About
The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) contained nearly 9,000 plant species, the majority of which were found nowhere else on Earth. The value of this biodiversity hotspot was recognized by the United Nations, which awarded the region World Heritage Status. One of the most important habitats of the CFR was the fynbos. Fynbos (meaning “fine bush” in Afrikaans) was the natural shrubland/heathland vegetation occurring mainly in winter rainfall Mediterranean climate areas of the Western Cape. Much of fynbos was protected by a network of reserves under the management/oversight of Cape Nature and South African National Parks.
Why the project was needed
Rapid population growth and economic development in the Western Cape region placed increasing demands upon water resources. To meet the urban demand for water, increased abstraction from the sandstone aquifers underlying important fynbos habitats was planned. Very little was known about how such abstraction might affect the Cape flora, and there was almost no information at all about the eco-hydrology of Cape plants. Our team from the Open University (UK) worked in cooperation with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) at Kirstenbosch, Cape Nature, and South African National Parks.
Project purpose
To provide a quantitative, scientific basis for the incorporation of eco-hydrology in the management of fynbos habitats potentially threatened by water abstraction in the Cape Floristic Region. Success was to be measured and verified by the inclusion of eco-hydrological data in impact assessments and conservation management plans.
Benefits of the project
The project aimed to extend knowledge of how fynbos plants depended upon hydrological conditions. In particular, we focused upon the restios, which were ecologically important to fynbos ecosystems. We intended to involve Cape Nature’s own field staff in the research and provide them with training in how to monitor and assess the hydrology of the sites in their care. This accomplished several aims simultaneously: providing a means of career advancement for historically disadvantaged workers, transferring skills and knowledge from the UK to South Africa, increasing capacity for conservation research in SA, providing a firm scientific basis for the evaluation of the risks posed to fynbos, and establishing a basis for minimizing these risks.
Funding
The research we conducted was supported financially by the Leverhulme Trust, which provided a grant for the pilot study (2005-2007). From 2007-2010, we received a grant from the Darwin Initiative (DEFRA of the UK Government) to expand the investigation and train local personnel to ensure future sustainability.
Links
Organizations
- South African plants
http://www.plantzafrica.com/ - UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ - South African Government Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
http://www.environment.gov.za/ - University of Cape Town
http://www.uct.ac.za/
Funders
- Darwin Initiative
http://darwin.defra.gov.uk/ - Leverhulme Trust
http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/ - British Ecological Society
http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org - National Environment Research Council
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/
Outreach
The team played an active role in sharing their findings, knowledge, and experience of fynbos ecohydrology with both the scientific community and the public.
Plant Monitoring Day
In 2006, in collaboration with the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) project of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), they initiated Plant Monitoring Day. This annual regional educational exercise aimed to make students and teachers aware of the rich diversity of plants in their local surroundings, develop skills in field botany and scientific inquiry, and gather useful data for conservationists. Plant Monitoring Day took place in the first week of September each year, coinciding with Arbor Week. CREW coordinated the activity by providing experts and involving its extensive volunteer network. The project started with six schools from the three provinces of the Cape (Western, Eastern, and Northern) in 2006 and was launched nationally by 2008.
Scientific Meetings
The team presented their work at several scientific meetings, including:
- Fynbos Forum, Citrusdal, South Africa (2010, invited)
- SAEON Summit, Kirstenbosch, South Africa (2010, invited)
- British Ecological Society Annual Meeting: Oxford (2006), Glasgow (2007), Hatfield (2009, invited), Leeds (2010)
- Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting: Milwaukee, WI (2008), Albuquerque, NM (2009, invited)
- International Association of Vegetation Science Annual Meeting: Stellenbosch, South Africa (2008)
- Wetland and Aquatic Ecosystems: Their Functions and Values, Worcester College, University of Oxford (2008)
Publications
We aimed to disseminate our work via printed and online media.
A popular science article, “Understanding how water resources shape our flora,” was published in Veld and Flora, 95(2):96-97 (Journal of the South African Botanical Society).
We undertook an interview with the local Cape Town Afrikaans daily broadsheet Die Burger. This was available shortly thereafter.
We also shared our work on the BBC/Open University partnership website (www.open2.net). A recent article was “Can bushfire be good for nature?” (Link given below).
We also worked on a number of scientific papers. Published papers included:
“Variation in delta 13-C among species and sexes in the family Restionaceae along a fine-scale hydrological gradients”. Austral Ecology.DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02089.x
“A fundamental, eco-hydrological basis for niche segregation in plant communities”. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03475.x
Silvertown, J. Y. Araya, P. Linder, and D. Gowing (in press) Experimental investigation of the origin of fynbos plant community structure after fire. Annals of Botany
James Ayuk, our SANBI based PhD student has given a seminar entitled “Water needs and the likely response to hydrological change of fynbos plants” at the Student Conference for Conservation Science, University of Cambridge in March 2011.
Research
In our research, we recently discovered that different fynbos species required different amounts of soil moisture. This meant that the diversity of the fynbos flora crucially depended upon hydrological processes. Because of proposals to abstract water from beneath fynbos habitats in the Western Cape, there was a pressing need to quantify precisely how species of the fynbos flora responded to fine-scale hydrological gradients. Also of interest was understanding the potential impact of environmental change. Such knowledge then needed to be disseminated among nature-conservation managers and understood by all stakeholders, such as water abstractors, involved in the management of the unique fynbos habitat.
Our team’s previous relevant publications include:
Silvertown, J., Dodd, M.E., Gowing, D.J.G. and Mountford J.O. (1999). Hydrologically-defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature, 400, 61-63.
Gowing, D.J.G., Lawson, C.S., Youngs, E.G., Barber, K.R., Prosser, M.V., Wallace, H., Rodwell, J.S., Mountford, J.O. and Spoor, G. (2002). The water-regime requirements and the response to hydrological change of grassland plant communities . Final report to DEFRA (Conservation Management Division,) London. Project BD1310
Outputs from the project are:
PhD Thesis:
James Ayuk – Water regime requirements and possible climate change effects on Fynbos Biome Restionaceae (uwc.ac.za).
Journal Papers:
New Phytologist: A fundamental, eco-hydrological basis for niche segregation in plant communities – Open Research Online
Current Advances in Geography, Environment and Earth Science: Determination of Hydrological Niche of Restionaceae Species in Silvermine, South Africa – Open Research Online
Current Advances in Geography, Environment and Earth Science: Study on Climate Change Impacts on Restionaceae Species in Jonkershoek, South Africa – Open Research Online
Journal of Water Resource & Hydraulic Engineering: Climate Change Impacts on Hydrological Niches of Restionaceae Species in Jonkershoek, South Africa – Open Research Online
Journal of Ecology: Do niche-structured plant communities exhibit phylogenetic conservatism? A test case in an endemic clade – Open Research Online
Annals of Botany: Experimental investigation of the origin of fynbos plant community structure after fire – Open Research Online
Austral Ecology: Variation in δ13C among species and sexes in the family Restionaceae along a fine-scale hydrological gradient – Open Research Online
Book Section:
Frontiers of Vegetation Science – an evolutionary angle: Evolution of hydrological niches in Restionaceae: a project update – Open Research Online
Research sites
We currently have 10 research sites, located within Cape Nature and South African National Parks reserves. In each of the sites, we are actively monitoring hydrology and as a one-off conduct vegetation and topographic survey.
Although we are generally interested in all fynbos plants, our test species belong to family Restionaceae. Restionaceae are endemic plants of the Cape Floristic Region and one of the main constituents of fynbos. Approximately 350 species of restionaceae occur in CFR.
Prof. Peter Linder is our lead expert on Restionaceae.
Fynbos plant community structure after fire
This is a recent second research project, we started as a response to bushfire(s) we had at our sites (funded by the NERC, UK).
Fynbos bushfires occur in the S Hemisphere summer (Nov to Apr) with a periodicity of 15 to 50 years, but are unpredictable. Fire and smoke are primers of seed germination in many fynbos species. We took advantage of such unpredicted fire events in our sites to set-up an experiment that will enable us to examine how segregation among species develops after fire. We had already mapped the distribution of species and the hydrology of the field sites before burning, giving us uniquely detailed reference points for what happens after fire. We then set up reciprocal translocation experiment with soil monoliths and will be monitoring seedling establishment in them, using DNA barcoding to check identity of seedlings. We intend to construct a spatial model to determine whether the effects measured in the experiment are sufficient to generate the patterns of species distribution observed ate in post-fire succession.
Training
Trainees were Field Rangers who conducted physical conservation management on reserves overseen by Cape Nature/SAN Parks. Each research site included at least one regular worker. The training content was primarily hands-on and field-based, involving exercises in field recording, record keeping, drawing, and interpreting simple graphs. Basics of eco-hydrology were taught in the field using Open University materials when appropriate.
By the end of 2009, 21 personnel had been trained, with a goal of training three dozen. Training was provided in English, with Afrikaans translation available if needed. The possibility of awarding credits towards formal recognition of the training by a South African institution was investigated. Some trainees were designated to train others.
Post-training, participants were involved in field monitoring, with data validated through spot-checks, cross-validation among sites, and correlation with known rainfall patterns. Anomalies were followed up, and re-training was offered.
Two three-day training sessions were conducted in July 2008 and October 2008, attended by 20 personnel from 10 localities. A Training-for-Trainers course was planned before the project ended.
Training Coordination
Dr. Yoseph Araya coordinated and ran the training with Prof. David Gowing.
Training Documents
- Ecohydrology Training Manual
- Training sessions documentation and coordination profiles for Dr. Yoseph Araya and Prof. David Gowing
