Fiona Macleod
The pendulum swings for 594 plant species, 14 animal species, 62 bird species and dozens of insect species in Southern Africa at the turn of the millennium.
Already in the past couple of centuries, at least 59 Southern African species are known to have become extinct.
The list includes 53 plants, two butterflies, one velvet worm, one mammal – the quagga – and two birds, the Egyptian vulture and the African skimmer, which are listed as extinct for breeding purposes in South Africa.
As the pressures of human populations, agriculture and demands on natural resources grow in the foreseeable future, scientists expect the list of endangered and threatened species to expand.
But it’s not all gloom and doom, because they are also discovering new species and some that have been regarded as threatened in the past have been removed from that category.
The figures are kept in the Red Data list of threatened species, managed by the IUCN- World Conservation Union in Geneva. There is a global list and regional lists, which are constantly updated by specialists on the different species working in the field.
“The Red Data list is a flag, saying if we don’t look after certain species the chances are they will disappear,” says Dr John Donaldson, head of conservation biology at the National Botanical Institute. “It alerts people to the fact that these species are special, and when they are gone they will be gone forever.”
Southern Africa has the third-highest number of threatened plant species in the world, after the United States and Australia. At last count, in 1997, some 2 215 plants were listed as threatened.
Donaldson says cycads are worldwide the most threatened group of plants. Two kinds of Southern African cycads are already extinct in the wild, and all of our cycads – with the exception of one forest cycad – are listed as threatened.
“The numbers are so high because we have such a high diversity of plant life, particularly in the Western Cape, where development and agriculture are threatening them.”
He points out there could well be populations of listed plants which will be discovered in the new millennium, resulting in their being removed from the Red Data list.
“The marsh rose, for instance, was regarded as extremely threatened until a fire in the Western Cape about 15 years ago caused hundreds of them to spring up overnight.”
The brown hyena, one of Southern Africa’s funkiest wild animals with its blond mane and striped stockings, was listed as endangered until research in the past two decades showed it actually lives rather well next to man and there were a lot more around than had been thought.
But this apparent arbitrariness must not detract from the serious conservation efforts involving Red Data species, says Professor John Skinner, of the wildlife unit at the University of Pretoria’s faculty of veterinary science.
Skinner says the black rhino, listed as critically endangered, and the riverine rabbit and wild dog, both listed as endangered, could become extinct in the new millennium if current conservation areas are abandoned. Eight species of bats, the African wild cat, the dugong and the black- faced impala are classified as vulnerable.
“Because of our national parks, which have been in existence for decades, I believe the Red Data list of mammals in South Africa will remain as it stands for the foreseeable future,” says Skinner. “But more species will become endangered outside conservation areas as a result of competition for space from humans.”
Agriculture is largely responsible for threats to ground-nesting birds in the former homelands, and for the virtual disappearance of the helmeted guinea fowl – described as the African bird because it occurs north and south of the Sahara – in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“Globally about 1 200 of the 10 000 bird species are threatened. If species stop breeding in Southern Africa, it means their global range is contracting,” says Professor Les Underhill, head of the avian demography unit at the University of Cape Town.
Underhill says in addition to the two birds listed as extinct for breeding purposes, five South African birds are listed as critical on a global scale: the bittern, wattled crane, white-winged flufftail, Rudd’s lark and the blue swallow.
Eleven bird species are endangered and 46 are vulnerable, which means without intervention they are likely to become extinct as breeding species in the next century.
Migration causes confusion in determining the status of insect species, says Professor Mike Samways, director of the invertebrate conservation research centre at the University of Natal.
“There are a number of insects that occur only in Southern Africa and nowhere else, which means they are globally threatened. This list includes 110 butterflies found only on Table Mountain, and 18% of our damsel flies and dragonflies,” says Samways.
“A lot of research into insect populations still needs to be done, but it’s clear the El Nino weather patterns are having an effect on them.”
He points out that while about eight dragonflies and damsel flies, four velvet worms, “the odd ant lion and some butterflies” are under threat in South Africa, researchers are discovering new insect colonies all the time.
“An albino earthworm was recently discovered in caves in the Cape, and just a couple of weekends ago we found the nesting site of the Zulu dancer dragonfly for the first time.
“What can people do to help? The public, and particularly amateur enthusiasts, should contact their local conservation authorities or academics so that any information they have can get into the mainstream of knowledge,” says Samways.