Karoo BioGaps Field Trip February 2017

Plant Conservation Unit Masters student, Hana Petersen, and her co-supervisor Sam Jack spent another week sampling sites in the Eastern Karoo last week. She last visited her study in September 2016, you can read the article on her previous trip here.

The region, ranging from Colesberg, Middelburg and Cradock, comprises the most mesic part of the environmental gradient in Hana’s study. The pair was met with thundershowers and, consequently, muddy district roads and koppies. Even though a day of sampling had to be postponed due to weather conditions (it is not advisable to carry aluminium rods up a koppie during a thunderstorm), they welcomed the rain. The landscape was carpeted in green, with some impressive annuals showing their vibrant faces. Working in the heat of the day in the Karoo was challenging, but very rewarding and successful.

Hana's project forms part of SANBI's Karoo BioGaps project, aimed at filling biodiversity information gaps in the Karoo. Here are some photographs from their trip:

Everything carpeted in green

Example of a dolerite koppie/ridge with its adjacent plain

Stunning blooms of Ammocharis coranica (Karoo lily) were hard to miss against their green backdrop

~Article & photographs supplied by Hana Petersen