In 1985 ten species were thought to have been successfully eradicated, with the eradication of a further 14 species considered possible. However, one of these plants was again found in Skukuza as recently as 1998, 17 years after its ‘eradication’, thus illustrating that ongoing control efforts are often needed for many years. Whether failure to…
The JRS Biodiversity Foundation has awarded SANParks a grant extension of US$ 498,100 (~R 7,500,000) to expand existing bioinformatics work. This grant builds on good biodiversity data foundations in SANParks, enabling a transition to the digital data commons. It will allow access to the latest software and interfaces to improve knowledge collation and data sharing…
The media often portrays fires in and around our national parks with pictures of roaring blazes and firefighters. These stories convey loss, destruction and threat to vegetation, property and human life, and a goal of suppressing fires at all cost. But fires are also natural and vital components of these ecosystems. Fire will continue to…
It has been generally accepted that many marine fish species, including spotted grunter, make annual migrations from the southern Cape up into KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) waters to reproduce. This tactic has advantages in that the eggs and larvae can develop in warmer waters whilst the Agulhas current transports them back down the coastline and into more…
In a remote mountainous area south of Lesotho, lies an amazing piece of South Africa, home to impressive biodiversity and landscapes, waiting to be discovered. Covering about 30 000ha, the soon to be proclaimed national park brought together a group of specialists from various taxonomic fields and institutions for a week. Besides admiring the gorgeous…
A total of 2407 canopy trees of 17 species were monitored over a 22 year period in the Diepwalle indigenous forest dynamics research areas in the Garden Route National Park to assess species-specific mortality patterns and to develop and refine a set of criteria for the selection of harvest trees for timber species. Timber has…
Through the Cape south coast ichnology project, since 2008 more than 300 vertebrate Pleistocene tracksites have been identified along a 350 km stretch of the coastline of South Africa between Arniston and Robberg. A number of these occur within the coastal section of the Garden Route National Park. These are found in aeolianites (the cemented…
What does “provisioning” mean? It turns out it is often misused when discussing marine wildlife tourism. This paper proposes a new framework and language to describe the type of attractant used in common tourism operations. Studies focused on wildlife tourism are increasing, but the words used to describe the attractant can be confusing. For example,…
Early control efforts in the KNP were aimed at the eradication of species such as syringa (Melia azedarach) on the Sabie, Crocodile and Nsikasi Rivers. An attempt was made in 1956 to eradicate syringa by boring holes into the trunks and filling these with paraffin, and in 1957 through mechanical means. The use of registered…
South Africa has two genera of velvet worms – Peripatopsis occurring mainly in the Cape and Opisthopatus, occurring in the north-east of the country. They are nocturnal predators, ambushing other invertebrates with sticky slime squirted from a pair of specialised glands on their heads. A recent study of Cape velvet worms by Stellenbosch University researchers…
The Gras-Holpan section of Mokala National Park, is an almost 5000 ha piece of wilderness situated about 30 km outside of Kimberley. The park has unique vegetation because it is situated in an area where savanna meets Nama-karoo and on top of that, the area has some interesting wetlands in the form of ephemeral pans….
Numbers of animals are often of interest and importance for conservationists and the public. Trends in numbers are key indicators of conservation effectiveness. There are numerous ways to determine how many individuals of a species live in a park at a specific time, including aerial surveys, call-up surveys, dung counts and camera trapping. In smaller…