A Brief, Selective History of Researchers and Research Initiatives Related to Biological Invasions in South Africa

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the researchers and research initiatives relevant to invasion science in South Africa over the past 130 years, profiling some of the more recent personalities, particularly those who are today regarded as international leaders in the field. A number of key points arise from this review. Since 1913, South Africa has been one of a few countries that have investigated and implemented alien plant biological control on a large scale, and is regarded as a leader in this field. South Africa was also prominent in the conceptualisation and execution of the international SCOPE project on the ecology of biological invasions in the 1980s, during which South African scientists established themselves as valuable contributors to the field. The development of invasion science benefitted from a deliberate strategy to promote multi-organisational, interdisciplinary research in the 1980s. Since 1995, the Working for Water programme has provided funding for research and a host of practical questions that required research solutions. Finally, the establishment of a national centre of excellence with a focus on biological invasions has made a considerable contribution to building human capacity in the field, resulting in advances in all aspects of invasion science-primarily in terms of biology and ecology, but also in history, sociology, economics and management. South Africa has punched well above its weight in developing the field of invasion science, possibly because of the remarkable biodiversity that provided a rich template on which to carry out research, and a small, well-connected research community that was encouraged to operate in a collaborative manner.

Biological Invasions in South Africa: An Overview

“…Further details of the costs of invasions, and the returns on investment from control are to be found in Chaps. 15, 16, 21, and 22 (Le Maitre et al 2020;van Wilgen 2020;van Wilgen et al 2020a;Davies et al 2020).…”

Public Awareness and Perceptions of Invasive Alien Species in Small Towns

“…In these areas, many of the plants remaining in seminatural fragments are IAS that have been listed in South African legislation: the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act ((NEM: BA), Act 10 of 2004), along with fynbos shrublands with high species diversity. The area is dominated by fynbos biome, which is the most invaded biome in South Africa, and where research and management of IAS is mostly conducted [ 35 , 47 ]. The management of IAS in this area is principally conducted by the Working for Water (WfW) programme launched by the South African government in 1995 [ 48 ].…”

“…Despite the major impacts of biological invasions in South Africa [ 33 , 34 ]; the high profile research, legislation, and management in the country [ 35 , 36 ]; and numerous and diverse attempts at raising public awareness of IAS [ 24 , 37 ], existing research suggests that people are relatively unaware of IAS, especially in urban areas [ 13 , 23 , 38 ]. This low awareness could be due to many reasons, such as urban residents facing limited exposure to IAS and their impacts [ 23 , 39 , 40 ], or limited engagement with environmental systems.…”

South Africa’s Centre for Invasion Biology: An Experiment in Invasion Science for Society

“…Similarly, with respect to risk assessment science (Kumschick et al 2020), obvious benefits have emerged from linking SANBI and C•I•B networks. Links with the City of Cape Town helped to formalise the often missing association between research and implementation (see Gaertner et al 2016Gaertner et al , 2017, especially in habitat restoration (see Mostert et al 2018;Holmes et al 2020), and urban invasions (see Potgieter et al 2018, 2020. Collaborations with both institutions started with formal memoranda of understanding, built around existing and new Associates of the C•I•B.…”