Craig Morris

• Lecturer at University of KwaZulu-Natal

Two of the oldest grassland experiments in the world began in 1950 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The Burning and Mowing Trial (BMT) tests how summer mowing and dormant-season burning or mowing regimes affect mesic grassland. The Veld Fertiliser Trial (VFT) examines how nitrogen, phosphorus fertilisers and lime influence grassland productivity,...

Black wattle (Acacia mearnsii De Wild.) is a key tree crop in South Africa, valued for its bark and timber, both of which contribute significantly to export revenue. Wattle bark harvesting begins with the rainy season in September and extends to May. During this time, harvested bark is transported to three processing facilities. The journey, which...

Online at: https://theconversation.com/southern-africas-rangelands-do-many-jobs-from-feeding-cattle-to-storing-carbon-a-review-of-60-years-of-research-254736

Forbs in South African mesic grasslands are ancient, numerous, and diverse, thriving with fires and light herbivory but declining under chronic, severe grazing and trampling. This study tested the hypothesis that repeated herbivory progressively weakens forbs by reducing their underground growth and storage capacity, ultimately threatening their pe...

Rangelands offer various goods and ecosystem services (ES) besides providing forage for commercial livestock production. An analysis of research published in the journals of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa from 1966 to 2023 revealed a widening focus on different consumptive and non-consumptive ES. While livestock remains the primary focus,...

This special issue commemorates the Grassland Society of Southern Africa's (GSSA) 60th anniversary, examining the evolution of rangeland science in the region over six decades. The collection highlights a significant shift from a narrow focus on forage production to a broader recognition of rangelands as multifunctional ecosystems providing diverse...

Forbs are a diverse component of grassy ecosystems, offering various vital ecosystem services while enhancing system resilience. However, herbaceous non-grass species are not routinely enumerated, nor their significance evaluated. We examined the extent to which grassland forbs have been considered by research published in the journals of the Grass...

Research trends in the journals of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) reflect a shift from viewing grasslands solely as grazing resources to recognising their broader ecosystem services (ES). Since 2003, mentions of ES have steadily risen, highlighting critical areas like carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable...

Forbs are important contributors to species diversity and ecosystem functions in low-latitude grasslands, where they support diverse herbivore communities and millions of people. Native forb assemblages tolerate disturbances and physiological stressors (fire, herbivory, drought, and frost) that together have shaped their exceptional functional dive...

Forbs are important contributors to species diversity and ecosystem functions in low-latitude grasslands, where they support diverse herbivore communities and millions of people. Native forb assemblages tolerate disturbances and physiological stressors (fire, herbivory, drought, and frost) that together have shaped their exceptional functional dive...

THE VALUE OF SURPRISES AND UNEXPECTED RESULTS IN SCIENCE "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny...’" (Isaac Asimov) We likely learn more from unexpected findings than from those that merely confirm our expectations. Surprising and puzzling results can jolt us awake, p...

Acacia mearnsii De Wild (black wattle) is one of the most important forestry crops in South Africa. The bark of this species contains high-quality tannins, while its wood is used for wood chips, charcoal and mining timber. One of the main problems faced by black wattle farmers is frost damage, thus there is an urgent need to develop frost-tolerant...

Namaqualand Granite Renosterveld is a fire-prone shrubland in South Africa and is dominated by Elytropappus rhinocerotis, an indigenous unpalatable shrub with encroaching properties. Using vegetation surveys, the study aimed to understand the effects of fire and grazing on the cover, density and plant species associations with E. rhinocerotis. Plan...

Non-symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacterial diazotrophs closely associated with the roots of grasses probably contribute most of the new nitrogen acquired to sustain productive natural grasslands, yet their ecology is poorly understood, especially in southern Africa. We looked for genetic evidence, using qPCR and gel electrophoresis, for the presence o...

Over the past decades, high-density, short-duration grazing (HDG) also known as regenerative grazing has become popular because of the contended benefits which include higher stocking rates, than the conventional rotational systems. This presentation will cover what is known about the long- and short-term impact of HDG on soils and vegetation compo...

Anticipating global change impact on natural vegetation, especially in poorly researched systems, requires an understanding of the environmental factors that most strongly influence the organisation of plant communities at different scales. The environmental relations of plant communities in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa remain poorly r...

Original article: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2022/13844 An error appears in the key (but not the data points) in Figure 3: the square symbol representing Sourveld should be depicted in orange, while the circle symbol representing Sweetveld should be depicted in green.

Global climate change is expected to favour bush encroachment and support higher but more variable herbage production in grassland. Another potential climate-related change that has largely been overlooked, especially in South Africa, is the ongoing, widespread, and insidious reduction in leaf nitrogen concentrations, which have declined globally b...

Mesic grasses in subtropical grasslands may be able to obtain fixed nitrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria (diazotrophs) associated with their roots. We detected the nifH bacterial gene, which codes for the nitrogenase enzyme in all 80 root samples of four local grasses, regardless of their nitrogen requirements. Fire seems to encourage root diazot...

We studied β diversity of grasses in a subtropical grassland over 60 years in South Africa. We examined the effects of burning and mowing on 132 large plots. We sought to determine the effects of burning and mowing, and mowing frequency, on the replacement of species and the species richness. We conducted the study at Ukulinga, research farm of the...

STOP THE STOMP! Here's the scientific evidence of why it's a bad idea to repeatedly trample grassland in a high-density stocking Holistic/Regenerative Grazing system.

A herbicide trial in a Highveld grassland revealed, serendipitously, a positive association between the root hemiparasite Thesium utile and the noxious weed Campuloclinium macrocephalum (pompom weed). The parasite was unable to survive in plots where the weed was selectively removed by hoeing, but persisted and increased in the untreated control. H...

Increasing atmospheric [CO2] is stimulating photosynthesis and plant production, increasing the demand for nitrogen relative to soil supply with declining global foliar nitrogen concentrations as a consequence. The effects of such oligotrophication on the forage quality of sweetveld, mixed veld, and sourveld grasslands in South Africa, which suppor...

The Gamka Karoo is a low-lying vegetation type in the semi-arid Nama Karoo in the south-western part of South Africa with extensive rangelands used for livestock ranching and wildlife. Although the Nama Karoo is generally resilient to grazing and most responsive to variable rainfall, chronic overstocking, particularly in the driest regions and arou...

Herbaceous monocots and dicots (forbs) in South African mesic grassland are ancient, numerous and diverse, outnumbering grass species 5-6 times. Forbs - many of which have underground storage organs (USOs) enabling regrowth - are maintained by disturbance from recurrent fires and light grazing but can be markedly diminished in number and richness b...

In Grassroots - the Bulletin of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa For full text, see: https://grassland.org.za/publications/grassroots/issues/march-2022

Non-symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacterial diazotrophs closely associated with the roots of grasses probably contribute most of the new nitrogen acquired to sustain productive natural grasslands, yet their ecology is poorly understood, especially in southern Africa. We looked for genetic evidence, using qPCR and gel electrophoresis, for the presence o...

Increasing atmospheric [CO2] is stimulating photosynthesis and plant production, increasing the demand for nitrogen relative to soil supply with declining global foliar nitrogen concentrations as a consequence. The effect of such oligotrophication on the forage quality of sweetveld, mixedveld, and sourveld grasslands in South Africa, which support...

Regenerative grazing management (ReGM) seeks to mimic natural grazing dynamics to restore degraded soils and the ecological processes underpinning sustainable livestock production while enhancing biodiversity. Regenerative grazing, including holistic planned grazing and related methods, is an adaptive, rotational stocking approach in which dense li...

Results of Nif gene copy number found associated with the roots of four mesic grassland species in two locations (n = 80).

The ecological and economical importance of African grasses in sustaining animal production prompted studies to quantify the wealth of grass genetic resources indigenous to southern Africa. Plant collection and occurrence data were extracted from two southern African datasets, BODATSA and PHYTOBAS, and analysed to establish biogeographical patterns...

Regenerative grazing management (ReGM) seeks to mimic natural grazing dynamics to restore degraded soils and the ecological processes underpinning sustainable livestock production while enhancing biodiversity. Regenerative grazing, including holistic planned grazing and related methods, is an adaptive, rotational stocking approach in which dense li...

Regenerative grazing management (RGM), one of the methods of the growing regenerative agriculture movement, seeks to mimic natural grazing dynamics to restore degraded soils and the ecological processes underpinning sustainable livestock production while enhancing biodiversity. Regenerative grazing, including holistic planned grazing and related me...

Grasslands are much more than just grass. Forbs (i.e., the non-graminoid herbaceous component) represent the largest proportion of total species- and functional richness in grassland ecosystems, which secure important ecosystem functions. Here, we present some highlights of only some of the important functions provided by this hyper-diverse plant l...

Nitrogen, a key element in all ecosystems including grasslands, is typically made available to plants through microbial decomposition of soil organic matter or by fixation of gaseous N by Rhizobium bacteria symbionts of legumes. Grasses are believed to obtain N primarily by the former pathway, less commonly via free-living N-fixing soil bacteria (d...

Many of the numerous herbaceous forbs that make up most (> 80%) of the species diversity of mesic grasslands in South Africa (> 650 mm a-1) are fire-adapted but grazing intolerant. These forbs can survive having all their exposed growth repeatedly removed by dry season fires or mowing because they have growth reserves buried in underground storage...

A possible mechanism to account for the demise of geophytic forbs in heavily stocked or frequently mown grassland was explored by assessing the link between frequent growing season disturbance of the shoots and leaves of forbs and the size of their USOs [underground storage organ].

Fire is a natural part of the life cycle and ecosystem of mesic grassland in South Africa. Photo: Kevin Kirkman Fire is a tool that livestock farmers must use wisely and carefully, argues Craig Morris, senior researcher at Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production.

Urban and agricultural land uses have the potential to severely compromise the quality of impoundments, if ineffectively managed and operated. A case in point is the upper uMngeni Catchment, including Midmar Dam, which is integral to the freshwater supply infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Monitoring sites were established in varying la...

Mesic grasslands in South Africa (> 650 mm a À 1 MAP) are rich in herbaceous forbs, which outnumber grass species by more than 5 to 1. Many of these forbs are geophytes with underground storage units (USOs), such as thickened rootstocks, rhizomes, bulbs, or corms, that provide resources (non-structural carbohydrates, minerals, and water) enabling t...

Themeda triandra has bigeniculate hygroscopic lemma seed awns that twist when wet and drying, thereby transporting the caryopsis across the soil surface into suitable germination microsites. The prediction that awns would be longer in drier grassland and have greater motility to enable them to move quickly and farther to find scarce germination sit...

Mesic grasslands in South Africa (> 650 mm a-1 MAP) are rich in herbaceous forbs, which outnumber grass species by more than 5 to 1. Many of these forbs have underground storage units (USOs), such as thickened rootstocks, rhizomes, bulbs, or corms, that provide resources (non-structural carbohydrates, minerals, and water) enabling them to resprout...

I I once came across two studies that stopped me abruptly in my cognitive tracks. Both studies showed that plants were not just passive recipients of the multitudinous goods and benefits that soil microbes provide to promote their growth (most importantly, nitrogen) and general health. Rather, plants are active cultivators of the microbial communi...

Marked tillers of Heteropogon contortus, Trachypogon spicatus, Tristachya leucothrix and Harpochloa falx were sampled regularly over a two-year period in Highland Sourveld burnt annually in winter and biennially in spring. Parameters recorded were height of shoot apex, tiller mass, number of new lateral tillers and time of flowering. Monitoring of...

The mesic montane grasslands of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, which produce cured flammable fuel, have evolved under and are sustained by recurrent fires. The Brotherton burning trial (12 replicated treatments) was established at Cathedral Peak (1 890 m asl) in 1980 to understand how burn season and frequency control the composition and diversity of...

Management options to maintain the stability of Drakensberg grasslands need to incorporate their dynamic nature in response to fire. This study addressed the lack of information on the spatial and temporal changes of these grasslands at a small (tuft) scale. The basal area of every tuft in three 0.25 m2 quadrats per replicate (3) of four burning tr...

Wetlands are increasingly exposed to human activities, resulting in degradation. As the wetland degrades, it loses functionality. In South Africa, wetlands can play an important water-regulating role. This study aims to establish the ecological condition of a historically utilised wetland on the Lions River floodplain in the uMngeni catchment, to p...

This work builds on the impressive research done by Darwin's son, Francis, in 1976 on understanding how hygroscopic awns of grasses work. I examined the benefit of having longer awns for the grass Themeda triandra for transporting seed across the soil surface to find a good burial spot.

The potential for forage accumulated during periodic long rests to provide valuable winter grazing for livestock in heavily stocked communal rangelands in sourveld was assessed. In a continuously-grazed commonage at Ntshiqo in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, we measured seasonal patterns of biomass accumulation and forage quality under a short seas...

Questions How consistent are assembly rules for grassland communities from different regions in response to management? We compared vegetation response using long‐term experiments in subtropical South Africa with published temperate Park Grass (U.K.) and Konza Prairie (U.S.A.) results. Location Ukulinga, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Methods Lon...

Themeda triandra has bigeniculate hygroscopic lemma seed awns that twist when wet and drying, thereby transporting the caryopsis across the soil surface into suitable germination microsites. The prediction that awns would be longer in drier grassland and have greater motility to enable them to move quickly and further to find scarce germination sit...

The importance of maintaining biodiversity in natural grasslands under livestock production systems has been recognised. Forbs contribute more to species richness than grasses in South African grasslands. However, little is known about the impact of grazing and grass competition on the population dynamics of forbs. The aim of this study was to dete...

Recently published research has shed some light on how forbs in two mesic grasslands in South Africa respond to grazing (Morris and Scott-Shaw 2019). The main results of this study are summarised and illustrated in this article in Grassroots (the Bulletin of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa). Online at: https://grassland.org.za/publication...

Forage accumulated during periodic long rests to compensate for overgrazing could provide valuable winter grazing for livestock in heavily stocked communal rangelands in sourveld where forage may be scare and of poor quality in winter. In a continuously grazed commonage at Ntshiqo in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, we measured seasonal patterns of...

The aim of this study was to determine the response of three forb species, Afroasterhispida, Gerbera ambigua, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, to defoliation and interspecific competition from a neighbouring dominant grass, Themeda triandra.

Mesic grasslands in South Africa harbour a diverse community of herbaceous perennial forb species that outnumber grass species by up to 5-6:1, provide various ecosystem services as well as forage for livestock, and are sensitive to overgrazing. However, despite their prevalence and ecological importance, the potential of forb species as grazing ind...

Full-text available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EHSQEHYY7FUJDVHEYARQ/full?target=10.2989/10220119.2019.1635208

Semi-arid to arid areas are prone to droughts which are frequent occurrences in South Africa’s rangelands. Drought can trigger plant species compositional changes in rangelands thus influencing the availability and quality of forage for livestock. The availability and quality of forage drives livestock production, especially among pastoralists who...

Access to good-quality forages is one of the major limitations to livestock production in semi-arid pastoral systems. This study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the nutritional quality of diets selected by herded and free-ranging goat and sheep flocks utilising Namaqualand Granite Renosterveld vegetation during the wet and dry s...

Creating and maintaining spatial heterogeneity in grassland is increasingly being regarded as important for providing multiple habitats for biodiversity, ensuring stable forage production, and increasing ecosystem resilience to disturbance. However, grazing systems that employ concentrated livestock herds at a high stocking density to, amongst othe...

The grasslands of the mountains in eastern Lesotho support large numbers of sheep, angora goats and other livestock during the summer, during which they are corralled nightly by herders at cattleposts. Few studies, however, have quantified the impact of grazing on the composition and structure of the mountain grasslands. Gradients of grazing and tr...

Plant performance is influenced by herbivory and competition. Therefore, plants need to tolerate these conditions for their survival. Grazing may affect competitive interactions within plant communities as it changes the competitive behavior of species by removing leaf material. This may result in different growth rates following a series of defoli...

Tolerance to herbivory is an important aspect of plant survival. However, few studies have investigated the ability of plants to grow following defoliation. Several studies have shown that herbivory affects relative abundance and species composition within communities. Plant communities respond to grazing in different ways and their response is aff...

High density, short duration stocking (aka HDG) is currently gaining popularity amongst farmers in the South African mesic grasslands, but little is known about its potential impact on the soils, vegetation composition and diversity, particularly the forbs. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of HDG with cattle on soil properties, vegeta...

Climate change will probably profoundly impact the Maloti Mountains in Lesotho, which are likely to have a warmer, wetter and more CO2-enriched (eCO2) atmosphere in the future. Intensive smallstock grazing could exacerbate the effects of climate change on the mountain grasslands. Vegetation composition data collected in ca. 1990 in the eastern and...

Livestock production is an appropriate land use for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation, but little is known about the impact of grazing strategies on forbs that contribute most species, in grasslands. This study compared the effects of high-density, short-duration stocking (HDG) with no grazing (control) on vegetation structure, composition an...

High-density, short-duration stocking (HDG) is gaining popularity amongst farmers in the South African mesic grasslands, but little is known about its potential impact on natural resources. Using a fence-line contrast approach, this study compared the long-term effects of HDG with those of other rotational grazing systems at lower densities (LDG) o...

Aim Salt‐marsh foraminifera are widely used as robust sea‐level indicators. High‐resolution Holocene sea‐level reconstructions depend on the accurate characterization of modern foraminifera‐environment relationships representative of a study site. We investigate the relationship between modern foraminiferal assemblage distribution and key environme...

The Succulent Karoo, one of two arid biodiversity hotspots in the world, is known for its high plant species richness, but little is known about the influence of topography and how it mediates the potentially deleterious effects of grazing. Changes in vegetation species composition, cover and species diversity were examined along piosphere gradient...

An ability to tolerate recurrent defoliation likely plays a role in the compositional shift from decreaser to increaser species with overgrazing of mesic grassland, but the grazing tolerance of local species has not been extensively studied. The growth response of two decreasers, three Increaser II grasses, and an Increaser III species to frequent,...

A long-term rangeland monitoring program needs to employ a field survey technique that is practicable, precise, powerful enough to distinguish change, not prone to worker bias, and able to distinguish real change from operator error arising from staff turnover. These criteria were used to evaluate a widely used grassland sampling technique in South...

Although indigenous to southern Africa, Pechuel-loeschea leubnitziae is considered a problematic weed as it forms dense monotypic stands in the grasslands and woodlands of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, and is associated with veld degradation and a dominance of shade-tolerant, poor-quality grass species. Generalised linear modelling was used to dete...

Forbs constitute over 80% of the species richness of mesic grassland but their response to grazing is largely unknown. The influence of grazing on the forb composition, richness and diversity of two species-rich grasslands in the coastal hinterland and midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was examined in plots subject to grazing intensities rang...

Extraneous DNA interferes with PCR studies of endophytic fungi. A procedure was developed with which to evaluate the removal of extraneous DNA. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) leaves were sprayed with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and then subjected to physical and chemical surface treatments. The fungal ITS1 products were amplified from whole tissue DNA extr...

Currently, the methods used to assess the veld condition of the Lambert's Bay Strandveld along the West Coast of South Africa require that the operator knows all the plants encountered in the survey area. In this study data were collected from several farms in the Lambert's Bay Strandveld to establish a degradation gradient from which a minimum num...

The interaction, both above and belowground, between tree saplings and the surrounding grass sward is dependent on solar radiation, temperature, rainfall, soil depth, tree species and sward composition. These factors, as well as level of sward defoliation, influence whether the system will remain as savanna or move towards a woodland or grassland s...

Based on a study for a master's dissertation, this article reports on an investigation of the information seeking behaviour of blind and visually impaired students. It investigated whether the services provided by the University of KwaZulu-Natal on its Pietermaritzburg campus (hereafter UKZN-PMB) accommodated the information seeking behaviour of...

The dry woodland and savanna regions of the Okavango Delta form a transition zone between the Okavango Swamps and the Kalahari Desert and have been largely overlooked in terms of vegetation classification and mapping. This study focused on the species composition and height structure of this vegetation, with the aim of identifying vegetation classe...

Soil seed banks provide not only a historical record of vegetation composition but also the potential for post-disturbance revegetation. Pechuel-Loeschea leubnitziae (wild sage) is a multistemmed, aromatic shrub, occurring in Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and the northern regions of South Africa, that colonises disturbed regions on sandy,...

The structure and composition of savanna vegetation is influenced by resource availability and disturbance. Grasses, a major component of savanna systems, influence the tree-grass balance by competing with trees for light, water and soil nutrients as well as providing fuel for fires. Overgrazing, and the ensuing decreased grass competition and fire...