News
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1. Studies from Africa are treated with disrespect‚ say South African academics. The academic old boy network must fall‚ Africans say in the August edition of the South African Journal of Science. Staff from Unisa and the University of Venda said international scientific journals were still guided by the legacy of imperialism and colonialism‚ meaning contributions from the Global South — particularly Africa — were treated with disrespect. “The stains of the colonial legacy still seem to manifest in the international publishing arena‚” said Mwazvita Dalu and Ashley Gunter‚ from Unisa’s geography department‚ and UV ecologist Tatenda Dalu.  Read more from TimesLIVE, BusinessLive and listen to SAfm 104-107 podcast
2. Africa: Restrict bush fires used in animal hunts: Controlled small-scale fires are traditionally used in the African savannah to flush out small mammals for hunting. Poachers in Zimbabwe are carelessly deploying crude versions of this practice, causing unmanageable bush fires and large-scale destruction. Read Article
3. Just published: Assessing macroinvertebrate diversity in African Highland streams published with Science of the Total Environment. Understanding the drivers of community structure is fundamental for adequately managing ecosystems under global change. Here we used a large dataset of eighty-four headwater stream sites in three catchments in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, which represent a variety of abiotic conditions and levels of impairment, to examine the drivers of benthic macroinvertebrate community structure. Read Article
4. Seasonal wetlands face uncertain future: BBC News. Seasonal wetlands - ecologically important habitats that become visible during rainy seasons - are facing an uncertain future, warn scientists. These ephemeral ecosystems support unique flora and fauna species that do not occur in permanent wetlands. Read Article