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ARU pioneering mountain range-expanding project

26 July 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Nonsindiso Qwabe

ARU Read more web — On top of the Drakensberg. The ARU and Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge research team are, from the left: Grant Martin, Dr Ralph Clark, Jan van Niekerk, Prof Aliza le Roux, Prof Peter Taylor, and Dr Sandy Steenhuisen.

All mountains around the world have native and non-native species that are expanding their ranges quite dramatically; however, little research has been conducted towards understanding the long-term redistribution of species and the effects of global change on biodiversity.

The Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) on the University of the Free State Qwaqwa Campus – as part of the Mountain Invasion Research Network – has secured a two-year EU Horizon 2020 project under the Department of Science and Innovation, which will be looking at the mechanisms underlying the success and impact of range-expanding species on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

On Monday 19 July 2021, the ARU took a few of its researchers on a scenic helicopter ride to the summit of the Drakensberg for an alpine field-experiment site inspection of the Mont-aux-Sources peak, one of the highest sections of the Drakensberg range. This site has been identified for the project which the research unit will be leading on mountain research.

ARU Director, Dr Ralph Clark, said the project would explore the effects of global change, biological invasions (when species invade new geographic regions), as well as climate and land-use change. He said experiments were needed to explore the various possibilities and to test the extent to which species respond to experimental treatments. The project would therefore be conducting experiments for two years using open-top chambers – causing an increase in temperature of 3 or 4 degrees to what you find naturally – on plant species from lower down to the top of the mountain, to see how they function. “This will give us an idea of whether they will be able to survive in global warming scenarios. If temperatures get warmer, we might start seeing a lot of plants up here that we wouldn’t otherwise find here.”

Dr Clark said little is known about the long-term monitoring of species distribution and the effects of global change. Implementing the project in the Maloti-Drakensberg alpine area will therefore put the area in the global mountain research arena. The elevational gradient in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains provides space to explore the key processes underlying the variation in species elevation with climate change. “One of the things we don’t know much about are alpine systems. We are hoping to establish a long-term alpine research site and try to add as many studies as we can. The more science we can bring up here, the more we can know about mountain life. What happens on mountains has a lot of impact on social dynamics.

“This project is looking to see what is driving range expansion. Every mountain has its own context. In the Swiss alpine, fires are not a big factor, but fires are one of the biggest factors on our mountains. Some of our native and non-native species are therefore fire-driven, so as fire increases, you might have them spreading faster.”

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Kovsies proud of a gold PRISM Award for safety campaign

2015-05-05

Stefan Lotter, Leonie Bolleurs and Lacea Loader. All three are from the Departement of Communication and Brand Management at the UFS.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

The University of the Free State, takes pride in the gold PRISM Award (from the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa) for the B Safe Take Action safety campaign that has been rolled out on the campus since 2013 by the Department of Communication and Brand Management.

The campaign earned the Von H Brand Provocateur gold award in the internal communication category.

“The UFS is the only tertiary institution to receive a gold award. The award is a great honour for the department, considering the cream of South African public relations took part in the competition, and the standard was naturally very high. It was also a feather in the cap for us that the uniqueness of the campaign received national recognition from our peers in this manner, said Ms Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Brand Management at the UFS.

The university is responsible for about 32 000 students and 4 000 members of staff on its three campuses: the Bloemfontein and South Campuses in Bloemfontein and the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State. It is of cardinal importance for the university that its students, staff, and assets are safe.

Apart from safety measures that have been implemented by the UFS Protection Services, the B Safe Take Action campaign has also been rolled out on the three campuses of the UFS. The campaign supports the safety strategy of the university. It is aimed at developing a culture of safety awareness in students and staff alike. The purpose of the campaign is for staff and students to take ownership of their own safety. In addition, it creates awareness of the safety measures that are in place at the UFS.

The campaign has been rolled out on various communication platforms. These include placards, pamphlets, lamp-post advertisements, an advertisement board, emails, and messages on student communication portals such as Blackboard, the UFS web and intranet, social media, information boards in the campus parking areas and on the pedestrian walkways as well as messages on refuse bins around the campus. “The fact that a variety of communication platforms has been deployed, the striking design and character of the messages, and the number of target audiences that have been reached further contributed to the success of the campaign,” said Ms Loader,

The campaign also received a merit award from the International Association for Business Communication (IABC). The award will be presented on 15 June 2015 in San Francisco, USA.

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