Sunday 27 December 2020

Publication: Tortoise mortality along fence lines in the Karoo, Journal of Nature Conservation


From experience, electric fencing burns are very painful: but of course, we can move away fast and get away from the pain!

But imagine getting shocked again and again for hours and hours. It was 2013 when I first recorded dead tortoises on an electric fence on a bird survey route north of the Baviaanskloof. Since then, I’ve seen hundreds more as electric fencing has become a dominant predator control strategy across South Africa. Tortoises, once shocked, withdraw to the safety of their shell and hope it stops. It never does… they endure pulse after pulse of current until they die. It is inconceivable to me that there are no controls on this infrastructure that take this into account: there are simple solutions that will allow the use of these fences without killing tortoises.

Fences require daily patrolling to remove tortoises. Alternatives could include thermostatic switches which turn off fences when tortoises are most active, or programmed ‘escape’ periods. These solutions are offered with the realisation that electric fences are not going away: they are too valuable for the control of predators or for restricting the movement of big game (SANParks have major electric fence infrastructure on many of their parks). 

Dead leopard tortoises on electric fences are an obvious problem. What this research also showed was the standard mesh fencing is bad for the smaller tortoise species (most of the species), which get wedged and stuck. This fence type is prolific across the rangelands of southern Africa. All of this is not good news for the world’s tortoise hotspot.

This is a situation that makes me feel sad and powerless: all I could do as a scientist was help document this tragedy. My effort to draw attention to the problem by making a YouTube video has had all of 150 views in 4 years. So: there we go, I offer the world another piece of sad information and hope those with the power to make change (which should be all of us) will act upon this.

I’m very grateful to Matt Macray, Conservation Biology MSc student at the Fitz, for doing the groundwork on this; as well as to Biosphere Expeditions for their support. I was able to facilitate this work through a postdoctoral research grant through SANBI: thanks to Phoebe Barnard for that. I’m grateful to Professor Graham Alexander, Wits University, for his collaboration and herpetological expertise. And lastly, I always thought my first co-authored paper with Professor Peter Ryan would be about birds: but life can be funny like that.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138120301916

The paper is free to view until February 2021, and I'm happy to provide a copy on request. Elsevier, the publishing house, were very fast and efficient in getting this article online after acceptance.  




Saturday 12 December 2020

2020: A summary of a Blue Hill year in the shadow of Covid-19

 

I guess the year started normal. January, like most of the end of 2019 was steering the formation of the "I Love Nature fitness and environment center" (aka ‘the gym’) in Uniondale. That project of course would soon be put on the back-burner. February, I was in Kenya with Biosphere Expeditions helping a small conservancy, Enonkishu, monitor wildlife with a combination of local rangers and overseas participants. Despite heavy rains and floods it was mostly positive experiences with the memory echoes all positive: seems so long ago.

I managed to get back to South African beginning of March, a few weeks before the world realised what trouble it was in and hard lockdown was implemented, which lasted all April. We had a volunteer with us, Jeb, a charismatic 19-year-old Londoner into Tai-chi and telling stories, whose 2 week stay ended up being closer to 2 months before he got onto a repatriation flight.

With all tourism cancelled and repayment of Blue Hill Escape deposits, it was a significant financial blow.  Luckily, most running expenses for Blue Hill are covered by Chris and Elaine, who continue to be generally healthy despite additional age induced aches and pains. Importantly, Anja still had teaching income and translation contracts, all done by Zoom now of course. My time was put to home-schooling (wow was that hard at the start: a test of my patience and expectations, and Elena certainly missed school, friends and her far more patient teacher).

In-between depressing updates of a world on the brink, we had a constructive time at Blue Hill, in no small way aided by Jeb. The garden looks the best it has since 2012, we built a pizza oven from scratch, and a chicken run which is now populated with very keen egg-laying chickens. The ‘roads’ were dissuaded from their perpetual efforts to turn into dongas, another couple of dongas were straddled with stone bridges.

Winter was a mild one: but temperate afternoons outside enjoying the sun are always tempered with the nagging of ‘why is the winter so mild’. Of course, cold fronts did mean some days as well as the early mornings were spent with everyone in the kitchen around the wood-fired stove. A spectacular snow storm provided much needed light-relief, as well as moisture for life in the mountains. Thanks to that, spring was kick-started with a profusion of beautiful fynbos blooms. That would provide lots of opportunity to populate my latest hobby: uploading photos to the citizen science nature documenting platform iNaturalist. Nature on Blue Hill Nature Reserve can now be viewed here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blue-hill-nature-reserve?tab=observations

With the SA Covid curve flattened, but paranoia running high, I’d also pack up Elena and Charlie for a camping trip to the Overberg to assist Sanjo Rose with her MSc project examining breeding biology of Agulhas Long-billed Lark. Then, only a few weeks later I was seeing some of the most spectacular Namaqualand flower displays being posted on Social media. Seemed like a good idea to drop everything and head that way for a second camping trip (September), except Francois van der Merwe gave us use of his empty research centre, so we could still social-distance and wander the Hantam Karoo looking at some of the most incredible botanical displays I’ve ever seen. Lots of hiking meant Elena and Charlie were now easily as fit as me, and certainly fitter than mom. Seemed like a good time for them to finally get to the top of Bloukop (Blue Hill) using their own 2 feet, which was accomplished in October. Another milestone in their lives ticked off. Another hiking trip to Duiwekloof in the Baviaanskloof at the end of November would round off the hiking year (so far…). Supposedly that leaves me with December to catch up on writing tasks, maybe do a bit more bird ringing, which had been mostly neglected without someone to help at the nets.  

I’m grateful to Mark Anderson for commissioning me to write up an article on the history of Ostrich, with the journal turning 90 this year. Certainly, the editorship of Ostrich continues to occupy much time, albeit sporadically: either lulls or storms. Most science writing has been done courtesy of Krista Oswald, writing up her PhD work on Cape Rockjumpers: the crowning good news on that is that they are to be bird-of-the-year 2021! Apart from that, a book review, an article on BirdLasser and a co-authorship on the Karoo birds work were the sum of my published ornithological contributions: a paper looking at bird size change having really been completed the previous year, together with a paper summarising body size metrics from the SAFRING database. But ornithological duties continue to demand attention: somehow Colleen Downs managed to draft me into the organising committee for the International Ornithological Congress to be held in Durban in 2022.

All in all, we end the year, healthy, with many marvellous memories to overshadow Trump, EFF and Covid induced misery, and optimistic that 2021 will be a good year too. If I could just have a few more braais with a few more friends, I’ll be happy. So here’s to you, wherever you are: we’re thinking of you and hope to see you face to face one day again.  

 

 
 


Sunday 25 October 2020

Can fracking and birdlife coexist in the Karoo?

 

Can fracking and birdlife coexist in the Karoo?

 

On Saturday 24 October I was contacted by a producer of 98.7fm PowerFM to talk about the above topic as part of the: POWER Weekend Breakfast show with Pabi Moloi & Mvangeli Nzuza the following morning (Sunday). Realising that I’d be reaching audience not normally into birds and birding, I gave a lot of thought as to how to make the topic more interesting than a bland reading of the facts that this could possibly entail. I was told by the producer I would have 30 minutes, and prepared the following script. Unfortunately, I was cut off after 15 minutes by the presenters, which kind of ruined the initial prep work which would have been wrapped up in the final 15 minutes, so I though I’d better include the story here, which goes some way to answering questions I posed but then did not have time to answer in the truncated on-air version.

 

Good morning! It is really a pleasure to be talking to you today, and all the early-bird listeners. Although can I just add, I hope the early birds did not catch any worms.

 

You have invited me here today to answer the question: Can fracking and birdlife coexist in the Karoo?

 

There is probably a yes or no answer to that, which we can get to at the end of this show, like many difficult questions, the answer is a bit difficult, and of course is just one thin slice and angle on the impacts of fracking.

 

To answer this question we need some background: on the Karoo, on birds and birdlife, and of hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking.

 

Can I set the scene by asking you a few questions?

 

 

Chocolate can kill birds: true or false? I will answer that one a bit later…

 

Modern birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, whose members include the towering Tyrannosaurus rex, according research published in Scientific America. Now that you know this, can I ask you to imitate the noise of Tyrannosaurus rex?

 

So this is my imitation ‘pac pac puck puck (chicken noise)’ So if you are ever having nightmares from watching one of the Jurassic Park movies, just remember that.

 

Next question: why are birds useful? …..

 

So I know that there are some people who just don’t like birds: a great example is Mitchel from the sitcom Modern Family, who freaks out each time he sees a pigeon. But did you know that many garden birds eat spiders? In fact there is an island in the Pacific ocean where all birds were accidently irradicated when an arboreal house snake was introduced that ate all the birds. What happened after this? The spider population exploded.

 

Did you know that the avitourism industry, that part of South Africa’s ecotourism industry that depends directly or indirectly on birdwatchers (prior to covid of course), involves about 40 000 people and is worth R1 billion give or take a few million? This info from a DTI report from 2010.

 

Birdwatchers tend to be affluent and well educated (maybe like the listeners of Power FM?) and travel far and wide and spend more than other types of ecotourists. Birdwatching is a hobby that entertains on many different levels: those who can’t relate might want to think of birdwatching like a computer game with many different levels, hidden treasures and involving a lot of travel to exotic destinations, except that it a lot better for the mind and body than a computer game, and you get to contribute meaningfully to the local economy by doing so. If you are interested in maybe exploring this as a healthy pastime, there are a lot of resources on the BirdLife South Africa’s website. BirdLife South Africa is an NGO representing much of the birdwatching community, they are involved in a wide range of conservation and research projects, and they sponsored this research about which I am talking today through a donation from Gaynor Rupert and conducted in conjunction with the Karoo BioGaps project, a SANBI initiative.

 

Another question: Do all birds drink water?

 

Next question: when I say Karoo what does that conjure up for you?

 

The Karoo is an arid zone covering about one third of South Africa as well as parts of Namibia, and is made up of two biomes: 2 different natural entities: the Succulent Karoo and the Nama Karoo.

 

It is a place where birds are rare or fill the air: that was the title of Richard Dean’s PhD thesis, Richard Dean is one of South Africa’s leading arid zone ecologists and co-author on the research paper that is the basis for me being invited to talk with you today.

 

Both biomes are semi-arid, and are distinct due to differences in rainfall amount and seasonality. The succulent karoo receives low amounts of winter rainfall is a world arid zone botanical hotspot with huge amounts of endemic and uniquely adapted plant species. The Nama Karoo, which you will be familiar with from a drive between Cape Town and Johannesburg, is more extensive and receives erratic summer rainfall. Despite being climatically and botanically distinct, for the most part the birds don’t distinguish between these biomes, and we consider the birds of the Karoo to be just one set of birds. Like the plant life, the bird species richness for an arid zone is very high with over 400 species recorded over the region, which is just under half of the birds recorded in South Africa. There are 10 species of birds found in the Karoo found nowhere else in South Africa or the world. In addition, an array of other animals, with high endemism, inter alia, in tortoises and scorpions are found in the region.

 

Both biomes have high species richness of larks (Alaudidae) compared with other biomes whilst the Nama-Karoo also has a large assemblage of nomadic birds, and both have many granivorous bird species that rely on water. Resident species of birds tend to maintain low densities and wait for rainfall events, whereas nomadic species search for resource patches scattered in time and space, so their respective densities vary temporally and spatially (Dean 1995).

A variety of proposed developments are planned for the Karoo, including mining for uranium, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, and solar and wind energy facilities. These developments will likely have an impact on the biodiversity of the region; and birds (along with many other animals) will face many challenges in the future if all of these developments go ahead without due consideration to their wellbeing.

In South Africa, mineral and mining rights are owned by the state who may grant licences to oil and gas companies to explore the possibility of using fracking to extract gas from shale deposits. The recent initiative to prospect and to mine natural gas from the shales of the Karoo using hydraulic fracturing is cause for concern because it uses large quantities of water. About 52% of the Nama-Karoo and 10% of the Succulent Karoo biomes fall within potential concessions .

Fracking involves pumping a combination of water, chemical additives and sand underground to extract natural gas trapped in shale formations. Waste water (used in the drilling process) and produced water (used to flush out the natural gas) do not stay underground but are pumped back to the surface and stored in retention dams alongside the drilling rigs. These impoundments thus contain water with a mixture of toxic, acidic and saline chemical additives that are used in the extraction process, along with the accidental discharge of oils and careless diesel spills from the drilling process (Burton et al. 2014, Veil et al. 2004).

 

The scarcity of open water sources means that the produced water ponds in the Karoo are likely to attract animals who drink water or are associated with open water in various ways. The concern is that this water would be a deathtrap.

 

Hazards to birds at wellpads include not only the toxic components of the water in the ponds, but also oil slicks on the surfaces of water.

 

Oil alone can be lethal, disrupting water repellence in the plumage and insulation properties of the feathers and can be a significant source of mortality (Ramirez 2010).

 

Imagine I threw oil all over that nice dress you bought at the Rosebank mall. It would be a tragedy! I’d be in such trouble! But at least you’d be able to have a shower and put on some new clothes, the consequences for a bird are much worse.

 

For our research, we assessed the life history and habitat-use traits that make birds of the Karoo vulnerable to pollution effects.

 

We use a trait-based approach to determine vulnerability of birds to contaminated water. We initially considered the list of 407 bird species recorded for the Karoo (Dean 1995). We removed all species from the list that could best be described as incidental or vagrant in the Karoo, resulting in a list of 315 species.

 

We considered the following traits: feeding (kingfishers, waders), resting (ducks), nesting, drinking and diet. Scoring was based mostly on our extensive experience with these species, but also by referring to published information including some of our studies using camera traps at water sources.

 

Of the 315 species considered, 211 species have the core of their distribution range in the Karoo and 104 species are marginal. 141 (44%) had life history attributes that made them potentially vulnerable to contaminated water.

 

Given the aridity of the Karoo, many of the bird species that occur there show various adaptations to deal with low water availability. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, we found that just under half of the species that occur in the Karoo have some association with water; either strongly associated with water for nesting or just drinking water when it is available. Some of these associations with water are clear, but some are not always immediately obvious; for instance, swallows not only often drink water, but also use mud to build their rests. Sandgrouse fly long distances to drink and to provide water to their chicks. So, contamination of water supplies or the provisioning of contaminated water (with concomitant contamination of mud and potential loss of aquatic vegetation) pose a risk to the bird life of the Karoo, and this may be undervalued. The extent of the risk to species would vary greatly but could prove catastrophic for nomadic aquatic species attracted to ponds of contaminated water. Other species, vulnerable only due to drinking under unusual or very hot conditions, may only suffer localised mortalities.

 

The reactions of birds to most of the chemicals used in fracking are unknown. Known hazards to birds include pesticides and industrial pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and heavy metals, particularly mercury (Fry 1995, Giesy et al. 2003, Moore 1985). However, it should also be noted that birds sometimes have unusual lethal reactions to apparently harmless substances; for example chocolate is toxic to at least one species of parrot (Gartrell and Reid 2007), and veterinary medicines such as diclofenac have proved lethal to vultures (Swan et al. 2006). Given the extensive list of compounds already identified from water produced by fracking (Stringfellow et al. 2014), and given the rather extreme effects of PCBs, insecticides and fungicides on bird populations (Fry 1995, Giesy et al. 2003, Moore 1985) it would be unwise to assume that birds would not be affected by water containing some, or all, of these compounds.

 

Basically, Pits or sludge dams constructed near well sites to hold produced water may be a major hazard for birds in the Karoo (Holness et al 2016) as shown by other studies in the Northern Hemisphere (Farwell et al. 2016, Latta et al. 2015, Ramirez 2010).

 

If gas extraction is to go ahead in the Karoo it is essential that waste water is treated to mitigate against its potential negative effects on biodiversity. Current use of new technology in the United States of America to remove oil and salts from produced water show that this, and proper management of fracking ponds, significantly reduces the negative impacts on birds.

 

 These treatments, which separate waste liquids and condensate from fresh water, result in products that can be sold, and fresh water that can be used for other drilling activities or given to livestock or wildlife (Ramirez 2009). The China experience, however, suggests that few operators would comply with this additional requirement (Guo et al. 2014), even if required by law. An economically sound suggestion is that ponds are simply covered with shade cloth, thereby complying with legislation. A further consideration in planning ahead is that abandoned wells need rehabilitation and restoration (Ramirez and Mosley 2015). There is the possibility that remnant chemical residues at abandoned wells could be dissolved by rain, with the runoff forming ponds or entering river systems, and thus remaining a hazard for birds, livestock and people.

 

 Under South African legislation, companies granted rights to conduct shale gas extraction are obliged to rehabilitate the environment around the mine (Section 24N (7)(e) and (f) of the NEMA legislation) (Motala 2013). Proper rehabilitation after closure is essential; however, to date, there has been a poor track record of proper mine closure and environmental rehabilitation across South Africa (McKay and Milaras 2017).

 

There is an urgent need for research on mitigation and prevention of mortalities related to contaminated water. Making contaminated water truly inaccessible through fencing and netting will require considerable thought and effort, and need to be maintained and sustainable over the long term. The provision of alternative and safe drinking sources also needs consideration. Certainly, the impact of contaminated water on birds and biodiversity needs greater attention.

 

So the crux of all this research is that it is all pointless if we cover up ponds and provide clean water if the underground water is contaminated, and this is being pumped up inadvertently elsewhere, say on a neighbouring sheep farm. From this point of view there is very grave concern about the impact of fracking beyond birdlife to the livelihoods of those in the Karoo.  Obviously one would like industry to provide work, provide incomes, and do so in a safe way that allows everyone to benefit. The concerns given track records of some companies is that this won’t happen.

 

So what are the alternatives? Currently, the status quo, with a mix of tourism, places like Karoo National Park, Mountain Zebra, Tankwa Karoo plus small livestock farming are proving to be beneficial to birdlife in the Karoo. In fact, some of the richest bird communities are around farmsteads, which have irrigated lands, trees, water and often a safe environment from potential predators, like monkeys or jackal. There are winners and losers in this scenario, like many others, but on the balance of things, drought aside, this is a fairly stable relationship. That stability could be severely rocked by hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo.

 

We might need to wrap up about now: If you are interested in birds and birding, there is a rich source of information on the BirdLife South Africa website, including our free book on Karoo Bird: Ecology and Conservation. The research upon which this is based is published in Ostrich Journal of African Ornithology.

 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/00306525.2019.1638846
 

Acknowledgements

 

Thanks to my co authors as well as the organisers, facilitators and funders of the Karoo BioGaps project.

 


 

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