Forest Reserve - going, going, gone?

Yesterday, I came across the satellite image of Mucheve Forest Reserve in Mozambique. The boundaries of this park are clearly visible from space - due to the heavy degradation WITHIN its borders! It really is a sad sight to see - it appears that little of the forest remains.

I have been attending the final conference of the SUN (Sustainable Use of Natural Vegetation in West Africa) Project in Benin. This EU-funded project has been a collaboration between partners from four West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal) and two European countries (Denmark and Germany) and spans several disciplines. It has been great to see how the partners from different countries and different disciplines have been collaborating across country and disciplinary borders, and how this is has strengthened the science that has been produced. It can confidently be said that everyone who has taken an active involvement in the project has gained a great deal of from it.

Inevitably, this has made me think about South African science in a continental context. I know that there are some efforts from within South Africa to work within a greater African framework (and I don't just mean "doing research in another country", but actively collaborating), but it is not common. (In fact, I have heard several non-African scientists working in Africa make tongue-in-cheek remarks about how the understanding of "how the environment works" of South African scientists seems to stop at the country's borders.) Sadly, I have also heard African scientists commenting about how they are treated with some inferiority by some (and I by no means want to imply all) of their South African peers. Whether this is a result of South Africa's history, because of the ignorance of South Africans about the rest of Africa (which, admittedly, is still a dark continent to many of us) or because of the attitude of a country that considers itself to be the most developed amongst its African counterparts, this is a great shame. I increasingly realise how South African science could be strengthened by the expertise of its neighbours, and how it could also contribute to the advancement of science in other African nations. Perhaps it's the "we have to prove that we can compete on an international level" attitude of South Africans, but possibly also the source of much funding in the country (often from within the country) which have prevented much collaboration of biologists across its borders. It would be great if South Africans research would look not only at its far-northern, but also its closer northern counterparts in seeking out collaborative ventures.

Reflections

Today I am finishing off my two-month stint at Kew Herbarium, where I databased herbarium specimens of African acacias. This will form part of a project modelling the distribution of the group across the entire continent. I have been lucky enough to have received data from several other sources, which will allow me to conduct a thorough assessmnet of this widespread group across the entire continent. All in all it has been a productive time, which involved me going through virtually all of the herbarium's collections for Acacia (and some of those of the Natural History Museum). On Sunday I fly on to Portugal to supplement my data with material from Coimbra and Lisbon herbaria to fill some of the geographical gaps in the existing material I have. And then, in the not too distant future, I hope that the data will be in a workable format so that I can start running some meaningful analyses.

Acacias of Zimbabwe

I have been making increasing use of the book Field Guide to the Acacias of Zimbabwe (cbc Publishing, 1999) by Jonathan Timberlake, Christopher Fagg and Richard Barnes. In my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience of field guides, this book stands out for its excellent writing, inclusion of extra bits of information relating to the ecology and uses of acacias in Zimbabwe, good locality maps and clear drawings. Although the geographic focus of the book is mainly Zimbabwe, the authors have brought some of their wider knowledge of African acacias into the text, making the book a valuable reference work. Unfortunately, it appears to be out of print. (I was fortunate to obtain a copy from one of the authors - there may be more in circulation.)

London Rendevouz

Since I am spending two months in London (or Kew - which is only barely London), I am trying to take the opportunity of making use of the incredible variety of offers in the city. Last week I attended a talk by the Linnean Society of London, the world's oldest biological society. After rushing there after work, I arrived somewhat late (I walked in the wrong direction when I got out the underground station - this seems to happen to me regularly when I arrive at stations I haven't been to before!)... I was immediately impressed by the imposing building and the portraits of great scientists that walked the halls of the society decades and centuries ago. It therefore came as a bit of a disappointment when the presentation about Blakiston and his travels and 'discovery' of Blakiston's line - a biogeographical barrier between two the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu (same concept as Wallace's Line) ended up being more of a presentation about whom Blakiston met on his travels and with whom these acquaintances and friends of his were related/connected/befriended.
Tonight, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the Nature Live feature at London's Natural History Museum. It's a great initiative for the public to find out about the science at the museum, meet its staff, ask questions, and learn something new. Tonight's session was about how DNA extraction from museum specimens can aid us in our understanding of their present vs. past diversity. A panel of four scientists gave examples of how they use museum information in understanding the changes in populations of specific species, and also aiding the conservation of these species. Amongst the topics brought up was the Save the Tasmanian Devil project, which is sequencing the entire genome of the Tasmanian devils and employing genetics to ensure that captive breeding programmes ensure that the highest possible genetic diversity of the Tasmanian devils remains. These animals are being severely threatened by a cancer that is being transmitted through biting, and has so far proven lethal in every case. The global amphibian decline was also discussed in interesting detail. It was mentioned that in the last 30 or so years, approximately half of the worlds amphibians have been described. Unfortunately, several of these have already gone extinct, or are on the brink of extinction. It makes one wonder how many species of amphibians will quietly disappear without anybody noticing...

Someone sent me this link some weeks ago.

http://www.grist.org/i/assets/2/humble-oil.jpg

The website where this was posted states:

"From a sharp-eyed reader comes this ad for Humble Oil (which later merged with Standard to become, yes, Exxon). It may win the All Time Millenial Award for Maximal Irony. It’s from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine, available on Google Books"

Carbon Maps

I have been looking for a global/African map of carbon storage, and managed to locate two maps that are available. However, both lack accuracy to some degree or other. Another better-looking, but preliminary map was recently printed in Nature. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get hold of the underlying data. Other than that I am well on track with the work here in Stellenbosch.