Taking urban conservation by the horns

The four legged approach

Petro Botha forum 2017

The Gantouw Project

In partnership with: Experimenting with new tools to manage natural areas. The Gantouw Project is testing a vegetation management tool.

Applying eland to Strandveld to restore and conserve ecosystems

Study site False Bay Nature Reserve, Rondevlei Section

Control Site Experiment Site 100 231 m² 81 159 m² The objective: Determine the impact of applying eland (Tragelaphus oryx) to Strandveld. Investigate:

1. species targeted by eland 2. Browse preference 3. Changes in vegetation: volume, % cover, number of plant species. 4. Changes in fauna activity

1. Plant species targeted

Method: - daily observations; - 5 minute intervals; - over a period of one year (June 2016 – May 2017).

Preliminary findings: plant species targeted

- 80 plant species browsed - 16 of the 80 browsed on average > 1% - Top of the list: Stenotaphrum secundatum (23.77 %) - Second: Osteospermum moniliferum (17.81 %) Top 16 plant species targeted by eland in CFDS 1 Stenotaphrum secundatum 9 Pennisetum Clandatinum 2 Osteospermum moniliferum 10 Helichrysum patulum 3 Salvia africana-lutea 11 Typha latifolia 4 glauca 12 laevigata 5 Searsia lucida 13 Tetragonia fruticosa 6 Metalasia muricata 14 Erharta villosa 7 Senecio halimifolius 15 Acacia saligna 8 Plecostachys serpyllifolia 16 Acacia cyclops 2. Browse preference of eland

Method: - 10 shrubs species; - 2 species per day; - 45 weeks.

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3a. Biomass measurement

- One year: 2016 & 2017 - Using digital photography - 445 individual species - Adaptation of BECVOL using VolCalc (Barret & Brown, 2012)

Metalasia muricata: 3.11m³ (2016) - before applying eland Metalasia muricata: 270 m³ (2017) - applying eland Decrease in bush volume Decrease in bush volume 2016 to 2017 2016 to 2017 WITHOUT eland = 4.6 % WITH eland = 17.2 % 3b. Browse impact survey - 18 Plots of 5 m x 5 m - Cover change - Plant species

6% 6% 11% decrease decrease decrease Decrease 6 species Decrease 2 Increase 7 species species 4. Fauna use survey – camera traps:

• 50 m X 50 m grid overlay = 54 sample blocks total • Rotating 12 cameras around the blocks, ≈ 1 month rotation • Sept 2015 – Jan 2016 & Sept 2016 to Jan 2017 • Compare changes in relative abundance Impact on fauna RND01 AND RND02 COMPARISON

TOTAL TOTAL Animal RAI Animal RAI Excl Eland Excl Eland Comparison 2016 2017 Difference Site overall 0.588 1.209 106% Experiment Side 0.578 1.388 140% Control Side 0.596 0.992 66% Four legs of the approach

Leighan Mossop Dalton Gibbs Petro Botha [email protected] Thanks for listening ! 084 626 1594