Project showcase: Biological Invasions in South Africa

SAF-ADAPT PhD student, Ntandokazi Sijabulisiwe Masimula, is investigating alien plant invasion interactions with land-use and climate change in South Africa. Ntandokazi aims to assess the dynamics of how invasive alien plant species (IAPS) influence and are influenced by biodiversity and climate change.

Ecosystems interact differently with alien invasive plant species, more interestingly in biodiverse regions like South Africa. Multiple drivers determine the impacts found at farm to landscape level, thus assessing these drivers and their compounding effects (i.e. Land-use, Climate change, Management, etc.) with earth observation data
will give a holistic and mechanistic understanding of the invasions in South African ecosystems at the landscape level. The research further dives deep into better detection of IAPS through merging satellite data, assessing land-use vulnerability to biological invasions and the impact of IAPS on ecosystem functioning and vulnerability. Thus increasing the understanding of present and future invasions which can be informed through high resolution earth observation data in robust models.

Ultimately, her research aims to inform effective, contextualised monitoring and robust management of alien invasive plant species in different ecosystems as well as conservation of native vegetation in South Africa.