The extent and effectiveness of alien plant control projects in South Africa

CITATION: van Wilgen, B.W. et al. 2020. The extent and effectiveness of alien plant control projects in South Africa. In: Biological Invasions in South Africa. van Wilgen, B.W., Measey, J., Richardson, D.M., Wilson, J.R. and Zengeya, T.A. (eds.). Springer, Cham:597-628. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32394-3_21The original publication is available at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32394-3Studies of the impact of alien species on the environment are increasingly being carried out, and there has been ongoing debate about how to standardise the description of these impacts. This chapter evaluates the state of knowledge on the impacts of alien species on biodiversity in South Africa based on different assessment methods. Despite South Africa being one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, there have been very few studies that formally document the impacts of alien species on biodiversity. Most of what is known is based on expert opinion, and consequently the level of confidence in the estimates of the magnitude of these impacts is low. However, it is clear that a significant number of alien species cause major negative impacts, and that there is cause for serious concern. There is a growing global effort to assess all alien species with standardised protocols to alleviate the problem of comparing impacts measured using different approaches. Formal assessments have been done for a few alien species in South Africa, but most naturalised and invasive species have not been evaluated, and, we suspect, for most alien species there has been no attempt, as yet, to document their impacts. However, red-listing processes found that alien species were frequently included as a significant extinction risk for several native species of fish, amphibians, and plants. There are very few studies that cover the combined impacts of co-occurring alien species in particular areas, and these studies could provide the rationale for regulation and management, which is often absent. While reductions due to alien species in the value of ecosystem services, the productivity of rangelands, and biodiversity intactness are relatively low at present these impacts are expected to grow rapidly as more invasive species enter a stage of exponential growth.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-32394-3_21Publisher’s versio

Alien plant invasions in tropical and sub-tropical savannas: patterns, processes and prospects

Biological invasions affect virtually all ecosystems on earth, but the degree to which different regions and biomes are invaded, and the quality of information from different regions, varies greatly. A large body of literature exists on the invasion of savannas in the Neotropics and northern Australia where invasive plants, especially African grasses, have had major impacts. Less has been published on plant invasions in African savannas, except for those in South Africa. Negative impacts due to plant invasions in African savannas appear to be less severe than in other regions at present. As savannas cover about 60% of the continent, with tens of millions of people relying on the services they provide, it is timely to assess the current status of invasions as a threat to these ecosystems. We reviewed the literature, contrasting the African situation with that of Neotropical and Australian savannas. A number of drivers and explanatory factors of plant invasions in savannas have been described, mostly from the Neotropics and Australia. These include herbivore presence, residence time, intentional introductions for pasture improvements, fire regimes, the physiology of the introduced species, and anthropogenic disturbance. After comparing these drivers across the three regions, we suggest that the lower extent of alien plant invasions in African savannas is largely attributable to: (1) significantly lower rates of intentional plant introductions and widespread plantings (until recently); (2) the role of large mammalian herbivores in these ecosystems; (3) historical and biogeographical issues relating to the regions of origin of introduced species; and (4) the adaptation of African systems to fire. We discuss how changing conditions in the three regions are likely to affect plant invasions in the future

Biological Invasions in South Africa: an overview

South Africa has much to offer as a location for the study of biological invasions. It is an ecologically diverse country comprised of nine distinct terrestrial biomes, four recognised marine ecoregions, and two sub-Antarctic Islands. The country has a rich and chequered socio-political history, and a similarly varied history of species introductions. There has been a long tradition of large-scale conservation in the country, and efforts to manage and regulate invasions began in the nineteenth century, with some notable successes, but many setbacks. With the advent of democracy in the early 1990s, South Africa established large alien species control programmes to meet the dual demands of poverty alleviation and conservation, and has since pioneered regulatory approaches to address invasions. In terms of research, South Africa has played an important role in the development of invasion science globally. It continues to have one of the most active communities anywhere in the world, with strengths in theoretical and applied invasion science, and world-leading expertise in specific sub-disciplines (e.g. the classical biological control of invasive plants). In this introductory chapter to the book “Biological Invasions in South Africa”, we highlight key events that have affected biological invasions, their management, and the research conducted over the past two centuries. In so doing, we build on earlier reviews—from a national situational review of the state of knowledge in 1986, culminating most recently with a comprehensive report on the status of biological invasions and their management at a national level in 2018. Our book comprises 31 chapters (including this one), divided into seven parts that examine where we have come from, where we are, how we got here, why the issue is important, what we are doing about it, what we have learnt, and where we may be headed. The book lists over 1400 alien species that have established outside of captivity or cultivation. These species cost the country at least US$1 billion per year (~ZAR 15 billion), and threaten South Africa’s unique biodiversity. The introduction and spread of alien species, the impacts that they have had, the benefits that they have brought, and the attempts to manage them have provided many opportunities for research. Documenting what we have learned from this unplanned experiment is a primary goal of this book. We hope this book will allow readers to better understand biological invasions in South Africa, and thereby assist them in responding to the challenge of addressing the problem

Uso dos recursos de Internet na Enfermagem: uma revisão Uso de los recursos de la Internet en la Enfermería: una revisión Use of Internet resources in Nursing: a review

Os recursos do sistema Internet estão cada vez mais popularizados em todas as áreas das atividades humanas na sociedade. Este artigo teve como objetivo identificar e descrever as principais modalidades de utilização da Internet pela enfermagem nas áreas de Educação, Assistência e Pesquisa. Trata-se de um estudo bibliográfico cuja fonte de dados foi a base de dados MEDLINE, usando-se expressões de pesquisa pertinentes às áreas enfocadas. Dos trabalhos referidos, 63 artigos foram selecionados. A principal utilização na área de Educação é o desenvolvimento de aplicações para promover ensino à distância; na área de Educação ao Paciente é a disponibilização de informação de saúde; na área de Assistência são as aplicações que oferecem protocolos assistenciais para promover a prática baseada em evidências e na área de Pesquisa é a coleta de dados on-line. Conclui-se que a enfermagem vem utilizando satisfatoriamente os recursos do sistema Internet e, isto tem contribuído para o próprio desenvolvimento da profissão.<br>Los recursos del sistema Internet son amplamente popularizados en la mayoria de las actividades humanas en la sociedad. Esto artículo objectiva identificar y describir las principales modalidades de utilización de la Internet por la enfermería en las areas de Educación, Asistencia y Pesquisa. Es un estudio de revisión bibliográfica cuya fuente de datos fue la base de datos MEDLINE, usandose descriptores pertinentes a las areas enfocadas. De los trabajos referidos, 63 articulos fueran selecionados. La principal utilización en la area de Educación es el desarrollo de aplicaciones para promover la educacion a distancia; en la area de Educación al Paciente es la disponibilización de información de salud; en la area de Asistencia son las aplicaciones con protocolos asistenciales para promover la practica basada en evidencias y en la area de Pesquisa es la recolecta de datos online. Se ha concluyido que la enfermería utiliza satisfactoriamente los recursos del sistema Internet y esto ha contribuido para el proprio desarrollo de la profesión.<br>Resources of Internet system are widely popularized in most of all human activities in the society. This paper aims to identify and to describe major modalities of Internet utilization in nursing areas of Education, Care, and Research. This is a bibliographic review which data source was MEDLINE database, using pertinent descriptors for the focused areas. From referred publications, it was selected 63 articles. Major utilization in Education area is the development of applications to promote distance education; in Patient Education area is the development of applications to make health information available; in Care area are the applications to make care protocols available to promote evidence-based practice, and in Research area is online data collection. It was concluded that nursing is using Internet resources in a satisfactory way, and it has contributed for the profession evolution