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Getting fired up for frogs

A novel approach to conserving a Critically Endangered frog

Alouise Lynch, Bionerds PTY Ltd.

Amidst a field of agricultural development, the Klein Swartberg Mountain towers above the town of Caledon in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. This lone mountain is home to the only known populations of the Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List 2016) Rough Moss Frog (Arthroleptella rugosa), an amphibian species restricted to this mountain. For this reason, the mountain was deemed an Alliance for Zero Extinction Site in 2017.

The Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) is a joint initiative of biodiversity conservation organisations from around the world working to prevent extinctions by promoting the identification and ensuring the safeguard and effective conservation of key sites that are the last remaining refuges of one or more Endangered or Critically Endangered species.

Alliance for Zero Extinction website, July 2023

Bionerds have been implementing this project for the Endangered Wildlife Trust since 2019. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) Threatened Amphibian Programme (TAP) Conserving Threatened Frogs of the Western Cape Project includes the Rough Moss Frog as a species of conservation concern given its restricted range. Furthermore, it still faces grave threats within this range, including habitat loss caused by alien invasive plants and frequent unplanned fires, which have led to a severe population decline (IUCN Red List 2016). Long-term acoustic monitoring by Cape Nature and Stellenbosch University documented this decline categorically, showing how the type (original) population had all but disappeared completely.

During our surveys in May 2020, a marching forest of alien vegetation, mostly Pine, was observed engulfing the then-only known populations of Rough Moss Frogs. It became evident that rapid intervention was needed to save and secure these populations. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 epidemic halted all efforts to implement interventions in 2020.

In 2021, the project was awarded a Rapid Action Grant from the IUCN Save Our Species fund and the European Union. This grant enabled us to create a firebreak around the Rough Moss Frog populations. We had limited time to implement this burn because the pine trees were starting to cone, and we had to act hastily to prevent another season for them to set seed. In March 2022, we worked with the local conservancy and landowners to implement a controlled ecological fire – the first time globally that prescribed fire was used as a management tool to reduce alien invasive vegetation threatening a frog species from extinction.

The Overberg District Municipality Fire Department and the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association oversaw the burn and did a sterling job of ensuring all possible precautions were taken for the implementation of the burn, all permits were issued, and on the day, all hands were on deck to start, maintain, and close off the burn. Unfortunately, unforeseen windy conditions developed late in the day and the fire managed to break through several points and burnt a larger section of the mountain than was planned. Over 4,000 hectares were burnt, which is good news for pine eradication efforts but requires carefully planned follow-up management over a larger area. Bionerds have assisted with this through drone-mapping of priority areas.

Photo credit Bionerds PTY Ltd
Photo credit Bionerds PTY Ltd

A site visit following the fire in April 2022 confirmed the presence of Rough Moss Frogs, and in July 2022, we were relieved to hear the species calling at the sites of all known populations. In May 2023, multiple individuals were heard in an area where none were heard or recorded before the fire. During subsequent surveys, we discovered numerous additional populations of this species across the mountain – a big win for the project and the species!

This year, between July to September- the coldest and wettest months– when these frogs breed, we will implement acoustic surveys to determine the presence or absence of Rough Moss frogs in all previously recorded sites. These surveys use three audio devices called Song Meters – a six-microphone array deployed at each population site for roughly an hour per site. The arrays record all frog calls during that period, and we can then use the audio file to estimate density and determine how many Rough Moss Frogs are present in each specific population at that specific time. We will be doing this for five years, each breeding season, to determine the effectiveness of the fire on the preservation of the sites, as well as capturing the rate of recovery of the frog populations at each site.

The landowners that are part of the Klein Swartberg Conservancy all support the protection of this species – and Bionerds and the Fynbos Trust have developed an alien clearing plan to guide the clearing of alien invasive vegetation from the mountain over the next decade. This alien vegetation clearing operation across the mountain creates jobs for local people from the Caledon area. This project is challenging, but we are positive and excited about the future of this tiny frog due to multiple partners working together towards protecting the species and its important fynbos habitat.

This project is funded by the IUCN Save Our Species and the European Union. The IUCN Save Our Species aims to improve the long-term survival prospects of threatened species. It also focuses on supporting the species’ habitats and working with the communities sharing this habitat. It achieves success by funding and coordinating conservation projects across the globe. The Member States of the European Union have decided to combine their know-how, resources, and destinies. Together, they have built a zone of stability, democracy, and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance, and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.

Umgavusa Protected Environment

The Heart of Community-Based Conservation

Cherise Acker, the EWT’s Threatened Amphibian Programme

Umgavusa Protected Environment lies in the area surrounding the small town of Gingindlovu. Although small, Gingindlovu has a rich cultural heritage attributed to the Battle of Ndonkakusuka, in which King Cetshwayo won the struggle over his brother Mbulazi for the Zulu throne in 1856. Gingindlovu, meaning “The place of he who swallowed the elephant”, was named by King Cetshwayo in honour of his victory. In 1879, King Cetshwayo faced another battle against the British troops. This time, however, King Cetshwayo’s army did not claim victory and was defeated by the British, after which Ginginglovu was placed under colonial rule.

Today, the now peaceful community of Gingindlovu farms extensively in the area where generations of farming families have forged a close-knit community with a passionate appreciation for their community and environment, knowingly safeguarding future generations. One local farmer, Ian Johnson, tracked the EWT’s Cherise Acker-Cooper to a parking lot in Nyoni, where she was working with local teams clearing invasive alien plants. Ian’s curiosity to identify a ‘Mystery Frog’ he had recently photographed in a reedbed on his farm spurred his eager pursuit. From a picture on Ian’s phone, the ‘Mystery Frog’ was confirmed to be the Endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog, known to occur exclusively along a narrow band along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline. Ian’s excitement of knowing that his farm was home to this KZN endemic frog led him to report the record to the local Environmental Committee. Subsequently, the chair of this committee, Mr Ashton Musgrave, invited Cherise to present at their November 2019 committee meeting so they could learn not only of Pickersgill’s Reed Frog but the importance of amphibians and their conservation.

It was during this presentation and the resulting acknowledgement of the plight for amphibian conservation in South Africa that four local farmers (Mr Ashton Musgrave, Mr Jonathan Saville, Mr Bret Arde and Mr Jonu Louw) banded together and asked Cherise to visit their farms to determine if the Pickersgill’s Reed Frog was present on their farms. Song meters were rotated among the farms, followed by careful listening to hours of recordings until the Pickersgill’s Reed Frog’s quiet but distinctive call was confirmed by the EWT’s Threatened Amphibian Programme Manager, Dr Jeanne Tarrant.

Confirming their presence was enough for these enthusiastic farmers, who were keen to ‘do the right thing’ and protect them to ensure their continued presence. In this spirit, the farmers keenly agreed to pursue formally declaring the habitat of the Endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog as a Protected Environment through the Biodiversity Stewardship Process in 2020. However, the journey of declaration, led by Cherise, was not an easy route. Despite the numerous bends along the way, including COVID-19, the social unrest in July 2021, and the April 2022 floods, KZN MEC formally declared the Umgavusa Protected Environment from the Department of Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Honorable Mr Siboniso Armstrong Duma, on 25 May 2023. It is the first protected area we have declared to conserve the Endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog and its habitat, but it won’t be the last!

The infectious drive for amphibian conservation by these local frog conservation pioneers has awakened a love for frogs and frogging within the community, who have flocked to the Umgavusa Protected Environment to catch a glimpse of the diminutive Endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog.

It is not just frogs that these farmers are enthusiastic about. They work tirelessly to rehabilitate wetlands, clear and maintain watercourses from invasive alien plants, and support student research on the abundant wildlife that inhabits the area. These initiatives are driven by their innate love for their environment, and it is through this that the heart of community-based conservation offers enormous opportunities towards securing the biodiversity and cultural heritage of South Africa for all.

Mr Ashton Musgrave and his son enjoying their piece of the Umgavusa Protected Environment.

Thank you to our partners, Conservation Outcomes and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and to Rainforest Trust and Synchronicity Earth for supporting the project.

A word from the CEO May 2023

Word from the CEO

Yolan Friedmann

Sometimes we need to be reminded of what we know. We need this a lot. Since the discovery of PVC – the world’s third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic – in 1876 and its development into a plastic compound ready for use in pipes, bottles, packaging, medical devices, cards and with wide application in building and construction industries in around 1926, PVC accounts for about 43 million metric tons of the total 390 million metric tons of plastic produced every year. This number may be a small (ish) fraction. Still, the trouble with PVC is that it is not biodegradable, which means that PVC waste can remain in the environment for hundreds of years, causing significant harm to wildlife and ecosystems. The manufacturing process of PVC is harmful, using toxic chemicals like chlorine and dioxin. But its real danger lies in the fact that it never ever breaks down, and even when disposed of, the harmful chemicals can still leach into water and soil systems, killing millions of organisms.

I was reminded of this stark reality on a recent trip to an island on South Africa’s west coast. Over a few decades, the sea air had taken its toll on an old pickup truck on the island and made for a fascinating photograph of how metal, paint, and iron can eventually succumb to the ravages of nature’s demolishers in the form of wind, salt, air, and water. However, lying next to what was once the car’s engine was an almost perfectly preserved, ready-to-reuse PVC water tank. Furthermore, the car’s dashboard was also almost reusable – black, shiny, and ready to go and the rubber linings were still in good nick. One may argue that this is why nearly non-destructible materials are used, as cars must be robust and safe. But the stark reality is that humans are creating toxic materials to last, which may put our futures at risk.

It is widely known that plastic, in its various forms, can be found in every ecosystem, on every surface and in every corner of the planet. To all depths of every ocean and river, in our air, forests, grasslands, and mountains, and eventually into our food and water. It leaches toxins and strangles wildlife; it chokes waterways and animals. Microplastics negatively affect all life, humans included. Yet we keep manufacturing them; worse, we keep discarding them recklessly and frivolously, as if they were leaves on the wind.

Every single human being has a role to play here. We all need to buy less plastic, use less plastic, demand less plastic, and, most important, discard it responsibly. We also ALL need to pick it up wherever we go, take (recyclable) bags with us when we walk in parks, on our beaches, through our forests, when you walk the dog and run with mates, go for a ride and paddle on our dams. Please pick it up, pick it up, and pick it up. Remove as much plastic from the environment as possible, and never ever walk over that bottle top or plastic wrapper again. That one action of NOT picking it up can lead to the direct death of an insect, a bird, a seabird or a fish. The many actions of NOT picking it all up will almost certainly lead to the end of life on earth for many species and what we need it to be for all life.

Let’s all play our part and Pick It Up. Saving one life at a time

To help us celebrate 50 Years of Conservation in Action, send us your thoughts on #50YearsOfEWT to help us create the next 50. Like the Marula, the EWT is here to serve our environment and has thousands more sunsets to share and sunrises to welcome. Help us craft #TheNext50 together.

Drop us a line at ewt@ewt.org.za or visit www.ewt.org.za, where you can share your vision for our planet 2073 and what the EWT will have achieved by then.

To help us celebrate 50 Years of Conservation in Action, send us your thoughts on #50YearsOfEWT to help us create the next 50. Like the Marula, the EWT is here to serve our environment and has thousands more sunsets to share and sunrises to welcome. Help us craft #TheNext50 together.

Drop us a line at ewt@ewt.org.za or visit www.ewt.org.za, where you can share your vision for our planet 2073 and what the EWT will have achieved by then.

Happy Birthday, EWT.

Yolan Friedmann

Raptors and human health

The connection between raptors and human well-being

Danielle du Toit & Dr Lindy Thompson, the EWT’s Birds of Prey Programme

In celebration of World Health Day on 7 April, we acknowledged the important role raptors (predatory birds that hunt other animals or feed on carrion) play in supporting humans and our well-being.

Ecosystem Services

When feeding, vultures clean carcasses and reduce the spread of diseases such as anthrax and botulism. After the Asian Vulture Crisis in the late 1990s, widespread accidental poisoning caused vulture populations in India to plummet by over 90%. The loss of vultures left more food available for other scavengers, such as feral dogs, which increased in numbers, and in turn, so too did cases of rabies. Economists estimated the healthcare costs to the Indian government at US$296 million over 13 years. This study is one of a handful that tried to put a monetary value on the ecosystem services that vultures provide and the importance of their role in maintaining environmental health.

Owls and eagles provide free pest control services by hunting rodents and other species that can negatively impact human health. Barn Owls with chicks in the nest have been reported to catch up to 30 rodents in one night. Many farmers have acknowledged the importance of Verreaux’s Eagles because these birds effectively control Rock Hyrax populations, which, unchecked, could result in significant losses in crop yields.

Results of blood tests from raptors can also be used to indicate the health of an ecosystem. Recent studies in South Africa by Dr Linda van den Heever and colleagues highlighted the problem of lead poisoning in vultures and how high levels of lead in vultures’ blood most likely result from fragments of lead bullets in the carcasses the birds are eating. These microscopic lead fragments can also be found in venison eaten by people (if those carcasses were shot using lead bullets), so both vultures and people, among others, are susceptible to the same preventable health issue of lead poisoning from lead ammunition. Lead poisoning, such as that consumed from similar sources, resulted in nearly a million lives being lost in 2019 and is the cause of 30% of global intellectual disabilities in humans.

Cultural Importance

For hundreds, if not thousands of years, raptors have been symbolic in different cultures worldwide. For example, the ancient Egyptian god Horus had the body of a man and the head of a falcon; the Romans believed that eagles represented power and strength, and humans in neolithic times used feathers and bones for ornamental, ceremonial, and functional purposes. Falconry, a hunting method using birds of prey, has been around for about 5,000 years, first known to have been practised by Mongolians. In South Africa, vulture body parts are used in traditional medicine.

Landowners in the Karoo region of South Africa approached the Endangered Wildlife Trust to assist in bringing Cape Vultures back to the area where they have been regionally extinct since the mid-1980s. Many of these farmers sink into nostalgia when remembering their childhoods filled with memories of being in the veld with vultures soaring above them. In the ‘Farmers for Vultures’ video, farmers spoke of spying on vulture nests, and others recalled how they would lie dead still in the middle of the veld in hopes that vultures would circle them. These stories show that these birds’ very existence is essential in the cultures of many people and for their well-being. Not only do these farmers love reminiscing about their younger days, but they live in the hope that one day, vultures will soar across the Karoo skies once again.

Raptors are also crucial to the tourism sector. The Kruger National Park offers tourists the opportunity to see vultures and their feeding behaviour up close. Golden Gate National Park hosts one of the few Bearded Vulture populations and feeding sites, and Cape Vulture colonies across the country have been tourist destinations for decades.

Raptor conservation is directly beneficial to human well-being

We know that losing vultures across a landscape can cause significant negative impacts on the physical health of humans. By adjusting our practices and using lead-free ammunition, we will reduce the threat of lead poisoning in raptors and potentially similar threats to humans. By practising responsible carcass management to limit the contamination of the environment by chemicals or veterinary medicines, we are providing safe spaces for vultures to perform their ecosystem services. By moving away from using rodenticides and allowing owls and eagles to do natural pest control, we reduce the chances of being affected by the same poisons.

Conservation of species is not only based on their importance to the health of an ecosystem or the services they provide but is often rooted in ensuring physical, mental, and emotional aspects of human well-being. By tackling threats to raptors and investing resources and time into caring for the health of these species and other wildlife, we protect our fellow species and invariably make the environment safer and healthier for people.

References

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Earthly Eating: Butternut Soup

EARTHLY EATING: Butternut Soup

Earthly Eating: Butternut Soup: Each month, we bring you delicious, nutritious, and eco-friendly recipes that our staff members love! This month’s recipe is courtesy of Tamsyn Galloway-Griesel, our Senior research field officer for our EWT Wildlife and Energy Programme.

Preparation time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients

45 ml butter
2 onions (chopped)
500ml butternut
45ml cake four
5-10 ml curry powder
pinch of nutmeg
750 ml chicken stock
375 ml milk
1 granny smith apple
rind and juice of 1 orange (optional)
parsley chopped (optional)
dollops of cream (optional)

Preparation:

Sauté onion in butter
Add butternut and sauté to absorb the butter ± 3 minutes
Mix in the flour, curry powder & nutmeg
Add the chicken stock, milk, apple, orange rind, and juice
Simmer for 15-20 minutes
Liquidise
Season to taste
Serve topped with a dollop of cream and a sprinkle of parsley

A word from the CEO April 2023

Word from the CEO

Yolan Friedmann

One of the trees most commonly associated with all things Africa is the Marula Tree, Sclerocarya birrea, a deciduous fruit-bearing tree found throughout Africa and Madagascar in various woodlands habitat types. Whilst many people associate the Marula tree with alcoholic beverages and the ‘crazy’ behaviour of monkeys and elephants after consuming large volumes of the fermented fruits in summer, their true value to the widest variety of many species is perhaps less known.

Not only does this single-stemmed, ~18m high tree provide critical shade in the blazing African sun, but every single part of the Marula tree has value and is prized by humans and animals alike. The fruits are a rich source of vitamin C, around eight times higher than an orange. Boiled marula fruit skin makes a refreshing drink, while burnt skins make a coffee substitute. Marula wood is soft and used for carving and rope, and brown dye can be made from the bark. The bark contains antihistamines and can also treat dysentery, diarrhoea, rheumatism, insect bites, and other ailments. It is also used as a preventative to malaria., while the green leaves of the marula tree are eaten to alleviate heartburn.

Caterpillars and wood-boring beetles are removed from the marula tree and roasted for consumption, and the oil is used as a skin cosmetic. Essence from the leaves is said to remedy abscesses, spider bites and burns. The tree’s large, shady respite from the Afrinca sun often serves as a village meeting place. Over centuries, dozens of wildlife species have also benefitted from this much-needed shade and derived important nutrition from the tree’s leaves, fruit, and bark. This life-giving tree is often associated with species such as elephants, rhino, baboons and monkeys, many birds, warthog, giraffe and ostriches. Over centuries, humans and wildlife have benefitted from and enjoyed the spoils of this life-giving force of nature.

A commonly asked question is, if you were a tree, what tree would you be? Would most people quickly reply with the Marula as their answer? Despite all these attributes, maybe not. Perhaps not everyone wants to be all things to all species and communities of life. However, I will bet that if the EWT staff were asked that question, the reply would be a resounding “The Marula Tree” for that very reason! For over 50 years, the EWT has been the Tree of Life for countless species, ecosystems, and communities across the African landscape. This we have done by providing refuge for species at perpetual risk of conflict with humans and nourishment for people through sustainable livelihood development with our community partners and securing safe space for wildlife populations to expand and prosper. The EWT has left its indelible footprint across Africa’s savannahs, woodlands, wetlands, catchments, grasslands, mountains, and oceans, has benefitted communities of people, mammals, plants, birds, reptiles, insects, and amphibians, and is as much associated with all things Africa as our beloved Marula tree.

Like a tree – our power lies in our ability to convene, support, and assemble- bringing together our team’s brightest minds and most passionate hearts – and those of our partners and associates. As we forge a pathway to achieve even more over the next 50 years, it is through these people that we draw our inspiration. Inspiration for the next 50 as the race against extinction and to stem the impacts of climate change and ecosystem destruction ramp up.

Drop us a line at ewt@ewt.org.za or visit www.ewt.org.za, where you can share your vision for our planet 2073 and what the EWT will have achieved by then.

Happy Birthday, EWT.

Yolan Friedmann

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