In The Field: The Great African Seaforest
SHOW NOTES
Our journey begins on a bright, sunny morning in Kalk Bay, South Africa [3.33]. After making sure we have everything needed for a day at the ocean, we pack the car and head out to meet Jannes at the dive site. It’s about a twenty-minute drive – but we get distracted along the way. First, a playful troupe of baboons cause a traffic jam. Then, we have to pull over multiple times to investigate a potential whale sighting! It’s October, which means it’s migration season for both humpback and southern right whales. There has been a fair bit of activity over the last few days, so we’re very much on the alert – although this does mean our eyes play tricks on us from time to time.
We eventually make it to our destination and, just a little late, arrive to greet Jannes [5.35]. A quick survey of the dive site tells us that the conditions are almost perfect; low winds, flat seas, and the sunlight glistening off the very tops of the kelp that float on the surface of the water. We’re very lucky – the last couple of months have been terrible for diving. Vicious wildfires during the summer months burnt vegetation on the nearby hillsides, which was then followed by heavy rainfall. A lot of sediment was dumped into the ocean as a result, and visibility has been poor. “But now, the seaforest is slowly getting back to the place where…we enjoy it the most.” Jannes reassures us.
We begin to get kitted up, pulling on fins, masks and snorkels [8.14]. The water temperature is around 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit), which would usually mean donning a wetsuit to stay warm. But Jannes prefers to go without. “It’s that feeling of freedom…I realised I could be much more free in that water, rather than have all this equipment.” He explains. “So I like now to really be free. I often even go without fins, or sometimes just with a mask and snorkel and that’s it. That is actually my favourite thing to do.” This style of diving is something that Jannes was introduced to by his good friend and founder of the Sea Change Project Craig Foster, who is a big advocate for cold water immersion. It is a way to connect with nature, to really feel your surroundings and be present. And that is exactly what we’ll be practicing on this dive. Not just to observe and record species, but to be mindful. To hear the sounds of the kelp forest, and experience all the sensations of being surrounded by nature. It’s almost like forest bathing on land, except you’re underwater.
“It’s this amazing three-dimensional space where you can, quite safely, dive.” Says Jannes [11.26]. “When the sun is shining, there’s this amazing dappling of light that comes through the fronds of the kelp. And really underwater, it looks like a forest on land…the fish are basically the birds, and there are things floating through the air. And you can be like a little bird yourself, or a monkey, going through the crowns in the terrestrial forest. You can swim through it, and fly like a bird.”
But what exactly is kelp [12.26]? At first glance, kelp looks a lot like a plant. They appear to have three parts – roots, a stem and leaves. But, they are technically not plants. They are a large type of brown algae, which work in a similar way to terrestrial plants, but lack some of their complex structures. For example, rather than a root, the kelp has a holdfast – which anchors it to the rock or substrate that it sits on, but does not take up water or nutrients, like the roots of a tree would do. What looks like a stem is actually called a stipe – it’s strong and flexible to provide support. And, at the top, the kelp has long, ribbon-like fronds. Like leaves, these absorb and process sunlight to create food via photosynthesis, and have special gas-filled sacs to help them float towards the surface. So, while they’re not exactly like regular trees, kelp forests do have different layers, like a forest on land.
On our dive, we weave through the sun-dappled fronds, twist and turn among the stipes, and swim right down to the very bottom [14.10]. And, as we do so, we notice the animals that live there. Tiny sea slugs, or nudibranchs, and sea snails cling onto the ribbon-like fronds at the surface, and small fish hide in the canopy. Diving down the stipe you can see many more invertebrates living on it, many of which are specially adapted to live just there. And then there are the holdfasts anchoring the kelp to the rocky substrate. These unique, three-dimensional structures create lots of holes and hiding places for species to get shelter, and are whole communities in themselves.
Swimming through the kelp forests is something that’s hard to describe [16.00]. As Jannes said, it feels like you’re flying. But you are also met with a cacophony of sound. There is a constant, gentle crackling sound, accompanied by little whooshes and pops. It is the kelp’s own soundtrack, made by tiny shrimp and plankton, fishes and even the kelp itself, moving and breathing. The whole place is alive, brimming with life. “It’s a temperate ecosystem, which means that there’s a lot more nutrients available for animals to ingest and to use.” Says Jannes. “Overall, what the kelp plants are actually doing [is creating] this incredible three-dimensionality everywhere. And whenever there’s more complexity, there’s more space for biodiversity and for adaptation and for evolutionary processes to unfold.”
It’s difficult to know exactly how many species there are living in the kelp forest [17.30]. For example, what is a kelp forest species? There are many animals who visit the seaforest, but only temporarily. Humpback whales, for instance, do utilise the space, but only pass by on their migratory journeys. However, there are many more species who do live there all year round – in fact, there are species that can only be found in South Africa’s kelp forests. When a species is only found in one specific area, it is known as endemism. And South Africa has a relatively high number of endemic species. This means that if something happens to the seaforest, and those species are lost, then they are extinct. They are found nowhere else on earth. This is why it’s important to document and learn more about these species, something that Jannes and Craig are aiming to do with 1001 Seaforest Species.
“My main interest has always been invertebrate ecology and intertidal ecology” Says Jannes [21.49]. “Basically, what animals do and how they operate and how they function. How the ecosystem functions.” When Jannes first came to Cape Town to complete his masters degree, he realised that there was relatively little taxonomic knowledge about the species and diversity living within the kelp forests that fringed the coastline. “We’re still in that space where we often don’t know what the things that we find really are.” Jannes, and many of his friends and colleagues, are trying to build that foundational knowledge. “If nobody goes out and describes these species, then we don’t know that they exist.” Jannes stresses. “That’s why I’m still doing this. And it mustn’t just be me – we need a lot more. I’m trying to do this work so that we get more support for this sort of work in general, because it is so critical.”
With Jannes, we encountered lots of species on our dive that, ordinarily, I wouldn’t have noticed [25.33]. One of which was an unassuming little rockfish that came to rest on my fin as we took a break. Jannes told me it was something called a klipfish (Klipvis), a group of fish found in South Africa. Within this group is another group, the super klipvis, which has only been described recently. There are six species in this group, four of which are only found in the kelpforest. But, field guides currently describe them as only one. This is because individual Klipvis are so variable in colouration, making them very difficult to tell apart. Jannes and his friend Tess Attwood – who has been studying these fishes – believe that their behaviour is actually the way to tell species apart. “There is an actual ‘Super Klipvis’, which I think is the one that landed on your fin.” Explains Jannes. “For some reason, they like big rocks where they sit on top, and just perch. It’s the one that would swim onto your fin, and stay there.”
A happy hazard of spending so much time in the water is coming across species that are new to science [31.20]. They are not ‘new’ in the way that they have just evolved. It’s just that no-one has scientifically described them or given them a scientific name, which is a very involved process. It includes collecting the species from the wild, examining it, and most likely sending it overseas to an expert in that particular group of animals. As Jannes explains, taxonomists are often few and far between, and when they receive it, a number of tests, including genetic tests, may need to be done. The whole process can therefore take a very long time! But, Jannes has been able to find some species that are new to science. One is a tiny bivalve (the same group of animals that includes clams, oysters and scallops) that lives in between the spines of a heart urchin! It is only about 2-3mm in size, and has a muscular ‘foot’ that it can extend and wrap around the spines to anchor itself. Jannes and Craig just discovered it by chance, after Craig uncovered a heart urchin from the sand and Jannes examined it in detail. Not only that, but the urchin was also home to an undescribed species of amphipod and a scaled worm – the latter of which was likely the predator of the bivalve!
This is why documenting the seaforest and telling its story – and the stories of the animals that live within it – is so important [37.10]. The Sea Change Project, and within it, 1001 Seaforest Species, combine traditional biological research with observational tracking, nature documentary film-making and storytelling to connect a wider audience with this incredible environment. “Research on its own is only really relatable to people who can make sense of that story.” Says Jannes. “The majority of people on this planet don’t have any scientific background – but everyone has a story.
“There is of course an importance in telling the story in a way that is scientifically right – otherwise you’re teaching fiction! – but it also has to be relatable. And that’s why it’s important to have both.”
As we leave the water, peel off our wet gear, and warm ourselves up with a cup of tea, we reflect on our time among the kelp [42.40]. Something that has really stuck with me is the story of the bivalve, and the whole ecology of a single sea urchin. That one animal, no bigger than the palm of your hand, is not only a living organism but also an ecosystem in itself – an ecosystem within an ecosystem. Lose just that one animal, and everything else that lives amongst its spines is gone too. When faced with something as tall and towering as a kelp forest, it’s hard not to get lost in the macro-world. But all the tiny things matter too – even the ones we can’t see.
“The amazing thing about the 1001 Seaforest Species project is that: it’s everything. It’s all the small little animals, that together, build this big conservation story. Every species counts. And there are so many species out there that are yet to be discovered, and we know nothing about them, before they disappear.”
You can find out more about the 1001 Seaforest Species project here, and the Sea Change Project here. They are also on Instagram: @seachangeproject.
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Dr Jannes Landschoff
Dr Jannes Landschoff is a passionate marine biologist, crustacean specialist, ecologist, and naturalist. With a research affiliation at Stellenbosch University, Jannes provides the scientific foundation for Sea Change Project’s endeavours. He finds student supervision and capacity building integral to his work, actively mentoring a diverse group of students and their projects focused on kelp forest biodiversity.
Bridging academia and public awareness, Jannes fosters a deep connection with nature through scientific exploration and documentary filmmaking. His dedication and expertise contribute to a greater understanding of marine biodiversity, aiming for a meaningful impact on the scientific community and the general public.
As part of the 1001 Seaforest Species Project, Jannes strives to uncover the secrets of these remarkable organisms in the Great African Seaforest and inspire others to appreciate and protect this unique ecosystem.
You can read an article about the three newly described species from the episode in this article, authored by Jannes.
