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A literature review would take quite a while

But this paper is probably a very good overview of studies done on vegetation change and the role elephants play: http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/co ... tation.pdf

It is a lengthy read and being a scientific paper it takes a bit of wading through but persistence in reading it will be rewarded

Can it be?

little research done in Mapungubwe by University of Arkansas

Was lucky enough to have been in Tsava in 1986 and it was after a drough period
We met the staff and were told that they did open baobabs for water.
And we did see the damage done to the trees.

Baobabs and elephants in Kruger National Park: nowhere to hide
Link to Wiley online library

So searching the net has a wealth of information. Some maybe outdated but still...

She conducted a Barleria survey in the Makuleke/Pafuri region recently. They found an impressive 18 species, I understand. Qualifies as research in my book.

Johan

He died in 2006, I'm sorry to say.

I recommend Schmidt et al, Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park. By far the most comprehensive and up to date bible out there.

Johan

Ifubesi you make a very good point about the reduction of pressure on vegetation resulting from destruction of the waterholes, hand in hand with removal of boundary fences. I am delighted to find that you and I are on the same page.

Thank you Elsa for your reference to the enlightening article, it gave me a huge boost to know that people like Michele Hofmeyr are doing so much research to give us all more insight into this issue.
The point about "episodic recruitment" makes me think that such an exceptional growing event has occurred recently in northern Australia, resulting in the prolific production of saplings that I have noticed.
It is comforting to know that this issue is being researched and monitored and can be acted on in KNP if things become critical in years to come.

Thanks also to Threedogs whose reference I will follow up on, and to all the other contributors.
It is great to know the level of concern out there for our ecology.
You are my soulmates.

It is interesting to note that driving from Louis Trichardt to Tshipise and Musina there are quite a number of small baobab trees next to the road, especially in some of the cultivated fields where the farmers don`t cut them down but protect them.
Now these trees in the cultivated fields must have the ideal growing conditions as they get water regularly in summer and there are no competition from other trees or animals trying to eat them, yet they are quite small which suggests that they are still young.
I usually go to the north of Kruger and have only seen young baobab trees on the hills around Pafuri and the Nyala loop.
Mostly on inaccessible outcrops.

Taking into consideration that these trees are succulents, then drought conditions should not affect them that much.

I have personally planted some seeds collected at Tshipise and the germination % is extremely high (considering that I live in an area outside their natural distribution area and which is prone to quite cold winters).
These trees also grows very quickly under favourable conditions, even if they get hit hard by frost as happened these last two years in my area.

The fact that the animals in Kruger are still in an enclosed area (even though it is over 2 million hectares), still puts pressure on the natural resources.
As I mentioned before, these are succulents with a huge amount of moisture and a favourite source of food for elephants and other animals.

In the Chobe along the riverfront they had a similar problem where there were no saplings of any trees reaching maturity due to browsing pressure.
The moment something green emerged on the desert-like landscape under these huge trees it got eaten by impala and other browsers.
Even the big trees got killed by porcupine ring barking them to get something to eat.

Now I am not saying that the same thing is happening here, but the fact that there are hardly any saplings seen in the park and the fact that there are quite a few outside must make you think a bit..

Very valid point taken, Roan.

I think ecologists who manage national parks and game reserves are in a bit of a catch-22.
On the one hand they need to keep the plant community in a healthy state.
On the other hand, tourists who bring in the essential funds, want to see animals and lots of them.
Natural ecosystems (with large mammals as essential components) have evolved to operate over massive areas.
Ancient migration patterns were specifically adapted to the natural water distribution patterns through the different seasons.
Most areas away from perennial rivers were probably lightly utilized and for only a small portion of the year. Large herds moved through the area and only returned the next year.

Then western civilization arrived here with their fences, roads and national boundaries which totally disrupted these ancient patterns.
Now we must try and mimic the natural state of things in small fenced-in areas.
The animals are sedentary and they need water year-round in previously semi-arid areas to survive.
We can't totally remove animals from an area for a part of the year, as would have been the case in the past when animals moved around freely.
Even if we could do that, it wouldn't go down well with the tourists who bring their pounds and dollars to see the big 5...

I don't know if there is a totally waterproof solution.
However the only workable long term alternative that exist is to enlarge game reserves by bringing down the fences and linking existing reserves with each other.
The larger the area the easier it is to restore natural migratory and water distribution patterns by closing artificial water holes and opening up old grazing areas.

I have 2 big concerns however.
Firstly, can the system cope with the high elephant population that came into existence due to past unnatural water provisioning practices?
Secondly, the ever growing human population is quickly converting all remaining natural areas into "human habitats" and on a daily basis we are losing essential habitat which is needed if this solution is to work...

Here are the pictures I promised of boabs (Adansonia Gregorii) which I took yesterday in the Kimberley region of north western Australia by way of comparison. This one is a typical stand of boabs beside a dry creek bed. As you can see, the boabs co-exist in a wide range of sizes - or ages - and do not appear to suffer the periodic event syndrome of the KNP baobab


This picture is of an extremely fertile boab with her offspring nested closely around her - the result of an extreme periodic event I would think. I should hasten to add that this is very far from typical!


Whilst I acknowledge that you can't make direct comparisons between species which are living in different parts of the world, it is interesting to know what is happening elsewhere.

I asked staff at Pafuri Camp who live in villages just outside Punda gate, and they confirmed that saplings and young baobabs grow commonly all over the place outside the KNP. So although there may be little recruitment in the park itself, baobabs are thriving in elephant-free areas elsewhere and therefore not under threat. Maybe they are eveing doing better than in the days when elephants roamed freely all over the continent?

Johan

Hi all,

Just out of curiosity - are we sure that the Adansonia gregorii above is not producing suckers as opposed to these plants actually being seedlings? (suckers = plants arising from the rootstock of the 'parent' plant). I always remember my father telling me one hardly sees seedlings of boababs because people rarely recognise them as they look quite different to the adult plants - this I suppose may account for some of the lack of seedlings seen.

But, elephants are a major concern to the botanists/plant ecologists and Yes, Kruger does have them! and they often liase with those of us not working there too - obviously we all have our specialities, and SANPARKS can not employ an infinite number of specialists. Hopefully I am not doing myself out of my dream job here, but 'botanists' are generally actually taxonomists (i.e. we name, reclassify, rename, etc), whereas what Kruger needs (and has) are Ecologists to design/implement environmental management plans, in consultations with us the taxonomists.