Rhodes receives R68m to battle alien species
THE Department of Environment Affairs has awarded Rhodes University’s newlyestablished Centre for Biological Control (CBC) a R68million research contract for biological control of invasive weeds.
“The money is being used for research and implementation of biological control for 54 weed species in South Africa,” said CBC director and head of Entomology at Rhodes Prof Martin Hill.
He says invasive alien plant species can have a drastically negative economic impact on land users, and adverse effects on the country’s natural resources.
“Most of the invader plant species spread exponentially when there are no biological controls in place. Some of the plants we are targeting are invasive cacti species, which affect drier regions, water weeds, which affect most of the bodies of water in the country, and highland weeds in our high-lying regions.”
The general research focus of the CBC is sustainable control of invasive alien plants through biological control using insects.
The centre is involved in developing these agents in its quarantine facility, and mass-rearing and implementation of the insects at particular sites once they have been cleared for release.
The contract, which ends in March 2021, involves a consortium of universities, with input from the Agricultural Research Council.
The consortium is led by Rhodes University and includes representatives from UCT, UKZN and Wits.
There is some 280 years of collective experience among the senior researchers.
The project aims to employ some 42 staff, from research officers to technicians, on fixed three-year contracts at the various institutions.
As part of Rhodes’s community engagement, a focus area for recruitment is people living with disabilities.
Hill said there was funding for postgraduate bursaries for disadvantaged people.
“We hope to spread not only biological control but awareness about the devastating effects the propagation of these non-indigenous invasive alien plants has on the eco-system and on biodiversity in our country.”