Research Articles (Conservation Ecology and Entomology)
Recent Submissions
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Scientists warning to humanity on insect extinctions
(2020-02)Here we build on the manifesto 'World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, issued by the Alliance of World Scientists. As a group of conservation biologists deeply concerned about the decline of insect populations, we here ... -
Solutions for humanity on how to conserve insects
(2020-02)The fate of humans and insects intertwine, especially through the medium of plants. Global environmental change, including land transformation and contamination, is causing concerning insect diversity loss, articulated in ... -
Human dependence on natural resources in rapidly urbanising South African regions
(IOP Publishing, 2019-03-29)Enhancing the governance of social-ecological systems for more equitable and sustainable development is hindered by inadequate knowledge about how different social groups and communities rely on natural resources. We used ... -
Global climate change as a driver of bottom-up and top-down factors in agricultural landscapes and the fate of host-parasitoid interactions
(Frontiers Media, 2019-03-28)The global climate is rapidly changing and the evidence is increasingly manifesting across various biological systems. For arthropods, several studies have demonstrated how changing climates affect their distribution through ... -
Could biodynamics help bridge the gap in developing farmer intuition?
(De Gruyter Open, 2019)Several scientific studies indicate that farmers do not often use formalised decision support tools as expected, and many prefer to rely on their intuition to make practical management decisions. ... -
Insights on fostering the emergence of robust conservation actions from Zimbabwe's CAMPFIRE program
(Elsevier, 2019)One strategy to address threats to biodiversity in the face of ongoing budget constraints is to create an enabling environment that facilitates individuals, communities and other groups to self-organise to achieve conservation ... -
A continental-scale validation of ecosystem service models
(Springer, 2019-04-22)Faced with environmental degradation, governments worldwide are developing policies to safeguard ecosystem services (ES). Many ES models exist to support these policies, but they are generally poorly validated, especially ... -
Identifying and categorizing stakeholders for protected area expansion around a national park in Namibia
(Resilience Alliance, 2019)Protected areas and adjacent landscapes are increasingly being viewed as integrated. A more general awareness is emerging of the relevance of collectively managed landscapes for conservation and human well-being. In Namibia, ... -
Exploring the usefulness of scenario archetypes in science-policy processes : experience across IPBES assessments
(Resilience Alliance, 2019)Scenario analyses have been used in multiple science-policy assessments to better understand complex plausible futures. Scenario archetype approaches are based on the fact that many future scenarios have similar underlying ... -
Towards a global DNA barcode reference library for quarantine identifications of lepidopteran stemborers, with an emphasis on sugarcane pests
(2019)Lepidopteran stemborers are among the most damaging agricultural pests worldwide, able to reduce crop yields by up to 40%. Sugarcane is the world’s most prolific crop, and several stemborer species from the families ... -
Niche shift and resource supplementation facilitate an amphibian range expansion
(Wiley, 2019)Aim: To determine whether recent range expansion of small- bodied arboreal frogs, Hyperolius marmoratus Rapp, is accompanied by changes in species–environment re- lationships and whether its historical range was constrained ... -
An overview of mites on grapevine and the discovery of a new phytoseiidae species; typhlodromus (typhlodromus) spiceae
(South African Society for Enology and Viticulture, 2021)The common grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is the main species used for wine making, with South Africa being one of the top wine exporting countries. Grapevine is vulnerable to a range of pests, includingmites. We present ... -
A review of fire management practices in African savanna-protected areas
(AOSIS, 2021)The level of understanding of the ecological effects of fires has improved over the past century, but comprehensive information on the practical application of fire remains restricted to a few well-studied areas, and ... -
Grapevine leaf application of steinernema yirgalemense to control planococcus ficus in semi-field conditions
(South African Society for Enology and Viticulture, 2019)The vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus Signoret (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is a key insect pest of South African grapevine. The ability of mealybugs to avoid or resist the action of chemical pesticides has led to the ... -
Characterisation of Metarhizium majus (Hypocreales : Clavicipitaceae) isolated from the Western Cape Province, South Africa
(Public Library of SciencePublisher's version, 2021-03-19)Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are important soil-dwelling entomopathogens, which can be used as biological control agents against pest insects. EPF are capable of causing lethal epizootics in pest insect populations in ... -
Exploring integrative research in the context of invasive alien plant management
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019-03-27)Addressing complex challenges facing social-ecological systems (SES) requires the integration of knowledge from a diversity of disciplines and stakeholders. This requirement has resulted in the establishment of many ... -
The darker side of quantitative academic performance metrics
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019-07-30)No abstract available -
Identifying research questions for the conservation of the Cape Floristic Region
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019-09-26)We conducted a survey among people working in the nature conservation community in an implementation, research or policy capacity to identify research questions that they felt were important for ensuring the conservation ... -
Improving conservation practice with principles and tools from systems thinking and evaluation
(Springer, 2019-03-12)Achieving nature conservation goals require grappling with ‘wicked’ problems. These intractable problems arise from the complexity and dynamism of the social–ecological systems in which they are embedded. To enhance their ... -
Harnessing insights from social-ecological systems research for monitoring sustainable development
(MDPI, 2019)The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 marks significant progress towards sustainable development by making explicit the intention to integrate previously separate social, economic and environmental agendas. Despite this intention, ...