Arid Zone Ecology Forum 2016: Reflecting on the past and shaping the future

By Marco Pauw, Technician, SAEON Arid Lands Node Tweet

This year’s Arid Zone Ecology Forum (AZEF), which took place in Prince Albert in October, was not only an opportunity to reflect on the past 30 years of research at Tierberg LTER, but also to shape the future of arid zone research.

One could hardly tell that the conference was somewhat smaller this year, as the venue (the Showroom Theatre) buzzed like a beehive during the meet-and-greet and throughout the conference.

This year’s venue, the Showroom Theatre in Prince Albert, was a hive of activity during the meet-and-greet (Picture: Gigi Laidler)

SAEON was represented by no less than 13 individuals: Gina Arena, Joh Henschel, Betsie Milne, Leonard Ndou, Tshifiwa Ndou, Johan Pauw, Marco Pauw, Tshililo Ramaswiela, Juan Swanepoel, Simon Todd and Helga van der Merwe, and research associates Richard and Sue Dean.

The Arid Lands Node team contributed five paper presentations and six posters. The node was also one of the sponsors of the conference, sponsoring student attendance and student prizes.

Learning from the past

Johan Pauw, Managing Director of SAEON, officially opened the conference. He highlighted the contribution of the research conducted at Tierberg LTER to current knowledge of Karoo ecosystems and the sterling effort by the individuals who made it happen, including Richard and Sue Dean.

Richard and Sue, who are residents of Prince Albert, were given lifetime achievement awards by AZEF to honour their work in advancing ecological sciences in arid areas. In addition to their research, they played a major role in establishing and running the Tierberg Karoo Research Centre, keeping it going despite financial challenges and eventually handing the management (and datasets) over to SAEON.

At the Tuesday evening’s dinner, Sue gave a narrative of the early days of Tierberg - what they were searching for, how they stumbled upon the site, what it was like to stay there and to do research. This was a unique experience that gave listeners, many belonging to a much younger generation, insight into what research was like in the 1980s.

Dr Joe McAuliffe of the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona, USA, delivers his thought-provoking and entertaining keynote address (Picture: Gigi Laidler) Hana Petersen of the University of Cape Town's Plant Conservation Unit won the award for the best student presentation (Picture: Gigi Laidler)

Thought-provoking keynote address

Dr Joe McAuliffe of the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona, USA, delivered the keynote address in which he explained his hypotheses on how different processes are involved in the creation of the phenomenon known as heuweltjies*. Read his poem on heuweltjies here.

Joe's thought-provoking and entertaining talk taught listeners two important lessons: 1) it is not true that “everything has been done” - there are many opportunities to build on previous research; and 2) we tend to oversimplify complex natural processes and end up struggling to explain them because they do not fit our simplistic models. The talk provided the perfect launching platform for an exciting conference and generated a lot of discussion.

Apart from heuweltjies and long-term monitoring, a number of diverse topics were covered at the conference, including renewable energy and other large developments, livestock farming, conservation planning and stewardship, as well as social aspects in conservation.

Field trips

The field trips were exciting and informative and not even the heat could dampen the enthusiasm of attendees. One trip showcased the facilities, long-term studies and research opportunities at Tierberg LTER. At Wolwekraal Nature Reserve, visitors were shown the diversity of habitats and species, and the challenges of having a nature reserve right next to an urban area were highlighted.

Kevin van Wyk, owner of Trakaskuilen Farm (where unconventional, high-density grazing practices are applied), delivered an excellent presentation showing that his farming practices are good for his veld and financially sustainable. The BioBlitz near Prince Albert yielded many interesting finds, including a baby common duiker hiding in a shrub.

Identifying urgent research needs

During the last session of the conference, a workshop was held to identify the most urgent and relevant research needs in the arid zone considering the imminent changes in land use. Attendees organised themselves into four groups dealing with the following broad topics: large-scale science and energy developments; water, drought and climate change; conservation; and livelihoods and social-ecological systems.

Enthusiastic discussion followed, which was only limited by time. The outcomes of this workshop will be made publicly available in the form of a summary document aimed at assisting the AZEF community to ask relevant questions that will fill the gaps in our knowledge of arid zone ecosystems and the changes taking place in these systems.

SAEON student Juan Swanepoel (L) receives the second prize for best student poster from Arid Lands Node technician Marco Pauw (Picture: Gigi Laidler) SAEON research associate Richard Dean (in blue check shirt) explains long-term monitoring at Tierberg LTER during one of the field trips

Student participation

AZEF 2016 was once again well attended by students, despite fears that the ongoing disruptions at universities would adversely affect their numbers. Five of them received sponsorship to attend.

Excellent presentations and posters resulted in stiff competition for the student awards. Hana Petersen (UCT Plant Conservation Unit) won the award for the best presentation and Kervin Prayag (UCT) was the runner-up. Charmaine Manyani (SU) won the award for the best poster and the runner-up was Juan Swanepoel (UCT), a SAEON student and former SAEON intern.

The BioBlitz near Prince Albert yielded many interesting finds such as this tortoise (Picture: Gigi Laidler)

Education outreach

As has become the custom, there was a learner outreach programme to foster interest in environmental sciences among the younger generation. Twenty learners and a teacher from Prince Albert Primary School visited the Karoo National Park, where they took part in various activities centred on the natural and cultural heritage of the Karoo.

The learners were very excited to visit the park, as many have never had the opportunity, despite living only an hour’s drive away. They also went to the Christiaan Barnard Museum in Beaufort West, where it was demonstrated that a person from a small town in the Karoo can go on to achieve great things.

Conclusions

During his presentation, SAEON’s Simon Todd provocatively asked whether reviving arid lands research was like trying to "flog a dead horse". Reflecting on AZEF 2016, one can only conclude that there are, indeed, many "young horses" ready to advance arid lands research across new horizons. The next few decades are going to be very exciting.

*  Further information on heuweltjies can be found in McAuliffe, J.R., M.T. Hoffman, L.D. McFadden and M.P. King. 2014. Role of aeolian sediment accretion in the formation of heuweltjie earth mounds, Western South Africa. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 39:1900-1912

As part of AZEF 2016, 20 learners and a teacher from Prince Albert Primary School visited the Karoo National Park, where they took part in a range of activities centred on the natural and cultural heritage of the Karoo (Picture: Megan Simons)