GCI2016: Mini-course 2: Invasion science for society - Lecture 2: Sabrina Kumschick скачать в хорошем качестве

GCI2016: Mini-course 2: Invasion science for society - Lecture 2: Sabrina Kumschick

Mini-course 2: Invasion science for society: Challenges and opportunities David M. Richardson, Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany & Zoology, Stellenbosch University Lecture 1: Invasion science for society: Challenges and opportunities (David Richardson) Biological invasions pose a huge and rapidly growing threat to biodiversity and the many services that are derived from terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems. Substantial advances have been made in understanding many aspects of biological invasions in recent decades, but substantial challenges remain in applying such knowledge to deal with the many facets of invasions. “Invasion science” is a rapidly growing field – it embraces invasion ecology, but increasingly involves non-biological lines of enquiry, including economics, ethics, sociology, and inter- and transdisciplinary studies. This presentation discusses some key innovations in invasion science globally and in South Africa in particular. It discusses a framework for directing research to improve our understanding invasion patterns and processes and to inform effective management at different stages of invasion. Key challenges and opportunities for the field in the African context are discussed, with special emphasis on South Africa. Lecture 2: Towards a global classification system of alien taxa according to their impacts (Guest lecturer: Dr Sabrina Kumschick) Alien species can cause a broad range of changes to the recipient environment and socioeconomy. Classifying alien species according to the magnitude of impact caused can inform the prioritisation of management actions and aid the protection of native biodiversity. Impact scoring systems which enable the comparison of highly diverse impact metrics between taxa have been developed for this purpose. They generally include impacts caused through various mechanisms, ranging in intensity depending on the level of organisation affected in the recipient system. The talk will present some of the latest developments with regards to impact scoring systems for alien species and their applicability for management and prediction of future impacts. Lecture 3: Counting chirps: acoustic monitoring of cryptic frogs (Guest lecturer: Dr John Measey) Invasive plants can change habitats such that local species’ populations are effected Monitoring them using their advertisement calls allows undisturbed population using acoustic spatially explicit capture-recapture (aSECR), time of arrival (ToA), and signal strength (SS) to measure call density of a threatened but visually cryptic anuran, the Cape peninsula moss frog, Arthroleptella lightfooti. Acoustic data, collected from an array of six microphones over four months during the winter breeding season, provided a time series of call density estimates. aSECR quantitatively estimates call density without disturbing the frogs or their environment while ToA and SS significantly add to the accuracy of call localisation, which in turn increases precision of call density estimates. This technique appears ideally suited to aid the monitoring of visually cryptic, vocalising anuran species in remote areas.