Johan Baard
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Geosciences, Graduate Student
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Plantations, and associated invasions, of exotic Pinus trees occur extensively in the southern hemisphere, threatening the persistence of biodiverse Mediterranean‐climate vegetation. Large‐scale decommissioning of such plantations in the... more
Plantations, and associated invasions, of exotic Pinus trees occur extensively in the southern hemisphere, threatening the persistence of biodiverse Mediterranean‐climate vegetation. Large‐scale decommissioning of such plantations in the eastern Cape Floristic Region (South Africa) enabled a wide‐ranging study showing successful passive restoration of fynbos vegetation after afforestation. Using a paired study design, we compared the diversity, and floristic and growth‐form composition of post‐fire recovering fynbos in former plantations with that in recently burnt neighboring fynbos in a natural state within the Garden Route National Park. The fynbos of the study area showed good autogenic recovery after several decades of pine afforestation and a fire subsequent to the clearcutting of these trees. On average, native plant abundance and species richness (particularly of shrubs) were significantly lower, and non‐native plant species richness significantly higher, in former plantatio...
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Background Fire is recognized as an important factor in determining the distribution and composition of Southern Cape Afrotemperate Forest in South Africa, although comprehensive understanding of the resilience of these forests to fire is... more
Background Fire is recognized as an important factor in determining the distribution and composition of Southern Cape Afrotemperate Forest in South Africa, although comprehensive understanding of the resilience of these forests to fire is lacking. We investigated effects of fire severity and tree size on post-fire survival of Afrotemperate forest tree species. Results Fire severity was estimated from observed damage to the main stem of trees, and trees were considered to have survived if they resprouted from the main stem or had green foliage in the canopy. A total of 88 plots, 40 species, and 1 378 trees were surveyed 19–24 months post-fire. We assessed the survival response of all trees collectively and for 10 species (with sample size > 40) individually, using logistic regression. Relative to other forests of the world, the post-fire survival rate (45%) of Afrotemperate forest trees collectively was comparable to that in coniferous and tropical forests but lower than that in o...
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Fire can destroy infrastructure and livelihoods, and claim lives. Yet, fire is inevitable and plays several vital ecological roles that have shaped ecosystems over millennia. Planned fires also serve human needs. Critical media content... more
Fire can destroy infrastructure and livelihoods, and claim lives. Yet, fire is inevitable and plays several vital ecological roles that have shaped ecosystems over millennia. Planned fires also serve human needs. Critical media content analysis of 390 media reports (print, online and broadcast) on fires in South African National Parks over a three-year period were used to investigate the portrayal of fire by the mass media. We found a strong emphasis on reactive fire suppression along with a predominantly negative sentiment towards fire (93.9% of total media reach) focussing primarily on losses, destruction and the threat of fires to infrastructure, human health or lives and vegetation. In the few cases where scientists were involved (2.3% of total reach), the narrative, sentiment and images provided a more nuanced perspective of fire as having both detrimental and beneficial consequences (63.6%), imparting key fire ecology concepts to understand fire behaviour better and highlighting the importance of proactive fire-risk reduction measures. Given the influence of the mass media on the views and opinions of the public and policymakers, and its socio-political and management consequences, we conclude that scientists and journalists should do more to engage with one another. We provide pathways and tips to scientists on how to increase their media footprint to promote a more balanced media portrayal of fire.
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Creepers or climbers refer to a group of plants that are rooted in the ground, but that grow into more favourable positions (mainly to take advantage of optimal light conditions) with minimum investment in stems and with special... more
Creepers or climbers refer to a group of plants that are rooted in the ground, but that grow into more favourable positions (mainly to take advantage of optimal light conditions) with minimum investment in stems and with special adaptations to fix themselves to hosts. In contrast, stranglers like the Scrambling Fig (Ficus burtt-davyi) and epiphytes start their lives in the host tree, not on the ground. Climbers come from many taxa although some families are better represented than others. Other names used for creepers or climbers are vines, scramblers and lianas. Liana (or liane) is a general term referring to any woody climbing plant. They are abundant in the tropics but are found in cooler climates as well. Vines mostly refer to smaller and herbaceous climbing plants and they often colonize forest gaps or forest margins. The soft Asparagus species (previously Myrsiphyllum) are capable of growing in shade. When some vines become woody, as old mature plants, they also may be referre...
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Research Interests: Plant Biology and Ecology
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Objectives: A core objective in South African National Parks (SANParks) is biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of functional ecosystems, which is compromised by alien species invasions. The 2016 Alien and Invasive Species... more
Objectives: A core objective in South African National Parks (SANParks) is biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of functional ecosystems, which is compromised by alien species invasions. The 2016 Alien and Invasive Species Regulations of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) requires landowners to develop management plans for alien and invasive species, as well as report on the status and efficacy of control. Method: To compile the species list, we started with the 2011 SANParks alien species list. Name changes were updated and SANParks ecologists and park managers contacted to verify the species lists and add new records. Species reported by external experts were added in the same manner. The management programme costs and species controlled per park per year were extracted from SANParks’ Working for Water programme database. Results: SANParks has listed 869 alien and extra-limital species, including 752 plants and 117 animals, increasing from 78...
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Sense of place (SoP) refers to the meanings and values that people attach to places. The concept can be used to frame how people engage or form a connection with the natural environment. At a sensory level, SoP is influenced by people’s... more
Sense of place (SoP) refers to the meanings and values that people attach to places. The concept can be used to frame how people engage or form a connection with the natural environment. At a sensory level, SoP is influenced by people’s visual experiences, which in turn can be linked to the concept of viewsheds. Viewsheds can be transformed, either abruptly (e.g. by infrastructure development such as wind turbines) or more gradually (e.g. by non-native trees invading a landscape). In this study, we focus on the Garden Route National Park to explore the potential importance of viewsheds as a conservation feature, specifically in the context of non-native (especially invasive) tree species. Using mixed information sources, we explore the potential role of invasive trees on experiences of visitors to this protected area and speculate on how viewsheds may shape SoP associations and how such associations may inform protected area management. Our investigation shows that people’s experien...
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Ninety-five percent of orchid species associated with fynbos shrublands of South Africa's Cape Floristic Kingdom have been assessed for the IUCN Red List, yet aspects of their demography and population biology remain poorly... more
Ninety-five percent of orchid species associated with fynbos shrublands of South Africa's Cape Floristic Kingdom have been assessed for the IUCN Red List, yet aspects of their demography and population biology remain poorly understood. We conducted a 6-year demographic study of the Critically Endangered Disa procera, a cryptic, terrestrial species from South Africa with a global population of c. 50 individuals known from a single location. We aimed to provide management recommendations that would facilitate its persistence. Our findings indicate that the population of D. procera is larger than previously thought, and the species occurs at two distinct locations. These orchids exhibit high interannual variation in population size and turnover of individuals, potentially indicative of a species with a short life span, and still meet the criteria for Critically Endangered status. The species benefits from disturbances, such as brush cutting along trails, or fire, which open up clea...
Research Interests: Conservation Biology, Ecology, Population Dynamics, Prescribed Fire, Endangered Species, and 15 morePopulation viability analysis, Orchids, South Africa, Rare plants, Endangered species conservation, Population Biology of Rare Plants, Extinction, Orchidaceae, Terrestrial Orchids, Critically Endangered, Rare and Endagered Plants, Threatened Species, Prescribed burning, Plant and Orchid Biology, and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
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Most plant lovers and botanists enjoy taking photos of plants in the wild. Some photograph plants because they have a casual interest in the plants, the environment or photography. Others need to record their observations and preserve... more
Most plant lovers and botanists enjoy taking photos of plants in the wild. Some photograph plants because they have a casual interest in the plants, the environment or photography. Others need to record their observations and preserve their records for future use. I suspect that most photographers do not organize their photos optimally. This leads to lengthy searches for photos and often even not finding the particular photo they are looking for.
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Gasteria polita was first found in Whiskey Creek Nature Reserve (then part of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and now part of the Garden Route National Park)
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A framework to establish the expected effects of climate on forage quantity and quality in a local savanna system was developed to interpret large herbivore population performance patterns in the Kruger National Park. We developed a... more
A framework to establish the expected effects of climate on forage quantity and quality in a local savanna system was developed to interpret large herbivore population performance patterns in the Kruger National Park. We developed a climate–vegetation response model based on interpretation and synthesis of existing knowledge (literature review) and supported by investigation and analyses of local patterns of climate effects on forage plant performance and chemical composition.Developing the climate–vegetation response model involved three main components, namely (1) defining indicators of forage availability to herbivores (nitrogen productivity, nitrogen quality, carbon-nutrient quality), (2) identifying herbivore species guilds of similar nutritional requirements with respect to these indicators [bulk feeders with tolerance to fibrous herbage (buffalo, waterbuck), bulk feeders with preference for high nitrogen quality forage (short grass preference grazers: blue wildebeest and zebr...
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Long-term population performance trends of eight large herbivore species belonging to groups of disparate foraging styles were studied in the semi-arid savanna of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Over the past century the number of... more
Long-term population performance trends of eight large herbivore species belonging to groups of disparate foraging styles were studied in the semi-arid savanna of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Over the past century the number of bulk feeders (buffalo, waterbuck, blue wildebeest and plains zebra) had increased towards comparatively high population densities, whereas population numbers of selectively feeding antelope species (sable antelope, roan antelope, tsessebe and eland) declined progressively. Detailed analyses revealed that population numbers of buffalo and waterbuck fluctuated in association with food quantity determined by rainfall. Population performance ratings (1944–2003) of the species for which forage quality was important (blue wildebeest, zebra and selective grazers) were correlated negatively with minimum temperature and positively with dry-season rainfall.Interpretation according to a climate–vegetation response model suggested that acclimation of forage pl...
Creepers or climbers refer to a group of plants that are rooted in the ground, but that grow into more favourable positions (mainly to take advantage of optimal light conditions) with minimum investment in stems and with special... more
Creepers or climbers refer to a group of plants that are rooted in the ground, but that grow into more favourable positions (mainly to take advantage of optimal light conditions) with minimum investment in stems and with special adaptations to fix themselves to hosts. In contrast, stranglers like the Scrambling Fig (Ficus burtt-davyi) and epiphytes start their lives in the host tree, not on the ground. Climbers come from many taxa although some families are better represented than others. Other names used for creepers or climbers are vines, scramblers and lianas. Liana (or liane) is a general term referring to any woody climbing plant. They are abundant in the tropics but are found in cooler climates as well. Vines mostly refer to smaller and herbaceous climbing plants and they often colonize forest gaps or forest margins. The soft Asparagus species (previously Myrsiphyllum) are capable of growing in shade. When some vines become woody, as old mature plants, they also may be referred to as lianas.
Research Interests:
Early detection of emerging or sleeper weeds and monitoring of alien plant invasions forms the foundation of effective invasive alien plant management. Using a rapid roadside survey technique, we aimed to (1) establish a baseline of alien... more
Early detection of emerging or sleeper weeds and monitoring of alien plant invasions forms the foundation of effective invasive alien plant management. Using a rapid roadside survey technique, we aimed to (1) establish a baseline of alien plant distribution and abundance along roads in the Garden Route, South Africa, and (2) identify priority species (particularly sleeper weeds) and priority areas to inform appropriate management action. We surveyed along 530 km of roads and recorded 109 alien and/or extralimital species across 1942 point locations. Of these, 35 species were considered to be sleeper weeds on account of displaying estimated dispersal distances distinctive of invasive plants and not being listed by the South African Plant Invaders Atlas (SAPIA) or regulated by South African legislation. Roads along natural forest and fynbos vegetation (often within the Garden Route National Park) displayed lower incidences of alien plants than those associated with degraded or transfo...
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Background: Concern has been expressed about the effectiveness of invasive alien plant (IAP) control operations carried out by Working for Water (WfW). South African legislation now also requires reporting on the effectiveness of IAP... more
Background: Concern has been expressed about the effectiveness of invasive alien plant (IAP) control operations carried out by Working for Water (WfW). South African legislation now also requires reporting on the effectiveness of IAP management interventions. Objectives: We assessed the effectiveness of IAP management practices in a large fynbos protected area, the Garden Route National Park, South Africa. Methods: We undertook field surveys of pre-clearing IAP composition and the quality of treatments applied by WfW during 2012–2015 in 103 management units, covering 4280 ha. We furthermore assessed WfW data for evidence of change in IAP cover after successive treatments, and adherence to industry norms. Results: Despite the development of detailed management plans, implementation was poorly aligned with plans. The quality of many treatments was inadequate, with work done to standard in only 23% of the assessed area. Problems encountered included (1) a complete absence of treatment ...