Studying invasions inside can be dull...

So it really helps to get out into the surrounding area to see the effect first hand. This is what Stellenbosch University's 3rd year students did this weekend with Profs Brian van Wilgen (top right) & Jaco le Roux (top left), in nearby Pringle Bay.

Brian showed them how pines are escaping private gardens and taking over the nearby mountain, while Jaco explains how below ground interactions of plants and symbiotic bacteria also involve invasions.

The students also got hands on experience with some domestic exotics, trapping and removing African clawed frogs from the breeding grounds of the Endangered Cape platanna.

Moving overland

This PeerJ publication provides a literature review on all the recorded instances of Xenopus laevis  moving overland. For a lot of people, it seems easy to forget that African clawed frogs are just like many other frogs, and unlike fish they do move from place to place overland.

Download the paper here 

Lucky Alex gets airlifted up the mountain

In the search for new species, Alex Rebelo was flown up a mountain in the du Toits kloof range to search for a new species of Capensibufo suspected to live on top. This followed the abortive attempt some weeks back with Krystal Tolley and Andrew Turner.

Happily, Alex came up trumps with the biggest mountain toadlet ever seen. 

This individual is more than twice their usual size. 

Well done, Alex!

Neobiota conference 2016

MeaseyLab members were well represented at the Neobiota conference, together with lots of CIB representation.

Gio, Ana & Jen get photo bombed by Sabrina... Will Luxembourg ever be the same again?

Ana showing off her crayfish poster

Kennilworth monitoring pilot

The microfrog, Microbatrachella capensis, is currently considered to be Critically Endangered due to it's very restricted range and the impact from development and invasive vegetation. 

Acoustic monitoring of this species is currently done using personnel that listen to the frogs and try to estimate the number calling. Today we visited Sabelo Memani, the newly appointed manager at the KRCA, who invited us to pilot our acoustic array technique on a population of calling micro frogs. 

We were joined by Singapore University PhD student Catherina Karlsson who is interested in implementing the aSECR technique in the Kinabalu Park Project in Borneo. Fantastically, both projects enjoy funding from National Geographic. 

A special thanks to Sabelo for inviting us, and showing us a live micro frog. We hope that the technique proves successful and that it can be implemented for KRCA.