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A talk for USP

29 July 2019

Talk for the Universidade de São Paulo - USP

While doing some work with Carla, Adriana and Fernando at USP I presented my talk on Anfíbios invasores: Uma visão da África austral sobre oportunidades e insights.

Some of you will remember the visit by Carla and Adriana to the MeaseyLab earlier in 2019 (if not, see herehere and here). Carla and Adriana went back to USP and analysed all of their results collected in South Africa. I spent the week writing up one of the papers with Carla and Yuri - who analysed all of the videos. It was great fun to work with them, and I hope that we'll have another blog about the paper that comes out soon!

Measey, J. Anfíbios invasores: uma visão da África austral sobre oportunidades e insights. Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, Brazil

  Frogs  Lab  meetings

Mac talks to Species on the Move conference

26 July 2019

Species on the Move in Kruger

Regular readers of this blog will know all about Mohlamatsane (aka Mac) and his work on modelling the distribution of three South African amphibians. You can read more about Mac's work in a blog post I wrote about his thesis defence (here). This week Mac presented his work to the "Species on the Move" held this year in Kruger National Park. 

Mac's talk used his physiological and performance experiments on three South African anurans to fit a species distribution model and project this into future climate scenarios. He was really pleased to spend some time talking to Wilfred Thuiller who was also at the conference.

Congratulations Dr Mac! It's great to see with mixing with the stars.

Mokhatla, MM, Roddder, D & Measey, J Using physiology and performance to predict climate driven distribution range shifts in three temperate African anurans species: a hybrid modelling approach. Species on the Move 2019, Kruger National park

Changes in climate have had an overriding influence on species distribution throughout time and the manner in climate is currently changing is likely to be one of the leading threats to anuran diversity by the end of this century. Here we used physiology and performance data to build surface models that were later used as inputs into species distribution modelling using Maxent in a hybrid to predict the impacts of climate on the species range shifts of three African anurans with different ecologies: i) the principally aquatic African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), ii) partially-aquatic common river frog (Amietia delalandii) and iii) semi-terrestrial raucous toad (Sclerophrys capensis), since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM ≈ 21 000 YA), under current conditions and how they are expected to change by 2080. We find that ecophysiology modelling techniques accurately predicts the distribution of these widely distributed African anurans. Models suggest that anuran species lost thermally suitable space since the LGM, and that the rate of loss between the current conditions and 2080, far exceeds the rate of loss experienced between the LGM and current. Of interest is that the models suggest that A. delalandii will gain climatically suitable space by the year 2080, while S. capensis is expected to lose suitable climate space in the same period. These results suggest that species may respond to changes in climate individually which will largely be driven by how species adapt to climatic changes at the species-process levels, informed by differences in physiology and performance.

  Frogs  Lab  meetings

My talk to the Brazilian Congress of Herpetology

24 July 2019

Back in UNICAMP to attend the 9th Brazilian Congress of Herpetology

It's great to be back in Brazil, and a real honour to be asked to present at the 9th Brazilian Congress of Herpetology

The meeting has been fantastic, with more than 900 participants, Brazilian herpetology is in an amazingly good condition. I've met up with lots of Brazilian friends, old and new, including nearly everyone that I met last year when I visited Brazil in May (see blog post and here). Especially good to spend more time with Prof Marcio Borges-Martins, who kindly translated my presentation into Portuguese (although I didn't torture the audience, and stuck to English).

Measey, J. Anfíbios invasores: uma visão da África austral sobre oportunidades e insights. 9th Brazilian Congress of Herpetology Campinas, Brazil

  Frogs  Lab  meetings

Île de La Réunion visited by toad team

20 July 2019

The Guttural Toad crew starts work on Île de La Réunion

 

We've seen recently how Mauritius was taken by storm when the MeaseyLab #Mascarenetoadteam visited (see blog entry here). Now they have moved to another island infested with the same toads for nearly 100 years. Their sampling was concentrated in two areas: the natural island forests and urban areas.

In the forest they saw toads climbing trees, and lots of different colour morphs, including the melanistic form (above). This tree climbing behaviour was specifically tested with a standardised climbing performance test which will be repeated in Cape Town and native Durban frogs. Will they all be able to climb?

Meanwhile, Carla was carefully swabbing forest toads to contrast with the urban cousins.

Meanwhile down town toads were getting dirty, and finding them wasn't always a pleasant experience. Can you spot the unlikely toad below? Note the champaign bottle - surely not the trash of our MeaseyLab #Mascarenetoadteam? 

 The MeaseyLab #Mascarenetoadteam found some time to relax among the larva fields at high altitude on Reunion. Pictured here with guest star Sohan Sauroy-Toucouère.


AC21 Postgraduate Course

15 July 2019

AC21 POSTGRADUATE COURSE: INVASIONS SCIENCE FOR SOCIETY: HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ALIEN SPECIES

In July, I spent a week leading a postgraduate course in invasion science. Here's a piece that I wrote for the AC21 magazine (here), also posted on the CIB website (here).

Invasive species offer many important challenges to society. Their presence is intrinsically linked to human actions, but their impacts are felt across a wide range of environmental and socio-economic levels. Despite the severe impacts from invasions in past centuries, new introductions continue at an unprecedented rate and we require a new generation of invasion scientists to tackle the growing range of issues that invasive species bring. To this end, the Centre for Invasion Biology (C·I·B), with its hub at Stellenbosch University, organised the AC21 Postgraduate course: Invasions Science for society: hands-on experience of environmental, social and economic impacts of alien species. The course was designed to appeal to a wide range of participants from many backgrounds, whilst giving a uniquely African viewpoint on the issues around invasive species.

 Spectacular! The setting for the 2019 AC21 postgraduate course: Invasion Science for Society

 

The course took place within the breath-taking scenery of the Overberg, in South Africa’s global biodiversity hotspot: the Cape Floral Region. Although it took place in the height of winter, we enjoyed some marvellous weather, as well as a taste of Cape storms. The course also took advantage of the local environment to make outings getting a handle on the different local challenges from invasions.

The course took the form of a series of workshops conducted by C·I·B staff together with two invited international guest lecturers.

Prof John Wilson (C·I·B) challenged course participants to locate and neutralise an incursion of invading Australian Banksia ericifolia. This species had been introduced by flower growers, but after abandoning their farm, the species spread into nearby fynbos habitat. Despite removing nearly 300 individuals, the habitat still needs more follow up visits to ensure that the treatments have been effective.

 

Collecting data on the invasive Banksia ericifolia before removing them.

Dr Tammy Robinson (C·I·B) took the students to the local port town of Gansbaai to explain how marine invasions are transported through ocean going vessels. Large ships can carry invasive propagules in their ballast water, while smaller boats often carry invasive species as a result of hull fouling. Although these problems can be tackled through legislation, there are important economic impacts to be considered.

 

Dr Tammy Robinson shows students an invasive mussel attached to a kelp holdfast.

Prof Karen Esler (C·I·B) explained the complicated tasks of restoring local habitats after an invasion. After 10 years, the sites visited look considerably better, but still require a lot of attention before they can be considered as restored. Different invasive species leave different impacts on the invaded ecosystem, and this sometimes results in permanent impacts that can only be mitigated during the restoration process.

 

At a site of habitat restoration, AC21 students look at images of the site before it was restored 12 years ago, and learn about the need for continuing work.

 

Special guest lecturers, Prof Jana Fried (Coventry University, UK) and Prof Elizabeth Pienaar (University of Florida, USA) introduced AC21 participants to the role of social science and economics in invasive species. The students conducted a workshop to design a questionnaire to determine the socio-economic effects of invasive species, and then visited several locations in the area to ask people about how invasive species had impacted the lives of them, their households and their communities.

 

Workshopping the socio-economic roles of invasive species in society, above Prof Jana Fried (Coventry University) and below Prof Elizabeth Pienaar (University of Florida).

Dr Sabrina Kumschick (C·I·B) led a daylong workshop on how to make risk assessment for invasive species. In an innovative approach, students were broken up into groups to make assessments on fictional species, and then led discussions to imaginary stakeholder groups to determine the levels of potential conflicts for introducing the species.

 

Assessments were made to gauge the risk of some fictional characters so that the course participants could determine feedback from different stakeholders’ groups.

All participants in the AC21 post graduate course left South Africa with a much greater appreciation for the wicked problems involved in tackling invasive species. They return to counties across the globe to cast fresh eyes on the problems within their own communities, prepared with novel insights and a new suite of tools so that they can engage and work toward solutions. They also become alumni of the Centre for Invasion Biology (C·I·B), part of a growing network of invasion scientists from around the world.

 

Despite taking place in the midst of the Cape winter, the AC21 course had only smiles as they teamed up to take on the problems of invasive species.

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