Title: Invasive alien plants in South Africa: how well do we understand the ecological impacts?
Abstract: .South Africa has a long history of problems with invasive alien species, and of research and management of biological invasions (Table 1). The Working for Water programme 26–28 was started in 1995 to conduct and coordinate alien-plant management throughout South Africa. The programme initially worked only in watersheds and riparian areas, but now leads alien-plant management initiatives in all natural and semi-natural ecosystems. It has grown into one of the world’s biggest programmes dealing with invasive alien species. The enterprise’s success has been attributed to its multi-faceted and cross-disciplinary nature that has enabled it to leverage local and international funding and continuing political support. The programme is driven by multi-disciplinary ecological, hydrological, social and economic goals. In practice it has focused on hydrological and social concerns (as embodied in the name of the programme), and its ecological goals are less clearly defined. The extent to which the aim of improving the ecological integrity of natural ecosystems through the control of invasive alien plants has therefore not always been clear to both programme participants and other stakeholders. In this paper, we examine the ecological evidence for the impacts of invasive alien plants on South African ecosystems. We begin with a brief review of what is known about the extent of invasions and influences of these plants, and then discuss the consequences for the delivery of ecosystem goods and services to people. However, the emerging field of invasion ecology addresses issues beyond the effects of invasive species. The different aspects of invasion ecology can be related to the critical stages of invasion, and these stages also provide a useful framework for classifying the management interventions that are required to deal with the problem (Box 1). Our understanding of many of the broader aspects of invasion ecology needs to improve, and we use this framework to suggest the main challenges for research that will address critical gaps in knowledge and that will serve explicit management needs. Components of impact
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 429
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