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UFS researchers fight invasive alien plants

03 January 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Leonie Bolleurs

Research read more — Dr Sandy Steenhuisen conducts research on invasive alien plants and the effect they have on the environment.

South Africa, and more specifically the Free State, is known as a drought-stricken area. Invasive alien plants are gulping up much-needed water resources, draining our land.

Pollination ecologist, Dr Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen, who is also expanding into invasive alien research, is conducting research on the reproductive ecology of exotic plant species in montane grasslands. As an affiliate of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), this research is conducted with her students and a host of collaborators from Rhodes University (Centre for Biological Control), Stellenbosch University (Centre for Invasion Biology), and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

She says substantial funding is being made available for research on invasive species due to the extent of the problem nationally and globally. Their research is being funded and conducted in collaboration with plant ecology experts, Dr Kim Canavan (Rhodes University), Dr Grant Martin (Rhodes University), Prof David Richardson (Stellenbosch University), and Prof Colleen Downs (University of KwaZulu-Natal), as well as UFS postgraduate students Anthony Mapaura and Lehlohonolo Donald Adams, and UFS postdoctoral fellow, Dr Nicholas Le Maitre.

Besides working with a host of collaborators, the ARU was this year also invited to join the prestigious Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN), a global network of academics who are passionate about understanding the invasion of mountains by non-native species and its impact on local mountain ecologies.

Black Wattle makes rivers run dry

Alien plant species that often escape from planted gardens or plantations, thrive in disturbed, mismanaged and eroded areas. One of the biggest issues regarding alien plant invasion is that many people are not aware of the harmful effects it has on the environment, and that they continue to plant it or allow invaders to spread.

A large percentage of trees in urban South Africa are invasive alien trees. They dry out the soil and displace our native plants. Coming from other countries and without their former enemies or competitors, they flourish. Our indigenous plants are not used to these plants and are easily displaced.

An example of a very aggressive invasive alien plant in the region, and in South Africa as a whole, is Black Wattle. It uses excessive water, so bad that rivers run dry and riverbanks become eroded. It also chemically excludes many native plants from growing among them.

Research content 1
Anthony Mapaura’s research focuses on Nassella, an invasive alien grass in the elevated areas of the Eastern Cape mountains.
This plant is extremely difficult to control and is the cause of a large number of cattle dying. (Photo: Leonie Bolleurs)

This species is very hard to control. If you burn it or cut it off, it will grow back. In addition, it drops a great number of seeds into the soil, spreading without any difficulty.

Another invader, Yellow Firethorn, which is being investigated by master’s student Adams, invades high-elevation grassland areas, reducing grazing potential and ultimately leading to unproductive farmland and choked rivers.

“Our mountain grassland systems are not adapted to compete with the invasion of these alien trees. Since they are using excessive water resources, natural streams should return in many instances if they are removed,” says Dr Steenhuisen.

Nassella displacing indigenous plants

Mapaura focuses his doctoral study on an invasive grass genus, Nassella, originating from the Americas. Growing in the elevated areas of the Eastern Cape mountains, this species is the cause of a large number of cattle dying.

The plant, which is not palatable and consists mostly of fibre, is eaten by cattle – especially during dry seasons when there is not much natural grazing available. It is difficult to digest, forming a ball in the stomach of the animals that ultimately results in death.

“It is extremely difficult and costly to control, and natural grasses cannot compete with it. In Australia, many farmers have had to abandon their farms once these plants invaded, as the cost of control was higher than the value of the land. A similar situation could unfold in South Africa, and it’s a race to learn all we can about the ecology of this genus to inform policy and practice,” says Dr Steenhuisen.

The solution, fighting for survival

She said to effectively address these invasions, we need to understand everything about the reproductive ecology of the plants to develop specific biological or chemical control methods to target and destroy the plant at an appropriate life stage. We also need to know if the plants are using native animals (if not just wind and water) to pollinate their flowers and spread their seeds. “Organisations investigating the effectiveness of biological control agents and chemical products will be able to use our research data on the plants’ ecology to focus efforts on specific life stages,” she adds.

Invasive alien plants also contribute to South Africa losing the genetic integrity of certain native plants with which they hybridise. For example, pure genetic lines of native white stinkwood trees are potentially mixing with exotics and hybrids, adding to a loss of diversity and genetic purity – a project being undertaken by postdoctoral fellow, Dr Le Maitre.

Dr Steenhuisen urges South Africans to plant the genetically pure South African white stinkwood trees, especially since alien species and hybrids are often sold by garden centres as if they were the indigenous species.

Dr Vincent Ralph Clark, Head of the Afromontane Research Unit at the UFS, has a vision to start a nursery for high-elevation indigenous plants. “A great number of nurseries do not supply pure indigenous trees, but hybrids,” says Dr Steenhuisen.

News Archive

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

2015-10-15

Dear Students

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

There is an understandable and shared concern among students in the country around the high costs of higher education. As you know, this also is a matter of deep concern on our campuses, which the University of the Free State (UFS) has made a priority in discussions with student leaders - and through new strategies to relieve the burden of costs on poor students and their families. In fact, in the past two weeks, the UFS leadership has again engaged students on the matter of fees in the future.

This is what we have done so far. We have maintained our position as one of the universities with the lowest tuition fees in the country. As you would have seen from recent newspaper reports on the cost of a degree at various institutions over the past five years, the UFS has had consistently low fees. This is not an accident; both the University Council and the executive leadership of the UFS is of one mind that we must offer a high quality education at minimum cost to all our students, despite the rising costs of operating a large multi-campus university with 30 000 students. Our commitment to you is to continue to keep those costs to students as low as possible, without compromising on the quality of education.

In addition, we took a decision earlier this year to become the first university to drop application fees for first-year students. We are proud of that achievement, since so many students fall at this first hurdle as they contemplate post-school education and training. We also waived registration fees for postgraduate students and now Research Master’s and PhD students can study tuition free under certain conditions. We raised more than R60 million from the private sector to enable talented students, who do not receive NSFAS funding, to complete their degree studies at the UFS. We set aside some of the university’s own funds to enable even more students to access finance for their studies. And we now have a special office set aside to counsel and assist students to apply for more than one scholarship to support their studies. The university does not follow a policy of maximizing exclusions. It has endeavoured and succeeded to turn around the majority of its potential deregistration cases. During 2015 we had 2 700 students at the risk of being de-registered, but our serious efforts resulted in only over 200 instances of exclusion we could not mitigate. As is the practice for the past few years, these students’ debt for 2015 has been reversed.

But, we do not only look for funds from outside to support our students. Last year we set up a Staff Fund to which ordinary members of the academic and support staff can contribute from their own, and sometimes very modest, salaries to enable Kovsie students to finish their degrees. We have volunteers who work on the No Student Hungry (NSH) Bursary Programme to raise funds for students who cannot afford a regular meal. We have an open line to rural and township schools to nominate poor students with good results for support by the Rector’s Fund, and some of those students are now in their final year of studies. And many of our staff support individual students in their homes and with their families, without being asked to do so. This is what we call the Human Project and it remains central to the way in which we deal with students.

We will of course continue to make representation to government, the private sector, and individuals to increase funding, especially for first-generation students, and for families where more than one student is at university. We will continue to take to the road to raise funds from companies and foundations to finance our students. We will expand on-campus opportunities for limited working hours for students who wish to earn some money to support their studies. As we have said often before, no student who passes all their courses or modules will be turned away simply because they do not have the funds to study.

The UFS discusses and agrees to fee increases with our students well in advance of the next academic year. None of these decisions are taken without the agreement of the student leadership and thus far these engagements, while tough, have always been done in good faith and with the students’ interests at heart.

It is important for you to know that, with the declining government subsidy, in real terms, and the expanding needs of our students, we will not be able to keep the university running without fees - even though this source of revenue comes mainly through scholarships and bursaries. We need to compensate staff, purchase new library books and renew journal subscriptions (which is very difficult given the low value of the Rand), upgrade computers and software, pay rates and taxes, purchase laboratory equipment, pay the water and electricity bills, expand internet services, upgrade campus security, and hire more academics to keep class sizes reasonably small. It is important for you to know that the university has managed to avoid increasing student fees as a result of much higher municipal rates. Our lecturers are not the highest paid in the country and financially we run a tight ship. We consistently achieve unqualified audits and we are known to be one of the universities that manage its NSFAS contributions with great efficiency. We do this because of our commitment to ensure that our students are able to enjoy a high quality of education on a stable campus where there is a deep respect for all campus citizens.

Despite all these efforts, the most important message we wish to communicate, is that the door remains open for continued discussion with student leaders as we continue to find ways of keeping university education open and accessible to all qualifying students. At the same time, the UFS leadership is involved in discussions with government about how to best manage the escalating cost of higher education for our dents.

Thank you for your support and understanding at this time and be assured, once again, of our commitment to students as a matter of priority to the university leadership.

Best regards

Prof Jonathan Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector

University of the Free State
19 October 2015

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