SOUTH AFRICA January – May 2004 Deedra McClearn Julie Coetzee Laurence Kruger Mike Smith Kinesh Chetty i Organization for Tropical Studies ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The time and efforts of so many people went into the planning and implementation of this OTS Kruger UCT Wits Duke program. To Everyone Involved: a metaphorical giant toast with a fine sparkling wine from the Cape. Duke University Bill Robertson at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided vision, patience, and funding. Kruger National Park University of Cape Town University of the Witwatersrand ii STUDENTS Blanchie Asberry Tammy Baudains Scott Briscoe P.O.Box 311374 [email protected] 1239 Vermont Ave Birmingham, Al [email protected] NW # 407 35231 Mobile: 083 483 9316 Washington, DC, 20005 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (202) 408 4932 Tel: (205) 798 1801 Laura Buckley Eric Caldera Michael Chazan 62 Maple Str 5522 Brook Hill 35 Greenbank Ave West Boylston, MA, 01583 San Antonio, TS, 78228 Piedmont, CA, 94611 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (508) 8352029 Tel: (210) 435 3347 Tel: (530) 304 1562 Fahiema Daniels Megan Eastwood Kyle Harris [email protected] 2417 N. Fremont Blvd [email protected] Mobile: 083 739 0409 Flagstaff, AZ, 86001 Tel: (011) 704 1446 [email protected] Tel: (928) 774 1124 Shannon Hatmaker Gareth Hempson Stephanie Johnson 1035 Lower Mill rd [email protected] 1017 Millard Rd Hixson, TN, 37343 Mobile: 072 2232 486 Stone Mountain, GA, 30088 [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (423) 877 0190 Tel: (770) 498 8533 Sally Koerner Zoë Layton Taryn Morris 3130 Bee Tree Ln 670 Keyser Run Rd [email protected] Signal Mountain, TN, 37377 Washington, VA, 22747 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mobile: 082 334 4167 Tel: (423) 886 5730 Tel: (540) 987 9544 Tel: (011) 485 2361 Justine Norman Govan Pahad Jasper Slingsby [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mobile: 083 680 6772 Mobile: 072 156 2286 Mobile: 083 4060 581 Tel: (011) 706 7331 Tel: (011) 447 0992 Carla Staver Simon Thomson Ben Wigley 7477 Wise Ave [email protected] [email protected] St Louis, MO, 63117 Mobile: 082 798 0314 Mobile: 083 481 8829 [email protected] Tel: (011) 452 3370 Tel: (314) 647 5991 FACULTY Kinesh Chetty Julie Coetzee Laurence Kruger WITS/OTS WITS/OTS UCT/OTS School of A.P.E.S. School of A.P.E.S. Botany Dept, UCT Wits University Wits University P Bag, Rondebosch, 7701. P Bag 3, WITS, 2050 P Bag 3, WITS, 2050 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mobile: 082 4226225 Mobile: 083 793 3032 Mobile: 083 784 4272 0000000 Deedra McClearn Mike Smith OTS Kruger National Parks/OTS US: P.O. Box 598 P.O. Box 33 Lemont, PA, 16851 Skukuza, 1350 RSA: P.O. Box 33 [email protected] Skukuza, 1350 Tel: (013) 735 4379 [email protected] Mobile: 083 447 6869 Mobile: 072 630 3369 iii SCHEDULE FOR OTS KRUGER NATIONAL PARK SEMESTER 2004 WEEK DATES SITE AND COMMENTS COMMENTS 1 22 January Johannesburg (Thursday) -Students arrive and go immediately to Nylsvley 22-29 January Nylsvley -Orientation activities -Plant, insect, and savanna workshops -Faculty-led projects -Introduction to history of South Africa 2 30 January – 4 Wits Rural Facility February -Rural development projects -Visit to cheetah rehabilitation center 3-5 5-25 February Kruger National Park: Skukuza -Orientation to Park and wildlife (including game drives) -Introduction to conservation issues -Faculty-led projects -First independent research project -Day trips to Nelspruit on weekends (movies, shopping) -Cultural activities -Quizes and presentations 6-7 26-28 February Ladysmith -Anglo-Boer War Museum and battle sites -Zulu women’s craft workshop 29 February – 10 Kruger National Park: Shingwedzi March -Primary emphasis on conservation issues in Park -Faculty-led projects -Drafts for first independent research project due -Midterms and presentations 11 – 14 March Semester Break in Drakensberg Mountains (hiking and outdoor pursuits) 8-9 15 – 27 March Kruger National Park: Punda Maria -Archaeology and expedition to Thulamela -Second independent research project -Cultural activities in Venda community -Visit to elephant museum at Letaba on trip back to Skukuza 10 - 12 28 March – 3 Kruger National Park: Skukuza April -Science Networking Meeting in Skukuza (students participate) -Drafts for second independent research project due -Make preparations for Cape trip 4 – 20 April Train to Cape Town from Johannesburg -Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Gardens, Robben Island, Boulders Beach, Cape Point De Hoop Nature Reserve -Fynbos vegetation and Indian Ocean intertidal zone -Faculty-led projects (sharks, mice, bats, serotiny, birds) 13-15 21 April – 5 Kruger National Park: Skukuza May -Finish final projects -Screening of two documentary films (Jill Kruger) -Symposium of final research presentations (29 April) -Final exams -Evaluations; course debriefing iv OTS KRUGER PROGRAM VISITING AND CONSULTING FACULTY JANUARY–MAY 2004 Science Courses Kevin Balkwill, Wits (curator of Moss Herbarium, head of school APES*) Duan Biggs, UCT (bird conservation) Harry Biggs, KNP (adaptive management) William Bond, UCT (botanist / ecologist) Peter Buss, KNP (veterinarian, game capture specialist) Marcus Byrne, Wits (dung beetles) Vincent Carruthers (herpetologist and general wildlife specialist) Andrew Deacon, KNP (small vertebrate specialist) Abri duBuys, KNP (Shingwedzi research) Edmund February, UCT (botanist / ecologist / archaeologist) Angela Gaylard, KNP (Rivers Boundaries Project) Navashni Govender, KNP (fire ecology specialist) Rina Grant, KNP (northern plains, waterholes) David Jacobs, UCT (mammalogist / animal behaviorist) Christo Marais, Working for Water (scientific director) Jeremy Midgley, UCT (botanist / ecologist / head of Botany school) Mike Picker, UCT (entomologist) Danie Pienaar, KNP (director of scientific services) Kevin Rogers, Wits (rivers & savannas / water management) Mark Rountree, Wits (river assessment specialist) Mary Scholes, Wits (savanna ecosystems) Robert Scholes, CSIR (savanna ecosystems) Corrie Schoeman, UCT (bats) Justin Smith (environmental law) Robert Timm, U. Kansas (mammalogist, OTS education committee) Freek Venter, KNP (geology and soil specialist) Ian Whyte, KNP (elephant specialist) Eleanor Yeld (sharks and oceanography) History and Culture Course Lara Allen, Wits (ethnomusicologist) David Bunn, Wits (cultural theorist, Dean of Arts School) Jane Carruthers, UNISA (historian, historian of science) Mark Collinson, Wits Rural Facility (infectious diseases) Claudia Ford, Wits (sociologist / rural development specialist) Jill Kruger, University of Natal (documentary film maker) Tsepo Mamatu (television personality) Sharon Pollard, Wits Rural Facility (Sabie Sands Rivers Program) Tara Polzer, Wits Rural Facility (immigrants) Paul Pronyk, Wits Rural Facility (Aids development program) Fiona Rogers (consultant on South African educational system) Zweli Sibiya (Wits, Zulu praise singer) Wayne Twine, Wits (director of Wits Rural Facility) Consultants Kevin Balkwill, Wits (Head of Department, APES) Marcus Byrne, Wits (Head of Honours Program for APES) Jenny Day, UCT (Head of Department, Zoology) Ed February, UCT (Head of Honours Program, Botany) Jeremy Midgley, UCT (Head of Department, Botany) Justin O’Riain, UCT (Head of Honours Program, Zoology) v MAP OF AFRICA 10°W 10°E 30°E 50°E MEDITERRANEAN SEA o Tunisia cc ro Mo Algeria West Libya Egypt Sahara 20°N 20°N Mauritania Mali Niger Sen Eritrea ega The Gambia l a Chad rkin Sudan Guinea-Bissau Bu o Fas Guinea G Benin Togo h Sierra Leone a Nigeria Ivory n Ethiopia a Central African Liberia Coast lia Republic a m Cameroon o Equatorial Uganda S Guinea o 0° g Kenya 0° Gabon n Democratic o Rwanda C Republic Burundi INDIAN of Congo Tanzania ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN M Angola a l a Zambia w i e u r iq a b c m s Zimbabwe a a z g Namibia o a 20°S 20°S d 10°W Botswana M a 1000 0 1000 2000 Kruger M Swaziland National Kilometers Park South Lesotho Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area Projection centered on 0°N, 20°E Africa Data: ESRI Cartography: Kruger National Park GIS Lab June 2001 10°E 30°E 50°E vi MAP OF KRUGER NATIONAL PARK vii TABLE OF CONTENTS FRONT OF THE BOOK Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………….... ii Students……………………………………………………………………………… iii Course schedule……………………………………………………………………... iv Visiting and consulting faculty……………………………………………………… v Maps………...……………………………………………………………………….. vi-vii Table of contents…………………………………………………………………….. viii-x Keyword index………………………………………………………………………. xi-xii FACULTY FIELD PROBLEMS Nylsvley Nylsvley Tree Guide. Scott Briscoe and Kyle Harris (editors), Kevin Balkwill (resource person)…………………………………………………………..... 2-6 Variation in grasshopper species (Acridoidea) content across plant communities in Nylsvley Nature Reserve. Eric Caldera and Stephanie Johnson (editors), Mike Picker and Johnathan Colville (resource people)………….…………. 7-10 Skukuza Measuring biodiversity using habitat as a surrogate indicator—An analysis of the GRADSEC methodology. Laura Buckley and Fahiema Daniels (editors), Andrew Deacon and Rina Grant (resource people)………………………… 12-19 The effects of fire on vegetation structure and habitat in broadleaf savannas. Carla Staver and Taryn Morris (editors), William Bond and Edmund February (resource people)……………………………………………………………. 20-33 The effects of the 2000 floods on channel type heterogeneity in the Sabie River, Kruger National Park, South Africa. Megan Eastwood and Gareth Hempson (editors), Mark