Introduction to the South Africa & Mozambique projects

South Africa Terrestrial

Operation Wallacea and our South African partners, Wildlife and Ecological Investments (WEI), are coordinating a large research programme on the impact of the growth of elephant populations on the vegetation and associated diversity of key taxa.  The South Africa research programme covers a series of reserves across the country: Kruger National Park; the Welgevonden Reserve in the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve; and the Zululand Rhino Reserves and Pongola Reserves in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. Each reserve uses a slightly different management strategy to control their elephant populations. 

The majority of big game areas in South Africa are fenced in order to avoid conflicts between communities and dangerous animals.  However, this restricts movement of species such as elephants, which can lead to excessive habitat damage within reserves where elephant feeding pressure is too high. Initially the carrying capacity of the reserve needs to be established, and this is based on acceptable levels of habitat damage. The Opwall teams are assessing the levels of damage to trees and shrubs in different reserves at differing levels of elephant feeding pressure. Data are being gathered at a range of elephant grazing pressures so that estimates of levels of damage for a reserve with differing levels of elephant populations can be predicted. 

Redefining what acceptable levels of elephant numbers are in a reserve is one approach being used by reserve managers.  Another approach is to expand the areas accessible to elephants.  In KwaZulu Natal, a project called Space for Elephants is trying to persuade private game reserves to drop their fences to create contiguous areas. Private reserves constitute over 60% of the protected areas in South Africa, so projects such as this which encourage cooperation between the reserves through mutually beneficial practices can be hugely important for conservation management within southern Africa.  In the Pongola Reserve, where parts of the reserve are subjected to huge grazing pressure, there is a move to open up an adjacent area of 1500ha to relieve the pressure on the reserve. Similarly, in the nearby Thanda Reserve, there are parts where there have been elephants for a long period, parts where elephants gained access only in 2009 and a new area where small numbers of elephants were introduced in 2011.  Dropping fences does not just allow elephants to expand their ranges, but also affects the distribution of other herbivores and predators. Long term data sets on the distribution of large mammal species in most of the study reserves are also being gathered and are revealing some interesting patterns.

Another approach to managing elephant populations is to control their increase in numbers by using contraception. In Pongola, the bulls have been vasectomised and there is a long term study looking at the impact this has on elephant social structure and behavior.  Other reserves are using injections of PZP, an immunosuppressant, to provide contraception.

Mozambique Terrestrial

In 2013 research at a new site in Maputo Special Reserve (MSR) in Mozambique is being started with the research objective of establishing regular monitoring of a series of forest structure and vegetation plots to assess the impact of increasing numbers of herbivores. . The MSR is situated within one of only four centres of globally significant plant endemism, identified in southern Africa and supports an impressive variety and combination of terrestrial plant communities and ecosystems, some of which are not protected elsewhere in southern Africa. Illegal hunting in the past caused the large mammal population to be seriously depleted but with the establishment of the Special Reserve and enforcement activities, a series of large mammal re-introductions are proposed including: zebra, ostrich, warthog, oribi, kudu, nyala, waterbuck, wildebeest, Lichtenstein’s hartebeest and buffalo. As numbers of herbivores build up though this will have impacts on the vegetation, which in turn impact on the biodiversity of other taxa. The Opwall survey teams are working with the Reserve Managers to design and implement a monitoring programme for the Reserve to monitor these changes and parts of this programme will be completed by Park staff and scientists with assistance from school groups.

Maputo Special Reserve Management Plan 2010

Mozambique Marine

In Mozambique Operation Wallacea is running a series of annual surveys that will help identify the relative importance of each of the reef systems for biodiversity conservation and also provide data to quantify changes over time.

The reefs of Southern Mozambique are uniquely diverse and offer an opportunity to examine changing patterns in coral and reef fish community structure in the face of climate change. This region, south of Maputo, and in close proximity to the border of South Africa lies near the very edge of the range of hard coral in a sub-tropical/ temperate transition zone. Here, unique fish assemblages exist, and the survivorship of these coral reefs has been galvanised by the recent creation of the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, which joins up with the Maputoland MPA of South Africa, creating the biggest transfrontier MPA in Africa.

The primary work involved here is an annual assessment of the reef fish community structure at sites off Ponta Malongane using stereo-video techniques to gain data on diversity, abundance and length of fish. Unlike traditional UVC techniques, stereo-video provides precise and accurate data on these three metrics, whilst being able to utlise any observer to build unbiased data-sets from year to year. These data will be used to monitor shifts in reef fish community structure over time due to the effects of climate change, and in time, as the MPA management plan begins to take shape, an analysis of the performance of this MPA will also be incorporated into the research being conducted here. Not only are the coral reef communities unique, but the region is also a popular stop-over location for giant manta rays, whale sharks, sea turtles and humpback whales, therefore by ensuring the health and future of these coral reef communities through the Opwall research, we will ensure that these charismatic creatures continue to stop by.