learning about biodiversity Forests

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. Ralph Waldo Emerson

STRAND: Environmental studies: Grade 12 Population and community ecology Groups of different species of organisms that interact with each other and with the environment in different ways constitute an ecosystem. A group of different species that inhabit a particular area is called a community. Each species present in a community forms a population, and the population size is governed by a number of factors, both physical and social. Populations of animals exhibit different social organizations that enhance their survival within the community. LO1 Investigating phenomena in the Life Sciences Community structure Use of field guides for identifying species. Investigate community structure within a habitat and changes to this structure as habitat changes. Use at least ONE sampling method, e.g. quadrats, transects, traps, direct observation A community consists of producers, consumers and decomposers. [Link to Grade 10]. Four main types of interactions in a community: predation, competition, parasitism and mutualisms. Competition between species for resources, e.g. light, space, water, shelter, food, results in specialization for particular modes of life includes competitive exclusion and resource partitioning. Use at least ONE example of resource partitioning among plants, e.g. forest ecosystem Human influence on community structure Impact of human settlements on community structures, e.g. Iron Age settlements, agriculture, cities. Debate decision to intervene and control community structure. LO2 Constructing Life Sciences knowledge LO3 Applying Life Sciences in society

Forests in the Curriculum To the left are extracts from sections of the new National Curriculum Statement on Life Sciences for Grade 12 that you can teach your class using information about forests. Turn over a new leaf Veld & Flora updates teachers and scholars on what is happening in the world of science, especially the Life Sciences and Geography. Even if an article is not directly about teaching the National Curriculum Statement, it will widen your and your classs general knowledge, and give you a step up the academic ladder. Download this fact sheet and poster from the BotSoc website http://www. botanicalsociety.org.za. International Year of Forests The United Nations declared 2011 the International Year of Forests. Forests are home to many plants and animals and they provide ecological services and livelihoods to millions of people. South Africas forests are not endangered, but many of the rest of the worlds forests have been destroyed or damaged by the timber industry or by clearance for farmland, roads and housing. Tropical rainforests are still being cut down today, and many plant and animal species are lost every year. Download a poster, Forests are for People, from the South African Department for Forestry and Fisheries webpage at http://www2.dwaf. gov.za/webapp/ A forest ecosytem Take your class to a forest to look at a forest profile. The drawing opposite by Jeanettte Loedolff is based on the Afrotemperate forest at Kirstenbosch on the slopes of Table Mountain. It is taken from the book Discovering indigenous forests at Kirstenbosch by Sally Argent and Jeanette Loedolff. The BotSoc Forest Poster and Workbook are also useful for identifying the plants and animals and basic structure of a typical Afrotemperate forest.

Community change over time: ecological succession Investigate and identify at least ONE example of primary and ONE example of secondary succession in a local environment. Succession: the sequence of organisms that occupy a new habitat (primary succession) or a disturbed habitat (secondary succession). Pioneers are replaced by a succession of species.

Climax forest consists of tall,

some as tall as 30 m, long-lived trees. These include yellowwoods and Hard Pear (Olinia ventosa).

The forest canopy is the uppermost layer of the forest. The leaves of the tall trees form a closed canopy where little sunlight penetrates. These trees use more than half the available light in the forest. Emergent trees have very tall, straight trunks and stick out above the other trees in the canopy. The middle storey forms the second level in the forest under the canopy. Young saplings cannot grow to their full potential as there is not enough light so they wait until one of the big trees dies, which briefly opens up the canopy to allow some sunlight in. Climbers or lianas and epiphytes
are characteristic of Afrotemperate forests and seek light by growing up into the canopy, using trees for suppport or anchorage.

Pioneers are the

fire zone of the forest, consisting of fast-growing but short-lived trees like the Wild Peach (Kiggelaria africana). Some sunlight penetrates the canopy.

Wood you like to win?

Send a poster or study that your class has done on forests to the Editor of Veld & Flora (see address on page 150) and you wood stand a chance to win a subscription to the Botancial Society of South Africa, which includes free copies of Veld & Flora for your school library.

Forest margin
Shrubs and ferns make up the transition zone between forest and the surrounding ecosystem.

The forest floor has a thin layer of leaf litter. Fungi, mosses, ferns and other small shade-loving plants grow here. The trees have a fairly shallow root system because of the soil structure, which is a mixture of sand, boulders and clay.

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learning about biodiversity Our forests are

islands of an ancient forest flora

Taking t

About 65 million years ago forests covered most of the subcontinent of Africa. Since then there has been a general trend towards a cooler and drier climate. Around 14 million years ago, with the Antarctic ice sheet in place, there was a major change in the environment of the entire Southern Hemisphere as the proto-Benguela ocean current brought cold water to the west coast of Africa, heralding a drier, cooler period in southern Africa. By the end of the Miocene (about 5.3 million years ago) there was very little rainforest left, and the more drought-resilient vegetation that makes up the majority of our biomes today, became dominant. Look up Velvet worms and prehistoric plantlife by Dane McDonald, in Veld & Flora 97(1), 30-31, March 2011. Forests occur in patches where rainfall is high, and where fire cannot reach them; their seeds dispersed over distance by migrating birds. Our largest remnant of this ancient forest lies along the southern Cape coastal shelf and adjacent mountain slopes in a swathe 200 km long from George to Humansdorp. These forests contain over 500 plant species, like the White Pear (Apodytes dimidiata) shown on the left, comparable with similar forests to the north but modest when compared with the richness of the surrounding fynbos. Look up Our surprising forests by Richard Cowling in Veld & Flora 94(2), 48-49, June 2002. We refer to our forests as Afrotemperate as there are many

Forests consist of trees that form layers under the canopy, namely a forest floor (or understorey). There world: Needle-leaved Forests th Hemisphere and consist mainly of and Broad-leaved Forests with bo that are mostly angiosperms. Sou Forests that consist of Afrotempe some tropical forest in northern Kw smallest biome and less than 5 pe natural forest. (See article

similarities between our forests and the montane forest floras in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Look up Amongst Africas giants by Christopher Wills in Veld & Flora 86(4), 162-167, December 2000.

South Africas fascinating

forests
A

South Africas forests constitute our smallest and most fragmented biome, but they loom large in importance in many ways, from providing ecosystem services to recreation. Our largest and best know forests are the southern Cape Afrotemperate forests of Knysna and Tsitsikamma. Indigenous forests extend from the Cape Peninsula eastwards through the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains of the southern Cape, with a discontinuous distribution through the midlands of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Northwards, forests are distributed along the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal (shown in the photo to the left), the eastern Free State, Mpumalanga and into Limpopo, where the northernmost forests are located in the Soutpansberg Mountains. The temperate inland forests are generally small, patchy in distribution and usually located on the south to south-eastern aspect of mountain ranges. Lowland forests of a more tropical type extend along the coast from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal to Mozambique. Indeed these Maputaland-Pondoland forests encompass most of our forest biodiversity and the majority of threatened forest types. Forests typically occur in the moist areas of the country, but specialized forest types are also found fringing rivers or within protected kloofs. Look up Platbos: A unique forest near the southern tip of Africa by Eugene Moll, Veld & Flora 94(2), 80-81, June 2008; Ngome Forest by Priscilla Swartz, Veld & Flora 86(2), 69, June 2000 and Maputalands Licuati Forest and Thicket by Samira Izidine, Stefan Sieber and Braam van Wyk in Veld & Flora 89(2), 56-61, June 2003. There may even be evidence to suggest a further type of forest to add to the list the kelp forests of our coastline. Read Kelp Forests: Forests of a different kind by Gavin W. Maneveldt on page 168 of this issue.

carbon s

Read more
Discover more about South Africas forests in these articles in back issues of Veld & Flora.
172 VELD&FLORA | DECEMBER 2011

Why do grasslands have no trees? by Julia Wakeling in Veld & Flora 96(1), 24-25, March 2010; The long walk to treedom by Glen Moncrieff in Veld & Flora 96(1), 22-23, March 2010; Firestorms in savanna and forest ecosystems: Curse or cure? by Catherine Browne and William Bond in Veld & Flora 97(2), 62-63,

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is necessary f is one of the greenhouse gases tha planet, making it the pleasant place i There are two forms of carbon on E fossil form or deep in the Earths cru which was recently part of a living t the atmosphere and back into life a transport, industry and agriculture) the atmosphere, which is heating u conditions on Earth for humans will We are trying to find ways to balan into the atmosphere by removing so plants grow they absorb CO2 from th in their leaves, stems and roots. Thu sink absorbs more carbon that it rele decompose, the carbon is cycled ba and decomposition is slowed down. vegetation are fairly effective, if shor Investing in sustainability on p.15 we can just plant a tree and hope th we are burning. Look up The death trees is not going to help climate c Flora 95(1), 4-5, March 2009.

Veld & Flora FACTSHEET SOUTH AFRICAS FORESTS

the gap

a closed canopy, with at least two a subcanopy (or middle storey) and are two basic types of forest in the hat are essentially in the Northern evergreen conifers (gymnosperms) oth evergreen and deciduous trees th Africas forests are Broad-leaved erate or Afromontane forests, with waZulu-Natal. The Forest Biome is our ercent of South Africa is covered in by Eugene Moll on p.174.)

Switching biomes: a burning question

It is easier for a fynbos plant to take root and flourish in Australia than it is for it to take root in the forest maybe a metre away from it. The two vegetation types have a completely different structure, composition and function yet they are actually alternative states. Over the past ten to twenty thousand years in South Africa, natural forests, woodland, grassland and fynbos have occurred in mosaics, with forests expanding during wetter, and shrinking during drier periods. These mosaics of forest and fynbos or forest and grassland exist because of fire. Forests flourish in the absence of fire. Grassland, like fynbos, needs fire to flourish, using fire as a way to make inroads on forests and thereby conquer new territory. Fires require a continuous supply of grass or fynbos fuel to spread; and forests shade out fynbos plants and grasses and prevent them from taking root. Fire almost never penetrates the depths of a forest, unless conditions are exceptional. Thus they are locked into a battle for survival and it seems that in todays warmer, high CO2 conditions, the forests have the edge as there has been a general increase in scrub invasion of grassland and woody invasion of fynbos. We need to understand the dynamics of grass-forest boundaries to be able to predict where biome shifts or biome switches, with the accompanying consequences to biodiversity and ecosystem services, might happen. Most of our grassland and fynbos occurs in areas that could support forest, and ecologists still puzzle over the reason for this, although it is generally agreed that the different ways in which they regenerate under changing circumstances is crucial. There have been several good articles in Veld & Flora on this topic. (See box below). The photo on the right shows a fynbos-forest edge near Stanford after a fire reclaimed some land for fynbos that had been invaded by forest in the absence of fire.

community on different levels

sink

for plants to photosynthesize and it at causes heat to be retained on the it is for humans and present life forms. Earth ancient carbon locked up in ust or in the ocean and new carbon thing and which cycles regularly into all the time. By burning fossil fuel (for we are releasing ancient carbon into up so rapidly that scientists fear that l soon be unbearable. nce the amount of CO2 being released ome of it and storing it away again. As he atmosphere and store it as carbon us plants are carbon sinks. (A carbon eases.) However, when plants die and ack into the air, unless it is very cold . Indigenous forests and most natural rt-term carbon sinks. Read the article 53 of this issue. But it is a fallacy that hat this will offset the fossil fuel that h of common sense: Why planting change one bit by Mark Botha Veld &

Forests have several different vegetation levels or strata. As sunlight is essential for photosynthesis, the plants of the forest evolve to exploit light of varying intensity at successive vertical levels. The top layer, or canopy, comprises the tallest trees that use about half the available sunlight. The trees put most of their energy into growing woody stems, which enables them to reach up to this resource. The middle storey or subcanopy contains smaller trees and saplings of large trees, waiting to take any gap that occurs in the canopy for example the death of an old tree and allows the energy-giving sunlight through. Until then, they are limited by the lack of light to reach their full potential. Climbers germinate in the shade, yet twine or climb their way up to the canopy, using tendrils and other means to take advantage of the trunks of the tall trees. Lianas or woody climbers are characteristic of forests, and can get so heavy that they can topple trees during storms. Epiphytes, such as ferns and orchids, use trees as a base on which to grow in order to gain access to the sunlight. Lichens, those algae-fungi mutualistic partnerships, also grow in the tree branches. The bottom layer, or forest floor, is made up of seedlings, ferns and fungi and a host of organisms that live in the leaf litter and soil. A forest has horizontal levels too an edge or forest margin of small bushes and shrubs, a pioneer or fire zone of fast-growing shrubs and trees that need to grow quickly in order to establish themselves before the next fire occurs in the surrounding grassland or fynbos, and the climax forest of established, long-lived trees. Many animals, like the young Spotted Eagle Owl eating a mouse caught on the forest floor (opposite), exploit the various levels. Isolated from each other for thousands of years, our patchy forests exhibit very high animal biodiversity, for example, the many different species of Velvet Worms or Peripatus, an animal of the forest floor.

June 2011 and Misunderstood: Our grasslands are ancient stable features by Nicholas Zaloumis in Veld & Flora 97(2), 68-70, June 2011. Photographs on this page by Eugene Moll, Alice Notten and Caroline Voget. Information from Sally Argent,

William Bond, Jeanette Loedolff, John Manning, Eugene Moll, Theodor C. Stehle and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (http:// www.daff.gov.za/). Download the factsheet from http://www.botanicalsociety.org.za and articles and references from http://LABpages.blogspot.com.
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learning about biodiversity

We live in Africa, in the Southern Hemisphere, and we have to be very wary of simply adopting ecological thinking from the northern temperate zone of the West.

Our forests are not endangered but our grasslands are!

by Eugene Moll, who says that, as an old dog, he has to learn some new tricks about forests
From my research over the last 50 years I have always known that the small area of forest in South Africa has remained pretty stable over historical and recent times despite what has been written in some of the literature. What has perhaps changed is the forest structure and composition. And yes there are some areas where forest has been cut down or cleared, but these are insignificant at a countrywide scale (and maybe only significant for particular forest types like Swamp Forest in KwaZulu-Natal for sugarcane cultivation in the early 1900s and Dune Forest today because of urban expansion in these sensitive coastal dune systems). Imagine then my utter surprise when at a recent public lecture, to celebrate the centenary of the Bolus Herbarium*, an animated Professor William Bond blew away my comfort zone when he reported on recent research findings concerning angiosperm (flowering plant) evolution and the establishment of Broad-leaved Forest (see text box opposite). Prof. Bond explained that angiosperms most likely evolved as short weedy species growing in open and frequently disturbed, nutrient rich patches; browsed by short-necked dinosaurs! In order to survive these short-lived early angiosperms produced many seeds to enable them to re-colonize areas soon after disturbance. Angiosperm forests only came later, when shade-tolerant angiosperm species evolved. Thus surprise number one for me was that angiosperms evolved as sun-loving plants. My next shock delivered by the professor was that my hero, Acocks (who wrote Veld types of South Africa in 1953), the doyen of South African veld management, got his ideas about the prehistoric vegetation cover of much of the eastern parts of South Africa completely wrong. Acocks believed, for example, that grasslands were mostly the result of the activities of early Iron Age people with shifting cultivation, fire and livestock who greatly impacted the woody component in the vegetation (hence his extensive reference to False veld types). Thus, he maintained, without these drivers much of the grassland areas would revert to forest as the climatic climax vegetation type. (The concept of climatic climax for South Africas vegetation types is still being taught at many tertiary institutions!) We now know that Acocks was wrong. This is because grasslands contain a large number of shade-intolerant forbs and grasses indicating that they are an ancient vegetation type. In fact grasslands are rapidly becoming the rarest and most threatened of all our vegetation types. Certainly in many areas in South Africa forest is expanding into the grasslands (and fynbos) in the absence of fire. Exacerbating the problem is that many of these grassland areas have also been cleared for cultivation and plantations making grassland conservation a top priority nationally. Bond gave an excellent example of forest expansion in the Hluhluwe Game Reserve where once grassy hills are now heavily forested all in a matter of 100 years (see too Firestorms in savanna and forest ecosystems: curse or cure? in Veld & Flora 97(2), 62-63.) I have also recently been made aware that we do not fully comprehend how to manage grasslands and savannas despite over a hundred years of research, and some new findings from the Kruger National Park for example suggest that it may be under-grazed as grazers play a pivotal role in maintaining some grassland areas, not just fire (which Bond also calls the global herbivore).
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In modern global terminology two kinds of forest are recognized: Needle-leaved Forests that are essentially in the Northern Hemisphere, consisting of evergreen gymnosperms. Broad-leaved Forests with both evergreen and deciduous trees that are mostly angiosperms.

ABOVE: Patches of forest in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg are restricted to kloof habitats. I was taught at university this was because fires had removed the forest that joined these relict patches. We now know that these forest patches are tiny remnants of a previous different climatic regime and that the grassland matrix, which is rich in many species, is the threatened vegetation type - not the forests. BELOW: Castle Rock above Kirstenbosch. The last fire through this rare type of Peninsula Granite Fynbos (roughly below the contour path) burned about 40 years ago. Today it has been well colonized by forest species. BOTTOM: Savanna in Mfolozi Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal that Acocks mistakenly argued was recently forest that was cleared and burned to be re-colonized by grassland and woody species. Photos: Eugene Moll.

Thus in this United Nations Year of the Forests we in South Africa need to re-evaluate what we know of our vegetation dynamics. Certainly broad-leaved, evergreen, tropical forests are being severely threatened by the activities of modern humans (e.g. clearing in Amazonia to produce cattle for McDonalds burger patties). But we live in Africa, in the Southern Hemisphere, and we have to be very wary of simply adopting ecological thinking from the northern temperate zone of the West. We have to become the masters of our own destiny and to do so we have to re-evaluate many of the paradigms that we have simply accepted in the past.
*The Bolus Herbarium is housed in the Botany Department of the University of Cape Town.