Of frogs, fire, and flowers

Well folks it has been a busy September! And for all you Northern hemisphere-ers who are looking for your winter jackets, we are pulling out the shorts and t-shirts!

We began sampling vegetation in invaded/cleared areas of the catchment last month. Even after my scouting and frog work, the steepness and ruggedness of the slopes still took me by surprise. What an eye-opener! No wonder these higher elevation areas are left by the clearing teams.

 

 

We've begun setting up 5x10-m plots in which we quantify the area covered by different species. Often we find beautiful flowers!

 

I encountered an unexpected opportunity while I was endeavoring to obtain the permit required to record frogs in Limietberg Nature Reserve nearby, in Paarl. The lower part of the valley had formerly also been planted and cleared, but burned two years ago. Working for Water's clearing activities rarely include burning, but fire is a fundamental part of fynbos ecology! This site therefore offered a great opportunity to investigate whether fire is beneficial or detrimental to frogs after clearing. I would certainly expect that these guys are "used to it"-- how else could they persist in such a system?

So I searched for frogs in Limietberg...and heard them!

 

See all the tall restioid vegetation indicating the moist conditions. The rangers who had seen the fire told me the entire valley burned. I have been told that fynbos vegetation recovers astonishingly quickly, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of vegetation in this "frog-patch"!

 

We had to "hike" through all the vegetation, it was so dense! I spoke with another ranger who suggested that the fire travels over the upper layer of the vegetation; its density should also trap moisture and limit oxygen available for combustion.

And from what I could hear, the frogs seemed to be having a party! I'm almost finished with my recording, which is good because this winter-breeding species won't be calling for much longer.

On the horizon: more plant sampling and some conferences! Stay tuned!