Parasitic wasps are body-snatchers — if you’re an insect. But these much-maligned creatures have saved millions of human lives by controlling the spread of the cassava mealybug.
Warm autumn weather has produced dull leaf colors across the eastern US this year, but climate change isn’t the only way that humans have altered trees’ fall displays.
Biological control strategies curb pests using other species that attack the invader. A biologist explains why it can take more than a decade to develop an effective biological control program.
The lionfish has few natural predators, and its venomous spines deter potential predators. But there may still be ways to naturally control the growth of this invader’s population.
Not all Australian native species belong in all Australian environments. In fact, many Australian plant species have become pests in places far from their original homes. Could some be in your garden?
Climate change is causing jacarandas to flower earlier. If this trend continues, they could be at risk of flowering when it’s too cold and become dormant.
The caterpillar, Lymantria dispar, has eaten through 17,000 square kilometres of trees since the 1980s. The invasive insect was imported in the 1880s to launch a North American silk industry.
The fynbos vegetation that historically clothed the slopes of Table Mountain is highly inflammable. This has been worsened by the spread of alien trees that burn more intensely than the fynbos.
Yellow crazy ants are one of the world’s worst invasive species. And it turns out they have unique systems of reproduction that make life in the queendom more complicated than we realised.
Invasive species have been invading foreign territories for centuries. By quantifying the mammoth economic impacts, we hope political leaders will start to take notice.
Most South African provinces are favourable for the establishment of a new invasive alien pest, which may lead to the extinction of native cycad species.