In a 1941 picture‚ 13 of the conifers cling to a rocky outcrop at Skerpioenspoort in the Western Cape’s Cedarberg. By 2007‚ there were just four left.
University of Cape Town researchers led by Joseph White tracked down 87 old photos of cedars and meticulously re-created them.
Their findings supported the status of the cedar — full name Widdringtonia cedarbergensis — as “critically endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Plants.
The historical photographs contained 1313 live trees; the re-creations just 387. In research published in the journal BMC Ecology‚ White says there has been a “pronounced decline in the last 30 years”.
Identical photos taken 66 years apart graphically depict the threat to one of South Africa’s iconic trees‚ the Clanwilliam cedar.1941-Ken Howes-Howell. 2007-Timm Hoffman
Identical photos taken 66 years apart graphically depict the threat to one of South Africa’s iconic trees‚ the Clanwilliam cedar.
The two main culprits are more frequent fires and global warming‚ and White says: “Projected drying and temperature increases in the 21st century suggest that the species will be under increasing pressure.
“Urgent management interventions‚ including seedling out-planting in fire-protected high-elevation sites‚ reducing fire frequency in higher-elevation populations‚ and assisted migration‚ should be considered.”
– TMG Digital/The Times
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