Contributing to the IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment

Global agreements and initiatives on biological invasions are extremely important for setting goals and standards to international communities. Although many people are frustrated by the slow pace of change, they do represent solid advancements to global thinking and actions on invasive species and other aspects of our society. As such, I feel that these achievements should be celebrated. 

The publication toady of Bacher et al. (2023) is one such advancement in our global thinking towards reducing the impacts of invasive species globally. I am proud to be listed as a contributing author on this report. 

Bacher, S., Galil, B. S., Nuñez, M. A., Ansong, M., Cassey, P., Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Fayvush, G., Hiremath, A. J., Ikegami, M., Martinou, A. F., McDermott, S. M., Preda, C., Vilà, M., Weyl, O. L. F., Fernandez, R. D., and Ryan-Colton, E. (2023). Chapter 4: Impacts of invasive alien species on nature, nature's contributions to people, and good quality of life. In: Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Roy, H. E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P., and Renard Truong, T. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430731 

A talk for the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University

As I was already in Australia and had to fly back via Sydney, I decided that I’d take a stopover on the way back and visit colleagues at the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University. There are a number of notable researchers there including Martin Whiting (previously of Wits University in South Africa), Georgia Ward-Fear (with whom I had written a book chapter but never met) and Rick Shine (he of the snake and cane toad fame).

There is another important connection. Martin was the former PhD supervisor of James Baxter-Gilbert, who went on to become my post-doc in Stellenbosch University. http://john.measey.com/People/Measey-Lab-Alumni

I was very fortunate to be hosted by Martin at his home and to get to know his family and their adventures. Martin very kindly took me frogging on a wild and windy night and I got to see a few of the region’s amphibians (Adelaide was way too dry).

As well as having a great time catching up with new and old friends at Macquarie, I was able to give a talk for the School:

Measey, J. (2024) What can biological invasions teach us about rapid evolutionary change? 20 February 2024 School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University