Expert Talk – Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld – Exploration Biodiversity in Namibia and Angola

Exploration Biodiversity in Namibia and Angola
Expert Talk – Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld
Saturday 18 September – 13:00
Calitzdorp NG Church


This is a free event. No booking required.


 

Biodiversity investigation of 3 isolated mountain summits at 1400-2050 M elevation with emphasis on the succulent plants

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Ernst back to Vetplantfees. We are grateful to have his participation once again at our festival.

His talk will be extremely exciting for those who wonder about places that are hard to get to and for most of us impossibly out of reach. In April 2021, Ernst and 7 associated scientists from Namibia and Angola, were transported to the region by helicopter and proceeded to investigate the biodiversity of 3 isolated mountain peaks above 1400 -2050m. This includes Middleberg (part of Otjihipa Mountains), Serra Techamalinde & Serra Cafema (Angola). They produced a check list of the plants, some animals, & geology and for purposes of this talk on the succulent plants.
Join Ernst and the others as the adventure enfolds in the wilds of Western Africa.

Trip organizers: NUST – Namibian University of Science and Technology; SCION (Skeleton Coast, Iona Transfrontier National Park)


Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld has been interested in succulents since a young boy collecting and growing succulent plants. He has authored or co-authored more than one hundred succulent plant species. He is especially interested in the classification Gasteria and Aloe and other monocotyledonous succulents. His other interests include the Mesembryanthemaceae and Crassulaceae. He is a keen explorer regularly traveling to remote parts of South Africa, Angola and Namibia. Some of the expeditions include rubber canoe expeditions investigating remote river valleys. Ernst also regularly travels abroad and lectures on succulent plants. Ernst was a horticulturist at Kirstenbosch for more than 40 years. He built and curated the Botanical Society Conservatory. He was appointed extraordinary senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape in 2012. He is the author of more than two hundred articles (popular, semi-scientific and scientific) and several books. He is a keen explorer and for his latest study (cliff dwelling succulent plants), has visited cliff habitats throughout southern Africa.

Ernst has been at Babylonstoren since 2015 where he continues to build display gardens, green houses and educate the public about botanical things.