Alien invasive plants are of concern in the world because of their potential to spread into the natural environment. Invasion patterns observed in plant species can be attributed among other things to favourable environmental conditions. Understanding invasion dynamics of alien invasive plants can help in timely intervention initiatives. In Mpumalanga, Lilium formosanum (Liliaceae) appears to be an emerging plant invader and is spreading in the natural environment. The study investigated the invasion extent and predictor variables which could explain abundance patterns of L. formosanum in the invasive range in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and further predict regions of the world that could be climatically suitable. Lilium formosanum was surveyed along 11 major routes leading into the towns of Sabie and Graskop in Mpumalanga from a slow moving vehicle. A total of 241 kilometres was surveyed. Lilium formosanum was found to be invasive from the towns of Sabie and Graskop. Climatically suitable areas were predicted using DIVA-GIS and climate data was obtained from WORLDCLIM database while occurrence records were obtained from the Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas, Australia’s virtual herbarium and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In conclusion, distance, altitude and route were found to have an influence on the abundance of L. formosanum in Mpumalanga Province. Climatically suitable areas included the eastern coastal belt, northern provinces and the interior parts of South Africa including major parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Plant Production and Soil Science / MSc / Unrestricted

The Milky Way has undergone several mergers with other galaxies during its lifetime. The mergers have been identified via stellar debris in the Halo of the Milky Way. The practice of mapping these mergers is called galactic archaeology. To perform this archaeologic inspection, three stellar features must be mapped: chemistry, kinematics and age. Historically, the latter has been difficult to determine, but can today to high degree be determined through asteroseismology. Red giants are well fit for these analyses. In this thesis, the red giant HE1405-0822 is completely characterized, using spectroscopy, asteroseismology and orbit integration, to map its origin. HE1405-0822 is a CEMP-r/s enhanced star in a binary system. Spectroscopy and asteroseismology are used in concert, iteratively to get precise stellar parameters, abundances and age. Its kinematics are analyzed, e.g. in action and velocity space, to see if it belongs to any known kinematical substructures in the Halo. It is shown that the mass accretion that HE1405-0822 has undergone has given it a seemingly younger age than probable. The binary probably transfered C- and s-process rich matter, but how it gained its r-process enhancement is still unknown. It also does not seem like the star comes from a known merger event based on its kinematics, and could possibly be a heated thick disk star. / Vintergatan har genomgått flera sammanslagningar med andra galaxer under sin livstid. Dessa sammanslagningar har identifierats genom rester av stjärnor i Vintergatans Halo. Arbetssättet för att kartlägga dessa sammanslagningar kallas galaktisk arkeologi. För att kunna göra en arkeologisk undersökning krävs tre egenskaper hos de undersökta stjärnorna: kemi, kinematik och ålder. Historiskt sett har den sistnämnda varit svår att bestämma, men kan idag bestämmas med hög precision m.h.a. asteroseismologi. Röda jättar lämpar sig väl för dessa analyser. I denna uppsats undersöks den röda jätten HE1405-0822. Den kartläggs helt m.h.a. spektroskopi, asteroseismologi och bananalys. HE1405-0822 är en CEMP-r/s-förhöjd stjärna i ett binärt system. Spektroskopi och asteroseismologi används tillsammans, iterativt, för att få precisa stjärnparametrar, kemiskt innehåll och ålder. Dess kinematik analyseras, t.ex. i verkan- och hastighetsrummet, för att se om den tillhör någon känd kinematisk substruktur i Halon. Det visas att massöverföringen som HE1405-0822 genomgått har gett den en skenbart yngre ålder än vad som är troligt. Denna binära kompanjon har troligtvis övertfört C- och s-process-rikt material, men hur den fick sin mängd r-processämnen är fortfarande okänt. Det verkar inte som att stjärnan kommer från någon tidigare kartlagd sammanslagning baserat på dess kinematik, och skulle kunna vara en stjärna med upphettad kinematik från Vintergatans tjocka disk.