus Island, South Africa 

  Sadchatheeswaran, S.; Branch, G.M.; Moloney, C.L.; Robinson, T.B. (NISC (Pty) Ltd, 2018)

  The South African coastline has been invaded by numerous alien species. Rare pre-invasion (1980) and post-invasion datasets (2001 and 2012) exist for Marcus Island, a small land-tied island in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. ...

• Size, shape and maintenance matter: A critical appraisal of a global carnivore conflict mitigation strategy - Livestock protection kraals in northern Botswana 

  Weise, F.J.; Hayward, M.W.; Aguirre, R.C.; Tomeletso, M.; Gadimang, P.; Somers, M.J.; Stein, A.B. (Elsevier, 2018)

  Fortified kraals are predator-proof enclosures designed to protect livestock at night. Globally, they show great promise in reducing depredation by carnivores, thus promoting co-existence with people. Their efficacy depends ...

• Patterns and traits associated with invasions by predatory marine crabs 

  Swart, C.; Visser, V.; Robinson, T.B. (Pensoft, 2018)

  Predatory crabs are considered amongst the most successful marine invasive groups. Nonetheless, most studies of these taxa have been descriptive in nature, biased towards specific species or regions and have seldom considered ...

• Ecological restoration in mediterranean-type shrublands and woodlands 

  Mucina, L.; Bustamante-Sanchez, M.A.; Pedra, B.D.; Holmes, P.; Keeler-Wolf, T.; Armesto, J.J.; Dobrowolski, M.; Gaertner, M.; Smith-Ramirez, C.; Vilagrosa, A. (Taylor & Francis, 2018)

  The Mediterranean-type ecosystems (further MTEs) are limited to five regions on Earth (Cowling et al. 1996): Mediterranean Basin, California, Central Chile, the Cape of South Africa and the Southwest (and partly South) ...

• The distribution and status of alien plants in a small South African town 

  McLean, P.; Wilson, J.R.U.; Gaertner, M.; Kritzinger-Klopper, S.; Richardson, D.M. (Elsevier B.V., 2018)

  1. The invasion of alien plants into natural ecosystems in South Africa is a substantial conservation concern. The primary reason for the introduction of alien plants has been ornamental horticulture, and urban centres are ...

• Which taxa are alien? Criteria, applications, and uncertainties 

  Essl, F.; Bacher, S.; Genovesi, P.; Hulme, P.E.; Jeschke, J.M.; Katsanevakis, S.; Kowarik, I.; Kuhn, I.; Pysek, P.; Rabitsch, W.; Schindler, S.; van Kleunen, M.; Vila, M.; Wilson, J.R.U.; Richardson, D.M. (Oxford University Press, 2018)

  Human activities such as the transport of species to new regions and modifications of the environment are increasingly reshaping the distribution of biota. Accordingly, developing robust, repeatable, and consistent definitions ...

• Tapping into technology and the biodiversity informatics revolution: updated terrestrial mammal list of Angola, with new records from the Okavango Basin 

  Taylor, P.J.; Neef, G.; Keith, M.; Weier, S.; Monadjem, A.; Parker, D.M. (Pensoft, 2018)

  Using various sources, including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), published literature, recent (2015–2017) collections, as well as bat detector and camera trap surveys with opportunistic sightings and ...

• A taxonomic revision of seed harvester ants of the Tetramorium solidum group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in southern Africa 

  Mbanyana, N.; Hita Garcia, F.; Robertson, H.G.; Le Roux, J.J. (Creative Commons Attribution, 2018)

  Ants of the Tetramorium solidum group occur in Africa, with the vast majority of species endemic to the arid regions of southern Africa. The first revision of the genus was published more than 30 years ago and ant surveys ...

• Invasive potential and management of naturalised ornamentals across an urban environmental gradient with a focus on Centranthus ruber 

  Holmes, P.M.; Rebelo, A.G.; Irlich, U.M. (AOSIS, 2018)

  Background: Predicting which alien species may become invasive is important in prioritizing scarce resources for management. Objectives: Sixteen naturalised ornamentals in Cape Town were assessed for invasion potential ...

• Physiological responses to folivory and phytopathogens in a riparian tree, Brabejum stellatifolium, native to the fynbos biome of South Africa 

  Maoela, M.A.; Esler, K.J.; Roets, F.; Jacobs, S.M. (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2018)

  The canopies of many tree species sustain a large diversity of folivorous arthropods and phytopathogenic fungi. These organisms are thought to influence overall tree and stand productivity. Leaf diseases caused by Phyllosticta ...

• Geographic variation and plasticity in climate stress resistance among southern African populations of Ceratitis capitate (Weidemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) 

  Weldon, C.W.; Nyamukondiwa, C.; Karsten, M.; Chown, S.L.; Terblanche, J.S. (Nature, 2018)

  Traits of thermal sensitivity or performance are typically the focus of species distribution modelling. Among-population trait variation, trait plasticity, population connectedness and the possible climatic covariation ...

• A transcriptomics assessment of oxygen-temperature interactions reveals novel candidate genes underlying variation in thermal tolerance and survival 

  Boardman, L.; Mitchell, K.A.; Terblanche, J.S.; Sorensen, J.G. (Elsevier B.V., 2018)

  While single stress responses are fairly well researched, multiple, interactive stress responses are not-despite the obvious importance thereof. Here, using D. melanogaster, we investigated the effects of simultaneous ...

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