How you can reverse local extinction

A reference habitat approach to landscaping

So much of required sustainability action seems disconnected from our everyday lives. There is so much debate in the media about what large-scale project or policy is going to move us towards a future that doesn’t involve significant planetary destruction.

As a company we often get asked; “what more can I do at my home or business to contribute, albeit in a small way, to regenerating biodiversity and reversing climate change? I don’t have the finances for an electric car, renewable energy or water system, of course I recycle, I try to buy less stuff I don’t actually need and am trying to eat less meat but surely there is more I can do as an individual?”

Yes there is. The focus of this article is how you can use the under-appreciated power of your garden or landscaped area to better the planet in a small but important way.

The wildlife garden

For those of us that have the privilege of having a garden around our homes or landscapes around our businesses we know the joy they can bring. That said many of these areas use a majority of exotic or even invasive species, this is a missed opportunity to create a microhabitat for indigenous species to thrive. Many of us choose plants due to their aesthetic appeal, their ease of maintenance and for practical purposes, such as a nice green lawn for the children to play on.?These are not bad reasons but in our opinion landscaping should rather be guided by the overarching question of how do I regenerate my area's locally indigenous biodiversity? Healthy indigenous ecosystems sequester more carbon than exotic ones and our native biodiversity is being threatened by urban development all the time. ?

As we know cities are radically changed from their original, high biodiversity vegetation types. Yet you would be surprised to find out how much wildlife still perseveres in our cities. We read in the news of large mammals, like a juvenile brown hyena, getting lost up the Jukskei river in Johannesburg. Of course what is more important to a functional ecosystem are the things you don’t usually see, insects, fungi, bacteria, these are the creatures that keep ecosystems functioning for the larger wildlife to thrive and the base of their food chains are usually always plants.

A reference habitat approach

So if plants are where we start how do we know which plants to plant. This is where we need to get a bit technical and introduce the term reference habitat. A reference habitat is a theoretical, comparative landscape, which becomes the target of ecological regeneration of a site. It differs from pre-development / original occupation models, which uses an ecological baseline that usually has already been influenced by human development and instead compares it to a site of pristine ecological condition. The reference habitat is usually the original, native vegetation type of a site but can be adjusted to factor in local abiotic and biotic conditions such as climate change or new large-scale ecological systems such as afforestation (planting a forest where a forest hadn’t been before). I mention afforestation because in Johannesburg we have reportedly one of the largest man-made forests in the world, in a city that was dominated historically by grassland.

So the reference habitat approach allows you to choose the indigenous vegetation type that would increase biodiversity, on your specific site, the greatest. So for example if you find yourself in the Joburg forest perhaps an indigenous temperate forest vegetation type may be more appropriate as your reference habitat than a grassland type. ?

Finding your reference habitat

Most of the time though your site’s original, native vegetation type will the best choice as your reference habitat. If you are struggling to find your original vegetation type you can use SANBI’s (South African National Biodiversity Institute's) online vegetation map at https://bgis.sanbi.org/MapViewer. ?

You will need to set up your online profile, choose the latest version of the National Vegetation Map, which at the time of writing is 2018. Open the map, which should open the image below.?

Zoom into where your site is located. Then click on the blue “I want to…” button near the left hand corner, and choose the “Find data on the map” tap and draw a rectangle over your site, as seen in the image below.

Under the Identify Results column on the left hand side you will see the button labeled VEGMAP2018_Final. Click on the arrow to display the vegetation types and potential reference habitat’s of your site. Hover over each vegetation type in the Identify Results column and you will see its extent highlighted on the vegetation map.

Plant the highest diversity of species you can

Once you have chosen your reference habitat you can follow this link -?https://bgis.sanbi.org/VegMap/Home to download a list of important species that are found in this vegetation type. Two documents are available for download, the button Taxa will download an excel spreadsheet of locally indigenous species while the Description button will download a word document describing important information regarding distribution, soils, landscape features, climate and conservation.

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An age old saying in ecological study is “diversity breeds diversity”. You want to try and plant the highest plant species diversity you can as many plants have specific relationships with pollinators, seed dispersal species and predators.

Not all the plants within your vegetation type will be available at commercial nurseries. Nurseries only stock species that have a consistent demand. However the continued use of a reference habitat approach will see nurseries grow a greater variety of area specific plants, if the demand for them can be increased. Always make sure you source your plants from reputable nurseries, that have grown their plants from seed or sustainably harvested cuttings. The illegal trade of indigenous plants is rife in South Africa so don’t buy plants that have been harvested directly from the wild. Another practice that should be avoided is the unnatural hybridising of indigenous plants. Rather buy species that would have naturally occurred in your area than species that have been unnaturally altered.

In is important to note that indigenous landscapes require ongoing maintenance especially in the early days of establishment where weeding is crucially important. Their aesthetic is also different as not many are ever green throughout the year. They more than make up for it though in the ecosystem they create and you will start to appreciate the change of season, colour and wildlife.

As any good gardener would tell you the joy of creating a landscape is a patient one so don’t give up the opportunity of being part of reversing local extinction in your area.

P.S. We have completed landscaping projects in the Critically Endangered vegetation type named Egoli Granite Grassland, which covers most of the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. If you would like the commercially available plant list (of 135 locally indigenous species) we have developed please don’t hesitate to contact us through our social media platforms to be sent this planting list.