Seeking the Grassland from the Phantom Zone, Part I
Created | Updated Apr 30, 2023
Seeking the Grassland from the Phantom Zone
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
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Today, instead of speaking about some specific kind of critter, I'd like to give you a more general ecological article, based on a recent excursion. Saturday, 5th of April, 2022, I was off into the wilds again with three friends: Wiam Haddad, an ecologist for a local agricultural group; Bronwyn Egan, a botanist of the University of Limpopo; and her husband Vincent Egan, a herpetologist. We were exploring the northern Magoebaskloof/Houtbosdorp region.
This region has been heavily impacted by human activities. Originally, the whole area was mainly grassland, with pockets of indigenous forests in sheltered valleys. To the south there is a huge continuous forest area, one of the three largest such regions in South Africa. The forest is still quite well-protected, even though some big trees have been felled for wood in older days. But the grassland regions around the forest are a different story. Europeans, arriving in the area in the late nineteenth century, saw the grasslands as an opportunity. They planted trees like eucalypts and pines, which are not native to South Africa, in huge numbers, so that later they could harvest the wood. Other grasslands were turned into orchards and croplands. Mangos, a variety of nut trees, avocados, oranges, bananas and others are grown over large areas. There used to also be extensive tea plantations. The upshot of all of this is that now most of the grasslands have been utterly destroyed.
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With the grasslands vanishing we know of at least one animal species that became completely extinct – Eastwood's Longtailed Seps, a small and snake-like lizard. But the plants have been hit hardest. Some of the destroyed grasslands very likely harboured unique species that were exterminated even before being 'discovered' by western science. But we also know of many which are still with us but with their ranges and numbers so reduced that they are now in danger of imminent extinction.
What you need to understand about natural grassland is that it is one of the most biodiverse regions in South Africa. Grasslands of various kinds supported huge numbers of grazing mammals of many species in the old days, and not only those, but even greater numbers of a vast variety of smaller critters: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates galore. In addition, grasslands host a tremendous diversity of plants. The name 'grassland' is misleading. Looking from afar, the grasslands look like they're dominated by grasses, but in between the grasses there is actually a far greater diversity of non-grass plants. These include plants with subterranean bulbs, corms or tubers; plants with underground rootstocks; plants that grow in open patches between clumps of grass; a variety of shrubs; many annual or short-lived herbs. What's nice about grassland plants is that many of them have conspicuous, gorgeous flowers. Exploring a grassland, you have to stop a lot, and you also have to stoop a lot. So many of the most wonderful grassland plants are tiny! But crouch and view them up close and you'll really appreciate the intricacy of their leaves and the delicate beauty of their flowers. Another thing to do in the grassland is to use your nose. Take a sniff at the flowers, or rub the leaves between your fingers. Many grassland plants are strongly and pleasantly scented.
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Grasslands are strongly seasonal in South Africa. Most of them experience long, cold, dry winters, and warm, moist to wet summers. They're often divided into 'sweet' and 'sour' grasslands, especially by farmers and game keepers. 'Sweet' grasslands consist of grasses that are more palatable to grazing animals. They grow on fertile soils and usually receive less rain than the 'sour' grasslands, which have unpalatable grasses that grow more densely due to the high rainfall and on soils that are more leached and acidic. Sour grasslands also experience heavier and more frequent fires. But grasslands are adapted to the fire; they need it, in fact. Most of the plants have underground parts that survive and resprout; others may 'allow' themselves to be destroyed but the fire primes their seeds which then germinate in the nutritious ash when the rains fall after the fire. Many of the plants with subterranean bulbs will flower profusely after a burn. The flowers are even more conspicuous amidst the soot and ash, allowing pollinators to find and pollinate them. They then release their seeds into the landscape which the fire has opened up, making it much easier for their seeds to find good sites for germinating. Lastly, grasslands depend on fire to remove woody growth; left fire-free, they will turn to forest. While this may not appear disastrous, if too much grassland turns to forest it will mean the extinction of many grassland species.
The final thing about grasslands is that they are very 'provincial'. One patch of grassland may differ very much from another patch that is right next to it. This can be due to various factors such as differences in the soil or aspects of the topography. You'll find different plant species on the north side of a hill or mountain than on the south side. In mountainous regions, you'll find that some slopes rise into the path of incoming moist air; these slopes catch heavy rains but block the moist air to cast a 'rain shadow' on the opposite side. Sometimes these effects operate over very small distances; I remember once exploring a farm and within a few minutes' walk, I could see I had gone from a fairly dry to a significantly moister region. Climate, topography and soil and rock type cause a very large level of differentiation between plant species occupying different grassland areas. Consequently, grasslands feature lots of plant species that have very small distributions. The ultimate are plants where the entirety of the species grow just on a single hill or slope or in a single valley. This is why simply plowing over or planting with trees a single 'patch' may end up wiping out all or most of a plant species, or sometimes more than one.
Grasslands have been classified into various 'types' by botanists. This can help us assess which ones are likely to harbour which species, and which are in gravest need of protection. But we still need to do the legwork to patrol the different grasslands and do proper biodiversity-surveys in them. So much of the grassland of the Magoebaskloof region has been destroyed. It took conservationists long to appreciate the wonder of the grasslands; the forests have attracted far more attention. As I've said, the native forests are now all well-protected. But the grasslands host far more diversity, which is in far greater danger, and also far less well-protected. Some grasslands are in nature reserves such as the Wolkberg Wilderness Area and the Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve. But the grasslands of the Magoebaskloof have virtually no protection. The only reserve for them is a small patch of grassland above the town of Haenertsburg.
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But there are still many patches of grassland that have not yet been destroyed. They are in between the pockets of remaining forest and the plantations and farm fields. The grassland we were looking for is one of these. Our ecologist, Wiam, knows of the patch, having seen it from a distance and also on satellite photos. But he wasn't quite sure how to reach that particular patch by road. The roads are mostly dirt roads winding in and out of forest and plantation. Many of them don't appear on maps and are hard to make out from air photos because of the trees. So we were not quite sure how to get to our intended destination. We did find some nice grasslands on the way there; a beautiful hill furnished us with many lovely flowers, and also a friendly little toad. The rocky grassland still hosted many plants that were flowering despite it being autumn already.
We also drove through lovely indigenous forest. This is mountain mist forest. The location and orientation of these mountains are ideal to intercept moist air moving in from the coast. The 'normal' annual rainfall for grassland, savannah and woodland in this part of South Africa is about 500 mm/20" but on the slopes of these mountains the annual rainfall rises to 2 500 mm/100" in places. The condensation the mountains cause as they force moist, warm air to rise, accumulates in clouds and mist which clothe the mountains and forests over most of the year. The forests vary from quite open to very dense; the trees are usually smaller at higher altitudes and on more exposed slopes. Some of the trees in sheltered valleys grow huge; although few exceed 30 m/100' in height, many grow very thick trunks and have huge, spreading crowns. Native trees usually grow crooked and gnarly, completely unlike the straight and uniform trunks of the planted pines and eucalypts. The forest trees are draped with climbers and lianas of many species; mosses, lichens and ferns adorn their trunks and branches; there are also several epiphytic plants that grow in their crowns. These include Peperomias (small members of the pepper family), sages, clivias, streptocarpuses, and sometimes even species not usually considered epiphytes, like aloes.
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An interesting feature of native forest is that there are many strangler figs. These are wild fig trees that are adapted to germinate as epiphytes in tree crowns or on their branches. The seedling survives for a while on the ample rainfall and scant nutrients it can find on the bark of its host. It spends most of its vigour into sending down long roots to the forest floor far below. As soon as it has rooted in the soil, it puts on a spurt of growth. Then the fig tree starts beefing up; it sends numerous roots winding about the trunk of its host, while its own crown grows and spreads. Eventually it cuts off the sunlight and nutrients so that the host tree dies. Finally the host tree decays completely. The fig tree then stands in its place, with its trunk being composed of a latticework of roots that had grown around the trunk of its host. Where the host decayed, a hollow now remains, and these hollows in the fig trees provide homes for many forest critters. The figs themselves also provide food for equally many. Thus the figs do destroy some other trees, but replace them, and adding much value of their own to the forest ecology.
The forest has a very peaceful, even solemn atmosphere; it is always dim and fairly cool on the inside, and there is a distinctive 'forest aroma' that is hard to describe but which arises from the moisture, the soil, the decaying leaf litter, and likely too the many aromatic plants of the understory. Drinkable water is available in the many trickling streams; the water is crystal clear, fresh and sweet. The forest streams harbour wonderful wildlife such as aquatic beetles and other insects, fishes, and frogs, with the Cascade Frog being endemic to mist forests from Kwazulu-Natal to Limpopo.
Our trip took us through some lovely forest, which I show in these photos. It seemed that there had been a storm recently. We came upon several trees that had fallen over the road. Most we could clear away by sawing them into pieces and dragging these off the road, but at least one was far too large and heavy for that. We had to turn around. Strangely enough while trying to find a road to our grassland, we came to the same tree but from the opposite side!
Read the continuation of this article.
