• Lantana camara invasion along road–river interchanges and roadsides in Soutpansberg, Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in South Africa 

  Ruwanza, S.; Mhlongo, E.S. (2020)

  Roads and rivers act as conduits of alien plant invasion; however, little is known regarding the abundance and invasion extent of Lantana camara, an invasive shrub, along road–river interchanges and roadsides in South ...

• Global guidelines for the sustainable use of non-native trees to prevent tree invasions and mitigate their negative impacts 

  Brundu, G.; Pauchard, A.; Pyšek, P.; Pergl, J.; Bindewald, A.M.; Brunori, A.; Canavan, S.; Campagnaro, T.; Celesti-Grapow, L.; de Sá Dechoum, M.; Dufour-Dror, J.-M.; Essl, F.; Flory, S.L.; Genovesi, P.; Guarino, F.; Guangzhe, L.; Hulme, P.E.; Jäger, H.; Kettle, C.J.; Krumm, F.; Langdon, B.; Lapin, K.; Lozano, V.; Le Roux, J.J.; Novoa, A.; Nuñez, M.A.; Porté, A.J.; Silva, J.S.; Schaffner, U.; Sitzia, T.; Tanner, R.; Tshidada, N.; Vítková, M.; Westergren, M.; Wilson, J.R.U.; Richardson, D.M. (2020)

  Sustainably managed non-native trees deliver economic and societal benefits with limited risk of spread to adjoining areas. However, some plantations have launched invasions that cause substantial damage to biodiversity ...

• The South African National Red List of spiders: patterns, threats, and conservation 

  Foord, S.H.; Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Lyle, R.; Lotz, L.N.; Sethusa, T.; Raimondo, D. (2020)

  Triage in conservation biology necessitates the prioritization of species and ecosystems for conservation. Although highly diverse, ecologically important, and charismatic, spiders are rarely considered. With 2,253 known ...

• The invasive grass genus Nassella in South Africa: a synthesis 

  Mapaura, A.; Canavan, K.; Richardson, D.M.; Clark, V.R.; Steenhuisen, S.-L. (2020)

  Three species of Nassella have naturalized in South Africa. Nassella trichotoma and N. tenuissima are declared weeds under category 1b of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) and occur mainly ...

• Functional traits vary among fleshy-fruited invasive plant species and their potential avian dispersers 

  Bitani, N.; Ehlers Smith, D.A.; Ehlers Smith, Y.C.; Downs, C.T. (2020)

  Habitat fragmentation has a multitude of negative effects on biodiversity, including the facilitation of alien plant invasion. Of concern in South Africa is the spread of fleshy-fruited invasive plant species, which in ...

• Species distribution modelling of Bryde’s whales, humpback whales, southern right whales, and sperm whales in the southern African region to inform their conservation in expanding economies 

  Purdon, J.; Shabangu, F.W.; Yemane, D.; Pienaar, M.; Somers, M.J.; Findlay, K. (2020)

  In southern African waters, information about species distribution and habitat preferences of many cetacean species is limited, despite the recent economic growth that may affect them. We determined the relative importance ...

• Life history and habitat do not mediate temporal changes in body size due to climate warming in rodents 

  Nengovhela, A.; Denys, C.; Taylor, P.J. (2020)

  Temporal changes in body size have been documented in a number of vertebrate species, with different contested drivers being suggested to explain these changes. Among these are climate warming, resource availability, ...

• Using stable isotope analysis to answer fundamental questions in invasion ecology: progress and prospects 

  McCue, M.D.; Javal, M.; Clusella-Trullas, S.; Le Roux, J.J.; Jackson, M.C.; Ellis, A.G.; Richardson, D.M.; Valentine, A.J.; Terblanche, J.S. (2020)

  What makes some species successful invaders while others fail, and why some invaders have major impacts in invaded ecosystems are pivotal questions that are attracting major research effort. The increasing availability of ...

• Coordinating invasive alien species management in a biodiversity hotspot: The CAPE Invasive Alien Animals Working Group 

  Davies, S.J.; Bell, J.A.; Impson, D.; Mabin, C.; Meyer, M.; Rhoda, C.; Stafford, L.; Stephens, K.; Tafeni, M.; Turner, A.A.; van Wilgen, N.J.; Wilson, J.R.U.; Wood, J.; Measey, J. (2020)

  Background: The effectiveness of invasive alien species management in South Africa, and elsewhere, can be mproved by ensuring there are strong links and feedbacks between science and management. The CAPE Invasive Alien ...

• Biological invasions in World Heritage Sites: current status and a proposed monitoring and reporting framework 

  Shackleton, R.T.; Bertzky, B.; Wood, L.E.; Bunbury, N.; Jäger, H.; van Merm, R.; Sevilla, C.; Smith, K.; Wilson, J.R.U.; Witt, A.B.R.; Richardson, D.M. (2020)

  UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) are areas of outstanding universal value and conservation importance. They are, however, threatened by a variety of global change drivers, including biological invasions. We assessed the ...

• The Limpopo River exerts a powerful but spatially limited effect on bat communities in a semi-arid region of South Africa 

  Taylor, P.J.; Nelufule, M.; Parker, D.M.; Toussaint, D.C.; Weier, S.M. (2020)

  Although the Limpopo River is not perennial in its upper stretches in South Africa, the presence of a narrow riparian forest zone is expected to enhance bat diversity by promoting a wider range of foraging types, but the ...

• Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae) in South Africa: invasive potential and management options 

  Keet, J.H.; Robertson, M.P.; Richardson, D.M. (2020)

  Invasive alien plants cause major environmental and economic impacts and preventing the establishment and spread of emerging invaders is crucial. Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) is well established as a widespread invader ...

• Trade-offs between burrowing and biting force in fossorial scincid lizards? 

  Le Guilloux, M.; Miralles, A.; Measey, J.; Vanhooydonck, B.; O'Reilly, J.C.; Lowie, A.; Herrel, A. (2020)

  Trade-offs are thought to be important in constraining evolutionary divergence as they may limit phenotypic diversification. The cranial system plays a vital role in many functions including defensive, territorial, predatory ...

• How geographic productivity patterns affect food-web evolution 

  Wickman, J.; Dieckmann, U.; Hui, C.; Brannstrom, A. (2020)

  It is well recognized that spatial heterogeneity and overall productivity have important consequences for the diversity and community structure of food webs. Yet, few, if any, studies have considered the effects of ...

• Endozoochorous dispersal by herbivores and omnivores is mediated by germination conditions 

  Karimi, S.; Hemami, M.-R.; Esfahani, M.T.; Baltzinger, C. (2020)

  Background Vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal is probably the main long distance dispersal mode. Through endozoochory, large mammals act as mobile links between habitats within and among forest patches. Along with other ...

• Facilitation or competition? Effects of lions on brown hyaenas and leopards 

  Bashant, J.; Somers, M.J.; Swanepoel, L.; Dalerum, F. (2020)

  Intra-guild interactions related to facilitation and competition can be strong forces structuring ecological communities and have been suggested as particularly prominent for large carnivores. The African lion (Panthera ...

• Exotic gastropods for sale: an assessment of land and aquatic snails in the South African pet trade 

  Shivambu, T.C.; Shivambu, N.; Downs, C.T. (2020)

  Gastropods are amongst the most popular of the Mollusca in the pet trade, with globalisation being the main contributing factor facilitating their establishment globally. Although it is known that gastropods are kept as ...

• The dominating influence of efficacy above management strategy in the long-term success of alien plant clearing programmes 

  Cheney, C.; Esler, K.J.; Foxcroft, L.C.; van Wilgen, N.J. (2020)

  Conservation managers are required to make decisions in complex and uncertain contexts. To strengthen the robustness of conservation decisions, several approaches have been proposed to facilitate stakeholder engagement in ...

• Cetacean species richness in relation to anthropogenic impacts and areas of protection in South Africa's mainland Exclusive Economic Zone 

  Purdon, J.; Shabangu, F.W.; Pienaar, M.; Somers, M.J.; Findlay, K. (2020)

  The world's oceans are subject to the multiple impacts of human activity and to the consequent threats to the health of many and varied ocean ecosystems. Oceans around South Africa are no exception and, with the need for ...

• Into the great wide open: do alien plants spread from rivers to dry savanna in the Kruger National Park? 

  Pyšek, P.; Hejda, M.; Čuda, J.; Zambatis, G.; Pyšková, K.; MacFadyen, S.; Storch, D.; Tropek, R.; Foxcroft, L.C. (2020)

  Protected areas play an important role as refuges from invasive species impacts on biodiversity. Within the MOSAIK (Monitoring Savanna Biodiversity in the Kruger National Park) project, plant species were recorded in a ...

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