Award-winning scientist to head up the SAEON Ndlovu Node

Tony (left) was the winner of the second prize in last year’s SAEON Summit poster competition for students. Here he receives his prize from Prof Albert van Jaarsveld, former Chairman of the SAEON Advisory Board (Picture © Mitzi du Plessis)

On 1 January this year Tony Swemmer assumed duty as the new Manager of the SAEON Ndlovu Node in the savanna region of South Africa. Based at the SAEON offices at the Phalaborwa Access gate to the Kruger National Park and the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, he will be responsible for growing the Ndlovu Node on the solid foundation laid by his predecessor, Dr Dave Balfour.

Tony has just returned from the Colorado State University in the US where he worked on a PhD in Ecology. He says that his interest in nature conservation and environmental issues from a very young age has led him to study the natural sciences at university. His studies made him aware of the need for scientific research for the effective management of natural areas, and for solving broader environmental problems. This underpinned his desire for a career in ecological research and the application of such research.

After completing his BSc (Hons), Tony worked as an ecologist for the Thornybush Game Reserve, in the lowveld, where he gained experience in management and was exposed to the realities of conservation in the private sector. He then obtained his MSc in Botany from the University of Cape Town. For his PhD, he received a SANParks Fellowship in Plant Ecology, and an NRF scholarship for doctoral study abroad. And in a strange twist of fate perhaps, Tony was the winner of the second prize in last year’s SAEON Summit competition for students for his poster Evaluating the effect of rainfall on the above-ground net primary productivity of two South African grasslands using long-term data.

During his time in the USA, he conducted much of his research at a long-term ecological research (LTER) site, visited other LTER sites and became familiar with Canada’s EMAN programme. Tony’s research interests include all ecological disciplines, but particularly plant ecophysiology and plant-herbivore interactions. His MSc research investigated “grazing lawns” in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, while his research for his PhD dissertation dealt with grassland productivity and global climate change.

Tony’s liaison with scientists and students at a postgraduate level has given him a good grounding for the type of collaboration required for establishing long-term research and monitoring at the Node. Establishing collaboration with researchers active in the lowveld is something he sees as a priority in his new job. While ecological research in the Kruger National Park continues to grow, research in the rest of the savanna biome is less intense and often uncoordinated. Tony hopes to work with universities, as well as private and public bodies in the environmental field, to find and archive all existing environmental data for the savanna biome, and to facilitate new research in areas where rapid environmental change is not being monitored.

The new laboratory and other research facilities at the new SAEON offices at the Phalaborwa gate will provide a good starting point for expanding research in the area. In addition, Tony plans to expand the successful education outreach programme established by Dave. He feels that schools and the general public can contribute to collecting useful environmental data, which will in turn create greater awareness of growing environmental problems and encourage learners to take up careers in the environmental sciences.

Tony may be contacted at:
SAEON Ndlovu Node, Box 22, Phalaborwa, 1390, South Africa
Email: tony@saeon.ac.za Tel: +27 (13) 735 353