Fynbos plants use a variety of strategies to survive fires. Some re-sprout from underground storage organs, some store their seeds in woody cones that only open after fire, and others rely on ants to bury their seeds, which require specific chemical signals found in wood smoke to germinate. Linked to these diverse survival strategies, plants also differ in their ideal inter-fire interval. Some species, like the fire lilies, emerge immediately after a fire, flower and set seed, then remain dormant until the next fire. For them, frequent fires are beneficial. Others, like some proteas, are obligate re-seeders that require sufficient time between fires for their seeds to germinate and grow into plants large enough to produce a good crop of seeds before the next fire.
Botanists still debate the ideal fire frequency, but it is generally thought to be in the range of 12 to 20 years, depending on rainfall – higher rainfall generally leads to faster regrowth and thus shorter intervals between fires. However, it is clear that at a landscape scale, plant diversity is maximised by having a mosaic of different-aged stands of fynbos.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2020-utgaven av African Birdlife.
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Denne historien er fra July - August 2020-utgaven av African Birdlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.
