BIMF 2012 Abstracts

Tools, technology and innovation

1. iSpot southern Africa- SANBI’s exciting new citizen science initiative

Sarah-Leigh Hutchinson and Ismail Ebrahim, SANBI iSpot southern Africa is an exciting new website that the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has started exploring to encourage greater public participation in biodiversity recording, monitoring and identification. The site works via a Virtual Museum interface enabling anyone to share with others anything they have discovered in nature by uploading georeferenced photographs of their observations, whether plants, insects, animals, fish, birds or fungi, onto an easy to use database. Unlike other Virtual Museum’s, however, iSpot is unique in that it encompasses all the biodiversity of life, is extremely interactive and user-friendly and is linked directly to the Encyclopedia of Life and the Red List of Plants. The site is also far more than merely a collection of data: it is a buzzing space on the web where nature enthusiasts, both beginners and experts, share their knowledge and help each other identify species. In this way, iSpot is user-driven and provides a fun way to progress from a being a novice in species identification to a learned expert. Since SANBI released iSpot for testing in March last year, the site has already gained over 600 registered users who have submitted over 13 000 observations! What is truly astounding, however, is that most of these observations (95%) have received ID’s, all given by iSpot’s users. New developments on the site are constantly being made- such as the interactive map function which allows users to filter observations, and the common and scientific name dictionaries which makes finding species a breeze. iSpot also allows societies and groups to register and start projects, surveys and atlases with their own badge displayed (providing a link to the society’s home page for each observation) and to set up a ‘tag’ which categorizes observations according to their specific project or survey. A smart phone application is also available for Android phones and interactive identification keys are also being developed. SANBI’s vision is to see iSpot raise up a new generation of biodiversity ambassadors and to witness great leaps accomplished for the conservation of our rich natural heritage. Visit iSpot southern Africa at http://za.ispot.org.uk to find out more and begin making a difference by iSpotting.

2. Using georeferencing tools to enrich biodiversity data.

Burgert Muller, KwaZulu-Natal Museum The effective application of biodiversity information is of the utmost importance in managing our natural resources. Many historical, and in some cases current, collection and occurrence data, specifically geographic data, are sparse at best. Some software tools, including UC Berkeley’s Georeferencing Calculator and batch georeferencing tools such as Geolocate and Biogeomancer, which can aid in making previously unfit data usable for certain applications depending on the scale of the project will be discussed . More well-known and general tools such as Google Maps and Google Earth will be discussed in conjunction with other online resources to ease georeferencing procedures.

3. Addressing key scientific questions through the development of tools that

use multiple data resources

Les Powrie, Applied Biodiversity Research Division (and National Vegetation Map Committee), SANBI, Cape Town. Pieter Winter, Applied Biodiversity Research Division, SANBI, Cape Town.

This presentation demonstrates some benefits of using combined botanical datasets for various applications including modelling the impact of climate change on species, and in gathering data for inclusion in the book The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Combining taxon or specimen data from all SA collections could provide great strength to many biodiversity research projects and ventures in South Africa. SABONET (Southern African Botanical Diversity Network) created a common platform for botanical data and facilitated the digitisation of several herbarium collections. PRECIS.pc was implemented in many herbaria across southern Africa. SABIF (South African Biodiversity Information Facility) currently publishes more than 11 million biodiversity data records from 19 institutions across South Africa. The implementation of a new primary plant data management system using BRAHMS software in SANBI and several other herbaria in the region will further encourage such institutions to manage their own data, and subsequently to share this data via the SABIF knowledge management system using common standards and protocols. The availability of this data will encourage its use in tools and implementations (as demonstrated here) that could potentially combine/integrate data for scientific analysis.

4. Southern African Plant Invader Atlas: an essential resource for Invasive

Species management

Philip Ivey, Early Detection Rapid Response, SANBI South Africa has been and continues to be invaded by species from around the globe. It is estimated that there are approximately 9000 non-indigenous plant species in South Africa. The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (2004) identifies 238 of these non-indigenous species as invasive and in need of some management intervention. Accurate and accessible data on distribution and likely spread of invasive is required in order to make key decisions regarding which species to target first and the most appropriate management plans for particular species. The Southern African Plant Invader Atlas has data for ~700 naturalized plant species in South Africa gathered over a period of thirty years. In this presentation the use of this data is discussed and some examples are explored. In order for this data to be useful in the future and for the database to continue to serve invasive species management efforts it is important that accurate new data is added and that sustainable management structures are put in place.

5. Cybertracking emerging invasive alien species – field trials in KZN

Ntombifuthi Mthimkhulu, Jerome Sullivan, Ingrid Nänni and Philip Ivey Early Detection and Rapid Response Programme, SANBI, P. Bag X7, Claremont 7735 Using Trimble GPS units and Cybertracker software, emerging weed clearing contractors employed in KZN have accurately recorded locality information of target invasive alien plants. GPS locations are automatically recorded while photographs and population data are entered by the contractor. The interface is designed to enable users with no computer skills to capture data rapidly and accurately, eliminating the need for transcribing GPS data manually and introducing mistakes. The software comprises a pictorial key of ca. 700 species of IAPs in South Africa, but in this trial we have focused on two species that have been targeted for clearing. The results show an improvement in locality data compared with two previous years of clearing effort, when some records were indicated in the Indian Ocean.

6. GIS and conservation monitoring and evaluation tools

Stefan Steenekamp, Peace Parks Foundation

Peace Parks Foundation have an extensive GIS which assists with land use planning, ecosystem services and landscape level concepts all of which form an Integral part of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in Southern Africa. In order to track progress and the 'state of health' of the various TFCAs, the Foundation GIS has developed a visual tool to assist with the monitoring and evaluation of generic indicators which allow for the mapping of progress (or lack thereof) of the various TFCAs. These monitoring, evaluation and reporting tools are used by TFCA and protected area decision makers including various governmental authorities.

7. SAEON Streamflow & Weather Database

Victoria Goodall, SAEON In 2009, SAEON took over the management and responsibility for a long-term catchment and weather monitoring program. The only remaining active monitoring site is the Jonkershoek valley outside Stellenbosch, where monitoring of streamflow and rainfall had started in 1938. However, the original monitoring network was far larger with long-term data available for catchments in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and other catchments in the Western Cape. SAEON took over custodianship of all the data collected in all of these catchments, which mostly stretches back to the 1940s, collected hourly. This custodianship came with a number of challenges. The volume of data is huge, with over 20 million records and this is increasing daily! These data need to be made easily accessible to researchers, and originally had to be extracted from an old desktop computer in an historic format that was difficult to extract. The new SAEON Streamflow and Weather database has been developed using a SQL Server database, and has been designed to be fully extendable for future requirements. The database schema is a subset of the EnviroDB schema, and can allow for simple transformation to SensorWeb. Numerous data sources can be specified, including data from automated weather stations and water level meters, as well as ad hoc files from scientists, researchers or farmers! Data can be easily downloaded into .csv files, with output queried and filtered by the user. These data are unique – only 3 other catchments in the world can compare in length to the Jonkershoek experiment and the others are all in the northern hemisphere. SAEON is currently expanding the monitoring network, with the potential to restart monitoring at Cathedral Peak and other catchments. This database now provides SAEON with a tool for archiving and disseminating these valuable data.

8. The future of SANBI’s publications

Louisa Liebenberg, SANBI Publications Currently SANBI’s publications – Strelitzia, Flowering Plants of Africa, Flora of Southern Africa and the journal Bothalia - are produced in hard copy. The publications department of SANBI is looking at options to ensure free and open access to all historical and future publications. Issues and challenges include ensuring that transformation from hard copy to digital includes all potential customers and continues to protect the intellectual property of authors and artists. This talk will look at the future and open access of all SANBI publications but in particular the transformation of the in house journal from Bothalia to African Biodiversity and Conservation.

9. Open Global Resource of Literature for African Biodiversity Scientists

William Ulate, Global BHL Project Coordinator As part of the scientific method and peer review followed by scientists and particularly taxonomists, it is essential to be able to access the specimens and original publications used to describe a new species and published in books and journals for more than three centuries ago. The Global BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library) is a cooperative network of autonomous organizations and institutions that operate programs and projects to support the goal of making biodiversity literature available to all through open access. Currently, the European Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Atlas of Living Australia, BIREME through SciELO Brazil, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt have all created regional BHL nodes. These projects are working together to share content, protocols, services, and digital preservation practices to support research, policy and conservation through appropriate repatriation of scientific information. In recent years, several biodiversity informatics initiatives have been promoted in Africa by different donors. One of them, the JRS Foundation, supported in November 2011, that ten African librarians, biologists, computer scientists, publishers and students were brought together in Chicago, USA during the Life and Literature Conference, to decide on African needs and objectives related to Biodiversity Literature Digitization. A follow-up organizational meeting will take place in June 2012, to collaborate on the development of a BHL node for Africa, an open global resource of literature for African biodiversity scientists. Among the topics to be covered are the sharing of previous experiences organizing a BHL Node following on the successful model developed in Australia and Brazil, the appropriate metadata delivery infrastructure, how to coordinate the scanning and synchronize the repositories of titles that are important for biodiversity scientists in Africa, including gray literature and publications produced within the continent.

Showcasing data digitisation and application

1. The forgotten Pollinators: Filling a Biodiversity Information Gap

Jonathan F. Colville, Applied Biodiversity Research Division, South African National Biodiversity Institute Insects can be considered as the very glue that holds earth’s ecosystems together. They are vital to life on earth due to their involvement in key ecosystem functions and services, such as nutrient recycling and plant pollination. Worryingly however, is that we have very limited baseline data on where species occur and their concentrations – essential information for biodiversity management. For example, insect diversity within South Africa's two global biodiversity hotspots of the fynbos and succulent karoo are poorly-documented when compared to the renowned flora. However, these biomes are world centres of richness, endemism and adaptive radiation for several insect groups. We attempt to fill this information gap by collating distribution and diversity information through digitization of natural history collections of selected insect pollinator groups. Selected groups include those that have high conservation value (richness and endemism), taxonomically well-know, and have well-sampled collections. I use the SABIF-funded project for digitization of fruit chafer beetles as an example of linking digitizing, curatorial, and taxonomic skills through cross-institutional collaboration to fill the insect biodiversity gap.

2. Data in action: taking parasitology from the arcane to the applied

Graeme Cumming, Percy Fitzpatrick Institute, University of Cape Town Ecological data that are associated with explicit locations in time and space offer considerable potential for testing and developing hypotheses in ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology. We have been supported by a SABIF grant in the digital capture of distribution records for African ticks (Acari:

Ixodida). Although our new database is not yet complete, I use a comparable data set (that will form the first half of the larger database) to illustrate its value for thinking about questions of acarine biogeography and the control and management of tick-borne diseases. Tick distributions are potentially influenced by a wide range of factors, including their hosts, their external biophysical environment (particularly rainfall, temperature, and altitude), vegetation structure, soil type (eggs are layed in the soil), human impacts such as dipping and pesticide regimes, and predation from oxpeckers, egrets, and reptiles. Consideration of tick host specificity indicates that ticks exhibit a continuum of host preferences, ranging from highly specialised to extremely generalist. Our spatially explicit data can be used to contrast different hypotheses of species range limitation. We conclude that at broad scales, tick species occurrences are limited by climate rather than by biotic influences. This result facilitates the assessment and prediction of tick species range changes. Using general linear models, we compare projected changes in tick species ranges across eight different climate change scenarios. Each scenario has winners and losers. Projected changes in the species ranges of key vector species have potentially important implications for veterinary disease control measures, for the health of wildlife populations and the regulation of game and livestock translocations between geographically distinct areas, and for human health.

3. Unlocking the treasures of the deep; digitization of Iziko South African

Museum’s Marine Biology data

Wayne Florence, Iziko South African Musuem The marine invertebrate collection of the Iziko South African Museum is one of the largest and most comprehensive in Africa. Eleven hand-written catalogues, dating back to 1871, have been used to record the primary biodiversity data locked within the collection. Modern end user needs have rendered the catalogues inadequate. In this talk previous digitization initiatives are reported on, with special attention on the valuable contribution that OBIS and SABIF have made to unlock the data. In addition ideas around potential application of the data within the South African context are discussed.

4. Data capture: the Durban Natural Science Museum story

Kirstin Williams, Durban Natural Science Museum The Durban Natural Science Museum entomology collection consists of approximately 150 000 specimens covering most insect orders. Specimens were collected from 1897 to 2011 in 10 different countries, mostly in Southern Africa. The specimen data is of high quality, mostly identified to species level, with temporal and locality information. The specimens are well preserved. Most of the specimens have been identified by recognised taxonomic experts. 100 000 records were previously captured leaving approximately 50 000 specimens that still needed to be captured electronically. By utilising the SABIF funding, we were able to employ 2 data capturers to complete the job. Approximately 40 000 records were captured during 2011. The collection is now completely electronically captured. The quality of this collection and particularly its temporal reach makes it of national strategic importance to biodiversity research. This potential can only be realised if the data is digitised and accessible to the scientific community.

5. Unlocking a wealth of biodiversity informatics: state of digitization of Iziko

South African Museum entomology collection

Simon van Noort Department of Natural History, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. E-mail: svannoort@iziko.org.za

The Iziko South African Museum Entomology collection is both historically important (specimens date back to the 1850’s) and an actively expanding collection. Curated holdings have more than doubled (factor of 2.5) over the last 20 years. When digitization commenced in 1990 the collection was estimated to house half a million specimens. By the inception of the first funded SABIF digitization project at Iziko in 2006, collection associated staff had digitized 124 657 catalogue numbers (= c. 623 285 specimens) into an in-house Clarian DOS-based database SAMDAT developed by Hamish Robertson. In-house digitization continued to run concurrently with SABIF funded projects between 2006 and 2012. The database was converted to Specify6 during 2011 and currently (as at 28 May 2012) contains 259 550 catalogue numbers = c. 1 297 750 specimens) of which 31.66% were digitized under the auspices of SABIF funded projects (82 172 catalogue numbers = c. 410 860 specimens), the latter thus representing a considerable contribution to the Iziko digitization initiative. The digitization process includes imaging of specimens and associated data labels using either a high tech multifocus stacking imaging system (Entovision) or digital SLR with macro lens for larger specimens. In excess of 13 000 images have been captured (representing c. 2000 specimens). The majority of these are scientifically important type specimens imaged under SABIF funded projects. Digitisation of the collection has provided a dataset that will enable analyses and interpretation of historical and contemporary distribution and species richness patterns of an economically and ecologically important group of organisms. This baseline data will provide critical input to applied scientific disciplines and will allow for informed conservation management decisions, which historically have excluded invertebrate data. Curation and digitization of the unprocessed 5 million specimens in the collection will further add to this wealth of biodiversity information.

6. Capturing Africa’s Dung beetle diversity

Angelika Switala Scarab Research Group, Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria akswitala@zoology.up.ac.za

South Africa has the richest regional diversity of dung beetles in Africa, and about 20% of the world fauna. Dung beetles are among the most important providers of ecosystem services in natural and agricultural areas but their populations are under serious threat due to increased habitat transformation, ranging from overgrazing and bush-clearing for planted pastures to the use of cattle anti-parasitic drugs which are excreted in the dung and inadvertently affect dung insects. In spite of their importance, and threats posed to them, the biological and geographical information associated with large museum collections in the country is inaccessible to potential users such as biodiversity scientists, conservation planners and policy formulators. The extensive local museum holdings of specimens and their associated data can contribute to the region’s sustainable development by ensuring that their Scarab data are accessible. Consequently, the Scarab Research Group (SRG) at the University of Pretoria has undertaken to taxonomically sort the species, collate and digitize the data of the three largest SA museums, using a specially developed dung beetle database. Having done research scarabs for many years, the SRG have a technically and scientifically skilled team of scientists available for this project and have to date captured over 28 000 specimens in an Access-based relational database. The procedures as well as challenges involved in capturing the data are discussed together with the numerous potential applications of such a unique dataset.

7. Digitization of scientific material for research AND ACCESS TO INDIGENOUS

KNOWLEDGE

Ria Groenewald, Manager: Digitization, University of Pretoria Library Services Email: ria.groenewald@up.ac.za Twitter: @elecup Skype:ria.groenies Tel: 012 420 3792

Digitization is starting to get momentum in South Africa but the role players are still flying solo. Collaboration projects in the rest of the world are already running successfully, for example: a multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections on the Europeana portal (http://www.europeana.eu/portal/). The World Digital Library (WDL) combines digitized items worldwide, while the Internet archive, as a non-profit digital library, offering free universal access to digital material (http://archive.org/index.php). The above efforts cannot be successful without partners contributing regularly to the platforms mentioned, but also of the utmost importance are the drivers of such projects. The question should be asked: what can Africans do for Africa? What about our intellectual property, surely it should be showcased to the rest of the world without losing the rights thereto. When items are displayed on the internet the more search options there are the better, therefor it is also proposed during the paper that more than one access point should be available to the digitized content. The paper will be the starting point to an open discussion on the possibility of a combined effort in Africa to make digitized and born digital biodiversity material available on an open access platform. The aim of such a platform, website or wiki will be to create awareness towards the valuable and groundbreaking work that is and was done in Africa. An initiative to combine Africa’s intellectual output on one web-display point is already unfolding on two different fields by role-players in South Africa and partly Sub-Saharan Africa. Funding was made available by the Carnegie Foundation for a combined digitization effort in South Africa and is driven by the National Research Foundation. The Sub-Saharan effort is driven by a group organizing the ICADLA-workshops and conferences. During the presentation of the paper the above will be discussed as well as the draft National Digitization Policy of South Africa and the progress towards the final policy document. The paper will raise questions concerning the above and discuss new initiatives needed to drive and give momentum to the already existing initiatives. It happens, so often during digitization that the original archival TIFF formats are neglected. The digital preservation of the digitized material will be addressed as well as what it entails to keep a complete data curation life-cycle going.

8. From 34 databases to just one: lessons from the successful conversion to

Specify at Iziko Museums

Hamish G. Robertson, Iziko Museums, PO Box 61, Cape Town 8000; email hrobertson@iziko.org.za Recording of specimen information from Iziko Museum’s Natural History collections commenced in 1990 and with time, data sets for the different biodiversity, fossil and mineral collections have proliferated to the extent that we ended up with 34 different databases, totalling nearly half a million records. SABI funding to Willem Coetzer from SAIAB for conversion of databases at selected institutions to the Specify database system, enabled us to start a conversion process of our databases to a single Specify system. To date, 86% of our data records have been converted, with only the Cenozoic Palaeontology databases remaining. In relation to the complexity of the undertaking, the conversion process has proceeded smoothly. This talk outlines the critical ingredients for success in converting to Specify and the future challenges we face.

9. Biodiversity Information in North Africa

Mohamed Elyes Kchouk

mohamedelyes@gmail.com Biodiversity is a globally complex system continually evolving with time and space. A tremendous collaborative effort has been done to gather ‘Biodiversity Information’ (BI) and although actual technology makes it possible to monitor and ‘forecast’ Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use as we do with weather, finance, sports, etc. several gaps are still preventing this to happen. In North Africa, gaps have to do with 1) scientific data and scientists, 2) Information technology, and 3) governmental institutions. Scientific publications are available, and can be accessed through Intergovernmental Organizations websites, such as CBD website (https://www.cbd.int/), RAMSAR (http://ramsar.wetlands.org), etc. or National websites (Morocco: http://ma.chm-cbd.net/). However, in North Africa, the absence of a National and Regional Information Management umbrella accompanied by lengthy national organizational procedures prevents countries from making the best use of their Biodiversity knowledge to timely contribute to the Global Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable use. International legal frameworks such as MEAs have the potential to assist governments and may help achieve a Global BI Monitoring System. Looking forward, developing countries would have to pay for a BI monitoring system they contributed to put in place. Another MEA has probably to be drafted to clear rapidly the way for a Global BI Monitoring system.

Biodiversity monitoring

1. Accounting for biodiversity –towards improving valuation validity for

Biodiversity Management

Collins C Ngwakwe (PhD), Associate Professor, School of Accountancy, Faculty of Management and Law, University of Limpopo Biodiversity information is the sine qua non for effective management of biological diversity

1. Such

information would remain elusive if biodiversity is not brought to the books; hence accounting for biodiversity via effective valuation has become very imperative in contemporary society obsessed by biodiversity conservation, especially in Africa where most of the world’s endangered species lives, but are under threat of extinction through human activities and climate change. To this end, using a review approach, the paper begins with an appraisal of the benefits of biodiversity including the flora and fauna, marine and animals that thus inform the imperative for accounting for biodiversity via proper valuation. These benefits include inter alia the provision of employment, energy, food, industrial chemicals and raw materials, social and cultural values (ECD, 1999)

2. The paper finds and discourses a number of available

biodiversity valuation and accounting techniques, and highlights the problems inherent in some contemporary valuation techniques; it notes that such valuation problems may incapacitate effective biodiversity management and thus hamper desired conservation. It then proceeds to make suggestions towards improving the validity of valuation techniques to provide relevant information for the effective management and conservation of biodiversity in Africa. The paper offers agenda for further research on the role of biodiversity valuation and accounting for biodiversity information management in Africa. Key words: biodiversity information, biodiversity management, biodiversity valuation, biodiversity accounting, biodiversity research, climate change, sustainable environment.

1 Edwards, J.L., Lane, M.A.., Nielsen E.S. (2000) Interoperability of biodiversity databases: Biodiversity information on every desk

top, Science Vol. 289 (29 September): pp. 2312-2314. 2 OECD (1999) Handbook of Incentives Measures for Biodiversity: Design and Implementation, Paris: OECD

Publishing.

2. The basis of a GM-related monitoring program in South Africa: what to

monitor and why?

James Rhodes |Research Officer | Biosafety South Africa, Somerset West The basis of all regulatory activities associated with GMOs, including post-release monitoring, should be based on a comprehensive risk analysis. Although there is some variation in how risk analysis frameworks are presented they always follow the same basic, iterative steps, i.e. setting the context and scope, risk assessment, risk decision-making and risk communication. Monitoring forms part of the risk management activities under risk decision-making and its goals, endpoints and threshold values are based on the context, scope and assessment outcomes of the initial two steps. Monitoring must be fully integrated into the national decision making and management processes as defined by the national regulatory framework, taking into consideration the responsibilities of the different role players. However when doing this within the South African national regulatory system care should be taken not to detach monitoring from the initial risk analysis process, as this could lead to duplication, divergence and/or conflict.

3. An indicator-based approach to assessing the effects of fishing on marine

ecosystems across the globe

Lynne Shannon, Marta Coll, Yunne Shin, Alida Bundy Changes in marine biodiversity are being observed worldwide in response to anthropogenic drivers as well as environmental change. In particular, the ecosystem impacts of fishing are widely recognised and several efforts are underway to measure and track these changes. Indicators are being sought as a means of monitoring changes in biodiversity, and for communicating these changes to the general public, stakeholders and managers. The Biodiversity and Conservation-based Indicator Task Group, under the

IndiSeas Working Group (see www.indiseas.org), aims to integrate conservation‐based and biodiversity issues in the diagnosis of ecosystem state and trends in response to fishing by adding to a previously selected set of ecological indicators. Eight ecological indicators aimed at capturing the consequences of fishing for biodiversity have been selected for comparative analyses across over 30 fished marine ecosystems: proportion predatory fish in the community, proportion of under-and moderately exploited stocks, proportion of exploited species with declining biomass, intrinsic vulnerability index of the catch, marine trophic index (of landings), relative abundance of flagship species, trophic level of the surveyed and modelled communities, and discards. The comparative indicators-based approach will be presented and preliminary insights into fishing effects on biodiversity will be provided from new work currently underway.

4. Alien and invasive marine animals in South Africa

Prof Charles Griffiths – Zoology Department and Centre for Invasion Biology, University of Cape Town.

Charles.Griffiths@uct.ac.za

Some 670 alien or invasive animal species are currently known from South Africa. Of these 550 are terrestrial, 40 occur in freshwater and 80 are marine. This presentation examines only the marine component of this fauna. Marine species have been continuously introduced since the time of the earliest European explorers, although the vectors of introduction have changed greatly over that time. All but two marine introductions have been accidental (in marked contrast to other habitats, where many were deliberately introduced as ornamentals, for sport or as bio-control agents). Crustaceans, cnidarians, molluscs and ascidians are the four most diverse groups, together accounting for over 70% of species. The majority of species originate from Europe, but some come from Pacific North or South America, Asia

or Australia. Most introductions remain confined to harbours, lagoons and aquaculture facilities and only one occurs offshore. Only a few have become widespread along the open coast, or in estuaries, but these have transformed intertidal rocky habitats, particularly those along the west coast.

5. Using the local knowledge of residents to map the distribution of wildlife

on private MOSS land within the Molweni River catchment area located in

the Outer West suburbs of Durban, South Africa.

Paul Seaman, School of Life Sciences, University of Kwazulu-Natal The Molweni River has its source in a core Metropolitan Open Space System (MOSS) area, the Springside Nature Reserve, located in Hillcrest, and together with its feeder streams and tributaries, the Molweni drains into another core area, the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve. The corridor between these core areas and the associated MOSS falls mainly on private land. Regional community newspapers were used to enquire about the wildlife experience of residents in the target area. Proof of their experience was requested in the form of photographs, video clips and sound recordings. However, where such proof did not exist, anecdotes concerning their experience were taken into account. Some residents were approached for face to face, formal interviews, while others were interviewed via e-mail or telephone. Visitations to the various sites were undertaken on invite. Interviews requesting information on the threats to the biodiversity on MOSS land then followed. Photographs and sound clips were sent to interested residents to aid them in looking out for, and identifying, animals that were identified for the target area. An interpretive approach was used to analyze the transcripts obtained from the interviews. Knowledge of the wildlife diversity on private MOSS land in the target area can provide insight into the degree of connectivity between core areas and private MOSS land and can determine the extent to which private land acts as a refuge for threatened and endangered species. Furthermore, the results of this study can provide an indication of how effective the MOSS strategy is in achieving its aims and objectives and the associated threats to achieving these goals. The study has found that the public are quite willing to provide information on their wildlife sightings with some residents providing a wealth of knowledge and experience. Response was found to be well spread throughout the target area with photographic evidence of endangered and near-threatened species located on private MOSS land.

6. Species specific effects of marine reserves: differences in diversity,

density and size structures of intertidal limpets in rock pools among

exploited and unexploited sites a*Loqo, T and

abNakin, MDV

aZoology Department, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Walter Sisulu University, Private

Bag X1 Mthatha 5117, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa ab

Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Centre, Walter Sisulu University, Private Bag X1, Mthatha 5117, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa Exploitation of marine resources produces impacts at all ecological levels and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were established with the aim of conserving these marine and coastal resources. This study investigated the hypothesis of similar diversity, density and size structure of intertidal limpets in rock pools of exploited and unexploited sites. A comparison of limpet diversity, mean density and size structures, in rock pools, was done monthly at two unexploited (Dwesa–Cwebe and Hluleka Nature Reserves) and two exploited sites (Nqabara & Presley’s Bay). Preliminary results indicate no differences in limpet diversity and mean maximum sizes inside and outside reserves. Mean sizes of common species (Cellana capensis, Siphonaria concinna, S. serrata, Helcion concolor and H. pruinosus) were higher inside marine

reserves. This can be attributed to the harvest and collection of bigger-sized individuals at exploited sites. Mean density of common species was highest in unexploited sites. These results highlight the importance of considering rock pools in designing MPAs and understanding limpet assemblages in rock pools can be useful in biodiversity management. Keywords: limpets, rock pools, marine protected areas (MPAs), diversity, density, size structure, exploited, unexploited.

7. The Working for Water Programme: A decade in biocontrol implementation

Key words: biological control, database, post release evaluation, monitoring

Sharp, D. Natural Resource Programmes, Department of Environmental Affairs, Cape Town DSharp@environment.gov.za The Working for Water programme’s biological control programme, under the Department of Water Affairs was initiated in January 2001 with the first appointment of a biological control officer. This was the start of the very successful biocontrol implementation programme over a decade ago. The original budget for the implementation of this programme was under R400 000, but has grown to an impressive amount of R 16.7m and covers all nine provinces. This programme has seen its share of challenges over the past decade but also has some valuable information to share. There have been over 6000 releases done over the past decade with both once-off and repeat releases done. The agents that were released differed in the nine provinces, depending on their priority invasive species. The species with the widest release site range is Acacia mearnsii and has had releases done into the same sites for over ten years. The releases onto some species with a disperse range of agents also shows some interesting results on environmental ranges and suitability for biocontrol agents. The majority of the old sites are now at a stage where post release evaluation monitoring and presence/absence monitoring has become very important. Working for water teams have been recruited to assist with presence/absence monitoring to assist with data collection for a national biocontrol database that will be made available on the web.

8. The status of aquatic weed biocontrol in South Africa – an assessment of

long-term monitoring data, and the need for a functional database

Julie Coetzee Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140

Long-term monitoring of biological control programmes to assess the successes and failures are an often-neglected aspect of the discipline, largely due to time and financial constraints. Such assessments are crucial in aiding future management decisions. As part of a Rhodes University/Working for Water collaboration, we have conducted surveys of South African water bodies on an annual basis since 2008, to determine the status of biological control of the most important aquatic weeds in South Africa: water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum spicatum), salvinia (Salvinia molesta), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and red water fern (Azolla filculoides); and aim to develop a repository for this information in a user-friendly database. Sites with known infestations, new sites brought to our attention by landowners and extension officers, and incidental sites are assessed for the type of infestation, and the degree of control. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses show that the majority of these weeds are under successful biological control, with no further implementation required, while water hyacinth remains the most problematic, largely due to interference from herbicide spraying regimes, and uncoordinated control programmes. The development of an interactive database remains a goal, but to date, no appropriate database has been developed.

9. Management of information on biocontrol agents for invasive alien plants

in South Africa

H. Klein & A.J. McConnachie, ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute, E-mail KleinH@arc.agric.za

To ensure that the South Africa receives the full benefit of biological control agents released against invasive alien plants (IAPs), information about the agents and their distribution needs to be managed effectively. Land managers need to plan their clearing activities around the presence of biocontrol agents, and therefore need access to the relevant information. Biocontrol researchers need information about the redistribution and establishment of agents to enable them to keep their records updated and make decisions on further research directions where necessary. Information generated by researchers is currently available in several formats. A complete published record of the biological control of IAPs in South Africa, spanning almost a century, exists in various peer-reviewed journals. Three compilations of reviews have been published at approximately 10-year intervals, the latest of which appeared in 2011 as a Special Issue of African Entomology. The official table summarising all released biocontrol agents is

kept updated on ARC’s webpage at http://www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=7062. Fact sheets on

the invasive species and their biocontrol agents are available on ARC’s website at

http://www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=7102. Each biocontrol researcher keeps a record of

release sites, release dates and numbers, and establishment of each agent. This information will need to be centralised and co-ordinated. Reports on all research activities and outcomes are submitted regularly to the Working for Water Programme, as funders of the research. Provision has been made in the Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas (SAPIA) database to incorporate release sites and localities where agents are established. For older projects, various agencies have or still are redistributing biocontrol agents, but particulars are not always available to researchers. Discussions with practitioners and biodiversity auditors are essential to devise ways of managing this information more effectively in a database.

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