Annual report - Tropical Biology Association

Tropical Biology AssociationBuilding research capacityDarwin Initiative project on invasive plantsTBA is collaborating with the Centre ofEcology and Hydrology (UK) and AmaniNature Reserve on a four-year research andtraining project on invasive plant species inthe East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania.An important outcome of the project willbe to assist Tanzania to apply the guidingprinciples for prevention, introduction andmitigation of impacts of invasive alienplants.Workshop on the ecology andmanagement of alien invasiveplants speciesThe first workshop in this series trained15 Tanzanians in practical approaches tounderstanding and studying the ecologyand monitoring of alien invasive plants intropical forest ecosystems. An importantfeature of the workshops series is thatfollow-up grants are made available toparticipants to enable them to put theirnew ideas and skills into practice beforethe next workshop. One grant beneficiaryhas produced a poster to create awarenessof invasive alien plants among Tanzanianresource managers whilst another isinvestigating the use of an invasive agroforestrytree by farmers living around theAmani Nature Reserve.10