Of course, it’s about the cow, but it’s not JUST about the cow. The Kruger National Park (KNP) livestock compensation programme aims to offset the direct damages incurred to livestock owners as a result of large predators escaping from the Kruger National Park. However, the programme also hopes to serve as one of many tools…
AFRICAN BIRDLIFE, January/February 2021 – Volume 9(2), Page 14 A new project to help Boulders’ penguins cope with extreme climatic events.
What is a Groundwater Hydrocensus? A groundwater hydrocensus is a process of documenting all the groundwater sites within a particular area. Groundwater sites refer to boreholes, natural springs where groundwater daylight and well points. Why do we need to do this? As national parks we need to manage all our natural ecosystems conserved in our…
We are happy to announce that after years of planning and working behind the scenes, our research portal is now live. As of today, all new research proposals will now need to be submitted online (no more emailed application forms). On the new system, you will be able to view all your projects, apply for…
Mountain Zebra and Mokala National Parks have been expanded and proclaimed on lands with some degree of ecological degradation from ploughing, overgrazing, alien plant species, and the destruction of native plants under the previous land uses. As a result, SANParks has undertaken rehabilitation projects in these parks. It is imperative that scientific data of different…
Climatic extremes, such as severe drought, are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude with climate change. These events will likely have severe impacts on ecosystems and the people that rely on the services they provide, such as habitat for wildlife, tourism, and food production. Drought in grasslands and savannas causes most plant biomass to…
A long-term monitoring project of Southern Ground-Hornbills (SGH, Bucorvus leadbeateri) commences in November 2020 in the Kruger and Mapungubwe National Parks. This research forms part of a larger National monitoring plan where Kruger and Mapungubwe National Parks are especially important as they support over half the estimated national population of only 400 breeding females. The primary…
In a new study, researchers from SANParks and their collaborators from the Centre for Invasion Biology put a theoretical commonness framework to the test to demonstrate how changing the resolution of data used in alien species management can revolutionize how we manage them. Alien plants are those that are introduced by people from other parts…
When comparing three invasive alien plants (IAP) in South Africa to their native counterparts in the United States, a clear increase in phytochemical diversity in the invaded region was found, highlighting the role of secondary metabolites in plant invasions.
A gillnet is a wall or curtain of netting that hangs vertically in the water column and is typically made from monofilament or multifilament nylon. They are generally weighted on the bottom and have a series of floats along the surface line. The size of fish caught will depend on the size of the mesh…
I was going about my day when I got a message on Facebook, from a young lady who attended two consecutive years of SANParks outreach programmes. She told me she is in Matric and is now considering a career in Environmental Sciences & Geography after being inspired by our ‘Scientist for a day’ as well…
With the emergence of the novel Corona Virus 2 (SARS- CoV2), many conservationists and scientists have purported that human transformation of landscapes, allows for zoonotic disease to emerge. However, there are only a few papers with empirical evidence that support it, go on to propose potential mechanisms, or offer risk mitigation options; suffice to say that just excluding people from these “natural landscapes” is often not practical.