accounts (173 publications). Other important taxa listed were Australian wattles in
the genus Acacia (130 publications, or 163 if those on the closely-related genus
Albizia are included), aquatic plants in the genera Azolla, Eichhornia, Pistia and
Salvinia (115 publications), Australian shrubs in the genus Hakea (83 publications),
Lantana camara (Lantana, 49 publications), and pine trees (genus Pinus,
47 publications).
In 1985, Bruton and Merron (1985) published a similar bibliography of alien and
translocated aquatic animals in southern Africa. This bibliography listed 582 publications dating back to 1859, with a marked increase in publications from the 1960s
onwards (Fig. 2.1). The bulk of these publications (466) were about fish, with
invertebrates (65 papers) and birds (41 papers) also receiving attention. By far the
most attention was paid to trout (genus Salmo, 262 papers), with carp (genus
Cyprinus), bass (genus Micropterus) and bluegills (genus Lepomis), respectively,
each with over 100 listed papers. It is clear from this bibliography that early science
in the field was concerned with acclimatising and establishing alien fish species,
rather than with their spread and potentially negative impacts. During this early
period, the most prolific author was A.C. Harrison. Harrison was a fisheries officer
with the Cape Provincial Administration for over 40 years, and between 1934 and
1982 he published at least 81 papers (many more were published by him as an
anonymous author, Bruton and Merron 1985). In a tribute to Harrison after his death,
Dr. Douglas Hey (former director of the Cape Provincial Nature Conservation
Department) recalled that “he and I travelled many thousands of miles together,
surveying and stocking inland waters” (Hey 1981). Hey also noted that “today the
introduction of alien species is not favoured, but it must be remembered that in those
days Nature Conservation was still an unknown concept, and the sole objective of
the provincial service was to improve angling”.
Bruton and Merron’s (1985) bibliography of aquatic alien animals also lists four
marine alien species, noting that “this aspect has received little attention and more
invasive [marine] species may be found in future”. Work on marine alien species
only began in the early 1990s, when Prof. Charles Griffiths of the University of Cape
Town compiled a list of 15 known marine alien species in South Africa at that time
(Griffiths et al. 1992). Research on marine bio-invasions in South Africa is therefore
relatively recent (Griffiths et al. 2009), and has been characterised by a rapid rate of
discovery of introductions. Griffiths’ former PhD student, Dr. T.B. (Tammy) Robinson reports elsewhere in this volume that 95 marine alien species are now known
from the South African coast, of which 56 have spread from their points of
introduction to become invasive (Robinson et al. 2020, Chap. 9).
In this chapter, I provide a synopsis of the historical development of invasion
science in South Africa over the past 130 years. For the purposes of this chapter,
invasion science is considered to be “the full spectrum of fields of enquiry that
addresses issues pertaining to alien species and biological invasions, [and embracing] invasion ecology, but increasingly involving non-biological lines of enquiry,
including economics, ethics, sociology, and inter- and transdisciplinary studies”
(Richardson et al. 2011). This spectrum covers various stages of invasion (from
pre-introduction through to naturalisation, expansion and dominance), and includes
2 A Brief, Selective History of Researchers and Research Initiatives
35
the genus Acacia (130 publications, or 163 if those on the closely-related genus
Albizia are included), aquatic plants in the genera Azolla, Eichhornia, Pistia and
Salvinia (115 publications), Australian shrubs in the genus Hakea (83 publications),
Lantana camara (Lantana, 49 publications), and pine trees (genus Pinus,
47 publications).
In 1985, Bruton and Merron (1985) published a similar bibliography of alien and
translocated aquatic animals in southern Africa. This bibliography listed 582 publications dating back to 1859, with a marked increase in publications from the 1960s
onwards (Fig. 2.1). The bulk of these publications (466) were about fish, with
invertebrates (65 papers) and birds (41 papers) also receiving attention. By far the
most attention was paid to trout (genus Salmo, 262 papers), with carp (genus
Cyprinus), bass (genus Micropterus) and bluegills (genus Lepomis), respectively,
each with over 100 listed papers. It is clear from this bibliography that early science
in the field was concerned with acclimatising and establishing alien fish species,
rather than with their spread and potentially negative impacts. During this early
period, the most prolific author was A.C. Harrison. Harrison was a fisheries officer
with the Cape Provincial Administration for over 40 years, and between 1934 and
1982 he published at least 81 papers (many more were published by him as an
anonymous author, Bruton and Merron 1985). In a tribute to Harrison after his death,
Dr. Douglas Hey (former director of the Cape Provincial Nature Conservation
Department) recalled that “he and I travelled many thousands of miles together,
surveying and stocking inland waters” (Hey 1981). Hey also noted that “today the
introduction of alien species is not favoured, but it must be remembered that in those
days Nature Conservation was still an unknown concept, and the sole objective of
the provincial service was to improve angling”.
Bruton and Merron’s (1985) bibliography of aquatic alien animals also lists four
marine alien species, noting that “this aspect has received little attention and more
invasive [marine] species may be found in future”. Work on marine alien species
only began in the early 1990s, when Prof. Charles Griffiths of the University of Cape
Town compiled a list of 15 known marine alien species in South Africa at that time
(Griffiths et al. 1992). Research on marine bio-invasions in South Africa is therefore
relatively recent (Griffiths et al. 2009), and has been characterised by a rapid rate of
discovery of introductions. Griffiths’ former PhD student, Dr. T.B. (Tammy) Robinson reports elsewhere in this volume that 95 marine alien species are now known
from the South African coast, of which 56 have spread from their points of
introduction to become invasive (Robinson et al. 2020, Chap. 9).
In this chapter, I provide a synopsis of the historical development of invasion
science in South Africa over the past 130 years. For the purposes of this chapter,
invasion science is considered to be “the full spectrum of fields of enquiry that
addresses issues pertaining to alien species and biological invasions, [and embracing] invasion ecology, but increasingly involving non-biological lines of enquiry,
including economics, ethics, sociology, and inter- and transdisciplinary studies”
(Richardson et al. 2011). This spectrum covers various stages of invasion (from
pre-introduction through to naturalisation, expansion and dominance), and includes
2 A Brief, Selective History of Researchers and Research Initiatives
35