Article in the Gansbaai Courant

"We have four French scientists visiting Pearly Beach, who are studying Fynbos and the effect of the field fires in and around Pearly Beach," said Steve Peck, owner of The Ark B & B in Pearly Beach, where the scientists are staying. Steve said the above-mentioned scientists are Alexandre Courtiol from the University of Sheffield, Agnes Mignot and Isabelle Olivieri from the University of Montpelier and Eric Vindimian from Cemagraf Montpelier.

"Fire is an essential component of the Fynbos: while fire burns to death acres and acres of vegetation, it also provides the unique conditions allowing some plants to release their seeds and thereby to produce individuals that will constitute the next generation." the scientists said. One of the species they are studying is the Leucadendron coniferum, which is a very common Fynbos plant and can be found in particular along the coast nearby Pearly Beach.

During a fire, females burn and disperse their seeds. Those seeds will germinate, grow, and establish only if the fire has sufficiently cleared the ground from any other plants. "One population we have been following for several years, in the context of a French – South African cooperation agreement) has just burnt during the summer 2009 fire, east of Pearly Beach" they said. "This is the reason of our current visit to this site. We are now sampling and mapping the seedlings that are starting to grow. We will analyse their DNA to identify their parents, most of which have been sampled prior to the fire event. Then we will compare the abundance and spatial distribution of seedlings to their parent plant." They said such research will enable them to shed some light on how natural species deal and cope with the fire and on how fire influences the amazing plant biodiversity found in Western Cape. "Of course, humans are interfering with the fires." Understanding the tight interactions between fires and the Fynbos ecosystem is, according to them, an important step toward understanding consequences of human activity on biodiversity and to establish effective conservation strategies.

"As fundamental researchers based in France and England working in collaboration with leading scientists from University of Cape Town (Jeremy Midgley) and from the Kirstenbosch botanical garden (Tony Rebelo), we are at one extremity of the long chain linking scientists and environmental management," they said. "We do hope that our research will ultimately help to protect one of the richest ecosystems of the world, certainly the richest with regards to plant biodiversity." But they also mentioned that all requires lots of work in the field and nothing would be possible without the help and the support from the community of Pearly Beach and Gansbaai who have always provided them with everything they needed.

"We especially would like to thank Güntz for enabling us to access our plant population located in the Nature Reserve of Southern Heritage Farm, as well as Steve and Lee for providing wonderful hospitality in The Ark B&B", they concluded. What a privilege having foreigners like these four scientists taking such an interest in our beautiful Fynbos!

Hardus Botha, Gansbaai Courant, Friday 4 March 2011.