Title: Studying the environmental impacts of alien plants in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Protected areas worldwide face a significant threat from biological invasions, yet the limited number of studies quantifying their environmental impacts hinders the ability to make well-informed management decisions. I will present the research we've conducted over the past few years, which focuses on evaluating the impacts of four non-native plant species (namely Datura innoxia, Opuntia stricta, Parthenium hysterophorus, and Xanthium strumarium) on the mammal, plant and soil microbial communities in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

About the speaker:
I am a scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. My research to date has been focused on the history of introduction, ecology, distribution, impacts and management of invasive plants globally. I am also involved with projects that aim to understand the human and social dimensions of biological invasions. I am Thematic Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the journal Management of Biological Invasions and Associate Editor for the journals Biological Invasions and Journal of Ecology. Moreover, I am the secretary of NEOBIOTA, the European Group on Biological Invasions.

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