Invaded habitat incompatibility affects the suitability of the potential biological control agent Listronotus sordidus for Sagittaria platyphylla in South Africa
- Authors: Martin, Grant D , Coetzee, Julie A , Lloyd, Melissa , Nombewu, Sinoxolo E , Ndlovu, Mpilonhle S , Kwong, Raelene M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/103926 , vital:32323 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2018.1460314
- Description: Sagittaria platyphylla (Engelmann) J.G. Smith (Alismataceae) was first recorded in South Africa in 2008 and is considered to be an emerging weed with naturalised populations occurring throughout the country. A biological control programme was initiated in Australia and surveys conducted between 2010 and 2012 yielded potential agents, including the crown feeding weevil, Listronotus sordidus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). The potential of L. sordidus as a candidate biological control agent against S. platyphylla in South Africa was examined. Although adult feeding was recorded on a number of plant species, oviposition and larval development indicated a narrow host range restricted to the Alismataceae. In South Africa, S. platyphylla populations are primarily found in inundated systems. However, laboratory studies showed that L. sordidus did not oviposit on inundated plants, potentially nullifying the impact of the insect on South African populations. It is suggested that even though L. sordidus is a damaging, specific agent, its limited impact on inundated plant populations in South Africa does not justify the inherent risk associated with the release of a biological control agent.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2018
Bollywood Nights: Indian youth and the creation of diasporic identity in South Africa
- Authors: Boshoff, Priscilla A
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143494 , vital:38251 , DOI: 10.3138/topia.26.29
- Description: Bollywood’s popularity as a global cultural form has occurred at the same time as the valorization of difference in the South African political landscape. As the youngest members of the 19th-century labour diaspora, South African Indian youths are the inheritors of a conservative—yet adaptable—home culture amidst the marginalized identities of (post-)apartheid South Africa. Their desire to create an identity for themselves that encompasses their self-perception both as modern South African subjects and as guardians of their traditional home cultures is achieved through Bollywood, which speaks to its diasporic audiences through images of an idealized traditional yet modern India. While India is not a place of return for these youth, their reactivation of a diasporic identity through Bollywood’s representations of a successful Indian diasporic culture and their participation in South African Bollywood concerts and award ceremonies has provided an opportunity for young South African Indians to reimagine their diasporic Indian identity in ways that (re-)connect them to India and to an imagined global diaspora.
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- Date Issued: 2018