10.12.2016

Ecology and Management of Fynbos in South Africa

Fortunately for South Africa, the fynbos has attracted many top researchers and managers, and they have applied their minds to the ecology and management challenges posed by fynbos in excellent guides to the issue.

Fortunately for South Africa, the fynbos has attracted many top researchers and managers, and they have applied their minds to the ecology and management challenges posed by fynbos in excellent guides to the issue.

Fynbos: Ecology and Management by Karen J. Esler, Shirley M. Pierce and Charl de Villiers takes an ecosystem health approach to veld management, recognising that soil, plants, insects and wild animals work with the land user to sustain the productivity and value of fynbos vegetation in South Africa.

Onno Huyser, former Senior Manager Fynbos and Succulent Karoo (WWF-South Africa) states: The fynbos region is one of the most spectacularly diverse places on Earth. This is not an idle statement. When one considers the diversity of insects, freshwater and marine species also associated with the Cape, this hotspot is arguably the hottest of all. It is also confusingly heterogeneous, with a diversity of finescale habitats, from wetlands in the lowlands to seeps in the mountains, unique soil, nutrient, aspect and rainfall conditions, all of which combine to sustain and drive this diversity. Fynbos is a fire-adapted vegetation (like grasslands and savannas) and needs fire to sustain itself: without fire the vegetation would thicken and senesce, permit trees to enter and dominate the system, and eventually exclude the precious nutrients liberated by fire and which the system depends upon for rejuvenation. All of these factors combine to make fynbos special beyond compare, but, also, a challenge to manage. One cannot conserve a biome, where the turnover of species as one moves through the landscape is as high as it is in the fynbos, by clustering protected areas in the mountains or on other land of poor commercial or agricultural value. One has to do it in situ. Similarly, one cannot hope to exclude fire from a system that is born to burn, or apply a generic management strategy across many habitats, when such variation exists. Fortunately for us, the fynbos has attracted many top researchers and managers, and they have applied their minds to the management challenges posed by fynbos in this excellent guide, Fynbos: Ecology and Management by Karen J. Esler, Shirley M. Pierce and Charl de Villiers, designed to assist all landowners. Whether you are a farmer, municipal official, a member of a voluntary association, part of a government department, a consultant or conservation professional, or simply an interested individual, there is something here for you. This worthy initiative is led by the Fynbos Forum, a public forum that has been meeting since the late 1970s, and which brings together anyone with an interest in Fynbos, and The Table Mountain Fund, the "Fynbos Fund" of WWF South Africa. These partners, and many others, are engaged in a groundbreaking co-operative programme to conserve the fynbos, known as the Cape Action for People and the Environment, or CAPE.

'Ecology and Management of Fynbos in South Africa' is a press release by Namibiana Buchdepot.
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