| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Biosystematics Division, ARC Plant Protection Research Institute, P. Bag
X134, Queenswood, Pretoria 0121, South Africa
2 Directorate Plant Health, Department of Agriculture, P. Bag 14, Gezina
0031, South Africa
*
Correspondence: Isabella H. Rong,
RongI{at}arc.agric.za
 |
Abstract |
|---|
 TOP Abstract WHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
The collection was established in 1905, when South Africa was still a British colony. The vision and hard work of the earlier scientists associated with it paved the way for the establishment of a number of present-day national research bodies. One of these, the Plant Protection Research Institute, is currently the custodian of the collection. Over time activities at PREM were influenced by socio-economic and political events, and most recently, the South African government's commitment to international biodiversity initiatives. Although the basic goals and needs to maintain PREM remained intact throughout, various phases in terms of research focus can be recognised over the past century. In the early days the emphasis was on collecting and recording of fungi, then pioneering research was done on mycotoxins and later there was an increased demand for public-good services and innovation. Since the 1980's sophisticated molecular techniques have aided in the discovery of true phylogenetic relationships of fungi, a fundamental field of systematics, that was previously impossible to explore by any other means. Against these advances, the value of reference collections is often questioned.
New technologies should, however, not be pursued in isolation from other relevant factors. Improvement of agricultural practices, knowledge sharing and the protection and conservation of biota will always be important. Even so, the success and future of natural history collections depends on continued support from governing bodies, appreciation for our biological heritage and on inputs from the scientific community.
Keywords Biosystematics / history / National Collection of Fungi / natural history collection
|
WHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS? |
|---|
|
TOPAbstractWHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
In fungi, the true identity of the organism can be fully captured only in an actual sample of that organism. To confirm the identity of any fungus on which research is published, it is necessary to preserve reference material. Type material and other voucher specimens must be carefully preserved in a reputable reference collection, where they are available for study by the international scientific community. Living fungi are increasingly used to develop new technologies, and they are important in research and teaching. Conditions for the maintenance of fungi must therefore prevent morphological, physiological or genetic changes while preserving the ability of the fungus to grow when again placed in suitable conditions. Reference collections also reflect the biodiversity of the region that they represent, and contain a wealth of information – such as the range of hosts or substrates on which a particular fungus can be found, where it occurs in that region, and the conditions under which it prospers. It is fully justified, then, to regard a National Collection of Fungi as part of a country's natural history and heritage.
|
HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION |
|---|
|
TOPAbstractWHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
Early collectors: visiting explorers and pioneering residents
A publication by Pole Evans
(1916), referring to the eras
before and after Darwin, provides details and insights into the development of
mycology in South Africa before his time. Botanical explorers from Europe were
the first to collect southern African fungi for scientific study, venturing to
the subcontinent in the late 1700s. The earliest recordings of fungi include
the flamboyant fly agaric Amanita muscaria (L.) Lam. collected by
Carl Thunberg in the vicinity of Cape Town
(Doidge 1950). This mushroom
was thought to have been brought here as a mycorrhizal associate of trees
imported from Europe. Thunberg also gathered the first record of a plant
pathogen on an indigenous host in South Africa, the conspicuous ascomycete
Corynelia uberata Fr. on a yellow-wood tree, a species of
Podocarpus (Knox-Davies
1977). The earliest detailed account of such efforts appeared in
1843 as M.J. Berkeley's Fungi collected by Herr Zeyher in Uitenhage
(Pole Evans 1916).
In the mid-1800s resident-collectors such as John Medley Wood (Fig. 1) were the first to systematically preserve specimens for taxonomic study. Medley Wood settled in Natal in 1852. He and Peter MacOwan (Fig. 2), a teacher who arrived in Grahamstown in 1861, compiled sets of Fungi austro-africani for overseas herbaria (Doidge 1950). Duplicates of many of these specimens remained in the country. MacOwan and Medley Wood obtained the collaboration of renowned British and European mycologists such as K. Kalchbrenner and F. von Thümen, who started publishing on South African fungi by 1875 (Pole Evans 1916). Other less extensive collections were made by the visiting collectors C.F. Ecklon, C. Zeyher, J. Niven, W.J. Burchell, S. Garside, J.F. Drège, J.A. Wahlberg, W.M. Quinzius, F. Kraus, W.H. Barvey, Miss Amstrong (no initial mentioned by Doidge 1950), H. Wawra, A. Tellinck, A.E. Eaton, and Dr Hooker (no initials offered by Doidge 1950), as well as P. Bachmann.
|
Destruction of agriculture during the Anglo Boer war: the start of the National Collection of Fungi
The second Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902, followed by a period of
droughts, brought widespread hardship to South Africa (Lantern
1955,
1960). Apart from the drought,
agriculture had been profoundly influenced by the British so-called
"scorched earth" policy during this war
(Pretorius 1985). The British
destroyed farms, killed livestock, burned crops and removed civilians from
their land to concentration camps in an effort to contain the guerilla tactics
of Boer soldiers (Pretorius
1985). After the war, the British started reconstruction of the
country. A large amount of money was committed to resettling farmers, and they
were supplied with implements and seeds to rebuild their farms
(Anonymous 1915,
Pretorius 1985).
Pole Evans was the first mycologist officially appointed by the British colonial authorities and his appointment was the first official recognition of mycology as a distinct branch of research in the country (Anonymous 1915, Bottomley 1929). Pole Evans in 1905 became the Head of Mycology and Plant Pathology in the newly established Transvaal Department of Agriculture, and Chief of the Division of Botany for the whole of South Africa (Pole Evans 1916). In the same year he established a plant-pathological reference collection, thus initiating today's National Collection of Fungi. He began to catalogue fungi on cultivated and indigenous plants and published more than 25 papers on this subject (Doidge 1950).
Before 1905 the only fungal collections available to Pole Evans were those of MacOwan and Medley Wood, comprising 765 specimens. At that stage, the MacOwan material was housed in the Albany Herbarium in Grahamstown, the South African Museum in Cape Town and the Natal Herbarium in Durban (Pole Evans 1916). Subsequently, various small collections of fungi were started around the country: the collections of P.A. van der Bijl (Fig. 4) at the University of Stellenbosch, that of Len Verwoerd at the Stellenbosch-Elsenburg College of Agriculture, the collections of J. Medley Wood in the Natal Herbarium and that of A. Duthie at the Bolus Herbarium in Cape Town, while the Timber Research Laboratories collections were kept at the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg, and there were collections of South African fungi housed in several European herbaria.
|
|
The very competent Pole Evans soon became the Chief of the Division of Plant Industry and had to direct research in an amazing diversity of agricultural fields (Gunn & Codd 1981). He also initiated publications such as the Botanical Survey Memoirs in 1919, Flowering Plants of South Africa in 1920 and Bothalia in 1921 (Gunn & Codd 1981). Under his leadership, research on the plant sciences in the Department of Agriculture greatly expanded (Gunn 1971). His rapidly escalating administrative duties meant that by 1929, however, he was not able to continue his mycological work (Bottomley 1929, Doidge 1950).
Ethel Mary Doidge: rapid expansion of the collection
Appointed on probation in 1908 to assist Pole Evans, Ethel M. Doidge
(Fig. 7), like her chief, had a
far-reaching impact on South African mycology
(Fourie pre-1970). Later
employed as Principal Plant Pathologist of the Phytopathological Section in
1929 (now the Mycology Unit), she became the successor to Pole Evans and apart
from specialists in other disciplines, the cryptogam collection then had a
complement of three mycologists (Doidge
pre-1945). Under Doidge's direction the collection rapidly grew
(Fig. 8): she made numerous
collecting trips often under extremely difficult circumstances
(Fig. 9), exposed to personal
danger, as well as obtaining many sets of named duplicate specimens from
international authorities. Reference material identified in collaboration with
overseas mycologists provided her an essential research base and this still
forms a substantial part of PREM.
|
|
|
Doidge's vision was not limited to collecting. She firmly believed in the value of basic research, stating in her "Scope of the Phytopathological Section" that only a thorough knowledge of indigenous and exotic organisms would allow optimal utilization of the natural resources of South Africa, and that this goal was not possible without fundamental research (Doidge pre-1945). She used the work of Pasteur and Mendel to support her statements. During the 1940's the science of plant pathology was applied almost entirely to diseases caused by fungi: consequently the term "plant pathology" was practically synonymous with "fungus disease of plants".
Her contribution to mycology spanned some 40 highly productive years until she retired in 1942 (Gunn 1967). Although her legacy includes over 100 semi-popular papers relating to plant disease, she is best remembered for her contribution to systematic mycology. She published 30 major works covering a wide range of fungi, including rusts, powdery mildews, sooty moulds, pythiaceous fungi, Ascomycetes, the genera Fusarium and Synchytrium, as well as checklists of plant pathogens of South Africa (Gunn 1967). Four years after official retirement, Doidge (Fig. 10) completed her monumental treatise, The South African fungi and lichens to the end of 1945 (Gunn 1967). This comprehensive scientific catalogue is prefaced by a detailed history of the development of mycology on the subcontinent, and of the people involved. Although it was based on records in the cryptogam section of the National Herbarium, it includes data from other South African collections. The most notable were those of Edith Stephens, Augusta Duthie, Alice Pegler, the South African Museum, the Stellenbosch-Elsenburg College of Agriculture phytopathological material assembled by Len Verwoerd and B.J. Dippenaar, the Timber Research Laboratory fungi from mining timbers, rust fungi from M. Pole Evans née Thomson, and V.A. Putterill, helminthosporic fungi, and fungi associated with fruit decay from V.A. Putterill, fungi attacking locusts and other insects from E.E. Shaefer and S.H. Skaife, numerous plant pathogens and Polyporaceae, larger fungi from W.G. Rump, and various other ad hoc collections from G. Joubert, L.C.C. Liebenberg, A.O.D. Mogg, S.J. du Plessis and J.P.H. Acocks. Among Doidge's colleagues in Pretoria were Paul A. van der Bijl, known for his pioneering work on polypores or bracket fungi, Averil M. Bottomley, who documented South African Gasteromycetes, and V.A. Wager, who investigated pythiaceous plant pathogens (Doidge 1950).
|
Although local researchers, such as those mentioned, described and named increasing numbers of fungi, much was still done in co-operation with European, British and American collaborators such as Sydow in Berlin, E.M. Wakefield at Kew, and C.G. Lloyd, the notoriously eccentric American (Bottomley 1929). With Pole Evans retiring from active service in 1939 and Averil Bottomley soon after Doidge had completed her catalogue (Gunn & Codd 1981), a momentous era marked by extensive collecting and recording of South African fungi ended around 1940.
Patric Henry Brabazon Talbot: fungal systematics versus plant pathology
During the period 1940 to 1960, the intense recording of fungal diversity
made way for the first exclusively systematic mycological studies, and also
marked the time that plant pathology grew in prominence.
The first purely systematic mycologist at PREM was P.H.B. Talbot (Fig. 11), appointed in 1940. After doing war duty, Talbot served as liaison officer at Kew until 1948 and then became head of the Mycology Unit (MU) (Gunn & Codd 1981). During the twenty-odd years that Talbot spent at PREM, he greatly strengthened the status of systematic mycology by creating enthusiasm for the subject, and shaping the minds of up-coming mycologists. A student at that time and later the mentor of a significant number of staff members at PREM, Konrad van Warmelo (Fig. 12) often visited Talbot in his spare time. Largely shaped by Talbot's approach to fungal systematics, Van Warmelo later took up a position at the MU but soon moved on to become Professor of Mycology at the Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg). Talbot's book written in 1971, "Principles of fungal taxonomy", became the formal prescribed text used by Van Warmelo. Van Warmelo became the mentor of E. van der Linde, I.H. Rong, M. van Reenen and C. Roux, all of whom were later employed at PREM. In 1960 Talbot left South Africa for a post at the Waite Institute in Australia but not before he completed his pioneering monographic work on South African resupinate and stereoid Hymenomycetes. The second edition of "Principles of fungal taxonomy" had failed to materialise because Dr Talbot died in 1980 (Van Warmelo 1990).
In contrast to Talbot and working in the same period, Eric E. Schaefer provided the plant-pathological element that became very prominent during the 1960s and 1970s and which is still prevalent today. He started his career at PREM in 1934, reporting to E.M. Doidge. This self-taught plant pathologist (educated as a zoologist) was deeply appreciated by fellow scientists, amongst them Talbot's successor G.C.A. van der Westhuizen. Schaefer's enthusiasm for his subject was immense. Late in his career he also moved on from PREM, to join the Horticultural Research Institute at Roodeplaat, near Pretoria.
Government restructuring: the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI) and biosystematic services
Some important events at PPRI, an institute established in 1962,
illustrated two major insights gained from this period in the history of PREM:
firstly, the strategic importance of biosystematic services and, secondly, the
value of interaction and collaboration between scientists.
With the proclamation of the Republic of South Africa in 1960, government departments were extensively reorganised. One result of this restructuring was the merger of the former Divisions of Plant Pathology and Entomology of the Department of Agriculture in 1962 to form the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI). The first director of PPRI was the renowned J.E. Vanderplanck (Fig. 13). The plant pathologist G.C.A. van der Westhuizen (Fig. 14) was appointed in 1947 and became the head of a group of three, making up the MU. Numerous investigations, mostly of an applied nature, faced van der Westhuizen and his small team. Amongst many other activities, the unit was asked to assist in the identification of a severe outbreak of rust on Populus deltoides grown for the production of matches, in Natal. The causal fungus, Melampsora laricis-populina Kleb., had not previously been recorded in South Africa. Grégoire Hennebert in Belgium confirmed the identification.
At first Van der Westhuizen only had the reference work of Doidge (1950) and specimens in the collection as aids to perform identifications. There was a critical lack of systematic knowledge at the unit and van der Westhuizen left the country to spend time with Mildred Nobles at the Plant Research Institute of Agriculture in Canada. There he had the privilege to work with 12 other mycologists and shared facilities with two post-doctoral fellows, Bryce Kendrick and Grégoire Hennebert. The particular office he occupied was previously that of Bob Shoemaker, the expert on Helminthosporium Link.
Back in South Africa, in 1974 an outbreak of maize southern leaf blight required his urgent attention. The much-feared disease caused by Bipolaris maydis (Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake) R. Shoemaker (then Helminthosporium maydis) was identified in Mpumalanga, the eastern part of the area previously known as Transvaal. The fungus identified at the MU was sent to M.B. Ellis at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute (now the International Mycological Institute) who confirmed the identification. The Secretary for Agricultural Technical Services was informed about the outbreak and briefed about the implications to the maize industry. Extensive meetings with government officials and other role players resulted in the withdrawal of all breeding lines containing the Texas type cytoplasm (male sterility) from the maize breeding programme. The use of this maize type was prohibited in South Africa. This judgment was deemed drastic and caused considerable disruption in the maize breeding programme as well as losses for some seed dealers, but in the end, the maize industry and the country as a whole benefited. The fast, accurate identification and the knowledge provided were indispensable to manage the disease.
Collaboration and applied research
In 1962 the fungus collection was separated from the National Botany
Herbarium (PRE), with which it had always had close links, and largely became
alienated from mainstream herbarium activity. Its last full-time curator was
Beatrice Louwrens, assistant in the mycology section from 1931 until she
retired in 1969 (Gunn & Codd
1981). The Division of Botany, which had become the Botanical
Research Institute (now the National Botanical Institute), moved to new
buildings in the Pretoria National Botanic Gardens in 1973.
Due to the demand for expertise, the scientific capacity at the MU had to be expanded. The government of the time also introduced a new concept to research, namely management through projects. Two mycologists, Konrad van Warmelo and Wally Marasas (Fig. 15), were appointed to a project entitled The mycobiota of stock-feeds. Numerous stock feed- and mycotoxin-related investigations followed. Most noticeable were the studies on the fungus Phomopsis leptostromiformis (J.G. Kühn) Bubák (Van Warmelo et al. 1970), Pithomyces chartarum (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) M.B. Ellis (Marasas & Schumann 1972, Kellerman et al. 1980, Roux 1986) and Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg (Kellerman et al. 1972, Marasas et al. 1976).
Wally Marasas from the MU, Fanie Kellerman (who held a degree in plant pathology and is a qualified veterinarian) from the Toxicology Section at Onderstepoort, in collaboration with the chemists Piet Steyn and Robert Vleggaar at the then National Chemistry Research Laboratory at the Centre for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR), became a formidable team in mycotoxin research. This multidisciplinary team of mycologists, veterinary toxicologists and organic chemists, subsequently gained international recognition as leaders in the field. They diagnosed, amongst others, leukoecephalomalacia of horses feeding on maize cobs, a disease previously only known from New Zealand and Australia, did the ground work for resolving lupinosis and discovering the structure of phomopsin A, for establishing the aetiology of tremorgenic diseases caused by mycotoxins of Aspergillus, and started research on facial eczema of sheep.
In July 1970, a well-known disease in the veterinary literature, leukoencephalomalacia, caused extensive losses of horses just outside Potchefstroom. At that time the cause of this devastating disease was unknown; for some years it had caused the death of thousands of horses in the United States, Egypt, China and other places. Research by Marasas and the rest of the team over an 18-year period discovered that the causal organism is F. verticillioides. The compound responsible was isolated at the Medical Research Council where Marasas continued his work from 1975 onward, and was finally resolved in 1988 when it was chemically characterised with the help of Robert Vleggaar at the CSIR. This compound was named fumonisin, subsequently shown to occur all over the world in maize, and containing 28 carcinogens. The work started by Marasas at the MU established him as a world expert on mycotoxins and the diagnosis of Fusarium species. The difficulties experienced with diagnosing fumonisin-producing Fusarium species highlighted the need to continually develop new and better diagnostic methods.
On departing to the Medical Research Institute in 1975, Wally Marasas handed over the investigations of facial eczema, a major disease called `geeldikkop' of sheep to Cecilia Roux who had joined the staff as a technician. Within three weeks, Roux made a breakthrough in isolating the fungus Pithomyces chartarum on Tribulus terrestris. The work continued until, in 1979, feeding trials by Dr Kellerman illustrated the production of sporidesmin in P. chartarum cultures isolated from T. terrestris. From trials conducted at the Onderstepoort veterinary facility, the aetiology of the disease was finally demonstrated. Unfortunately, similar fruitful collaboration would soon become more difficult due to competition between the various research councils that were subsequently established, as Marasas had foreseen (1990).
Even though the MU developed a significant reputation as a mycology centre of expertise, research had significantly veered away from biosystematics. In-depth taxonomic studies lost ground to plant pathology (van der Westhuizen 1977, 1978, van der Westhuizen & Holtzhausen 1980) and other applied problems (Van Warmelo 1967, Kellerman et al. 1980, van der Westhuizen et al. 1985), a trend that was to continue for several years.
According to Van der Westhuizen (1990), a number of mycologists were appointed to attend to problems of an applied nature, some leaving the MU for various unrelated reasons only after short periods of service. Even so, this period was characterised by good liaison with workers at South African universities as well as other institutes of the Department of Agriculture and its regional offices. Hettie Greyling née Bezuidenhout worked on fungi from Cenchrus ciliaris pastures; Cecilia Roux on the distribution of Pithomyces chartarum; Alice Baxter (Fig. 16) received the Junior Captain Scott medal from the South African Biological Society for her M.Sc. on Colletotrichum; Alistair Thompson surveyed the diseases of lucerne and studied Pythium, Phytophthora and other root-rotting fungi; and Mike Holtzhausen researched sunflower diseases and seed-borne pathogens. As a research fellow from Scotland, Jim Deacon joined De Buys Scott, then also at the MU, and worked on root-inhabiting fungi of maize and wheat. George Herd, who had been head of Plant Protection in Zimbabwe, joined the staff to work on seed treatments for the prevention of seed-borne fungi. In 1983, Alan Phillips from the United Kingdom joined the MU to work on Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary and its control since there was a vast outbreak of this fungus on various crops in the country. Rupert Anelich started a survey of Fusarium. There was a steady flow of papers from the Unit but a very low growth in the collection. For approximately 12 years following Van der Westhuizen's retirement in 1984, activities continued in the same manner.
Systematics gains new impetus
The PREM collection showed little growth between the late 1960's to the
early 1980's (Fig. 1) due to
research veering away to more applied issues
(Eicker & Baxter 1999).
After his retirement, Van der Westhuizen
(1991) eloquently stated that
taxonomic research had become endangered because its economic and scientific
importance is underestimated. Ironically, it was precisely the availability of
biosystematic expertise at PREM and the multidisciplinary approach that had
made the high quality research done during that period possible.
In the 1980s biosystematics slowly started to move back to a prominent position on international and national agendas (du Plessis 1984). Concerns about conservation and environmental protection precipitated an international rethinking of biological research. A General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) passed resolutions in 1973, 1979 and 1982 calling on governments to strengthen taxonomy and to provide infrastructure for the training of taxonomists (du Plessis 1984). The South African government supported these trends and committed itself to international initiatives such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, promulgated in 1992, and the International Plant Protection Convention (Environmental Conventions 2005). At the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI), taxonomy also gained impetus when in 1984 the MU and PREM become an integral part of the restructured Institute, then still part of the National Department of Agriculture. Shortly before this restructuring and due to dwindling support for the collections, an initiative by Cecile Roux (Fig. 17) saw the start of a culture collection. Fellow researchers were encouraged to deposit voucher material (Baxter 1986 & 1990, Baxter & Rong 1992). The culture collection (official acronym PPRI) was affiliated to the World Federation of Culture Collections and the name National Collection of Fungi (NCF) replaced Mycology Herbarium as a more accurate reflection of the status of the collections. Guidelines were published regarding submission, identification and loan of specimens (Baxter et al. 1991). The success of these moves can be gauged by the subsequent increase in accessions (Fig. 1).
At that stage, with the exception of the W.G. Rump collection of larger fungi of Natal at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and an unknown number of specimens in European collections (Wakefield 1936a,b,c), all major South African fungal specimens were drawn together at the NCF. Some 40 % of PREM's holdings also comprise foreign exsiccatae obtained at the start of the collection, as a reference base from renowned early 20th century mycologists (Baxter 1994). This makes PREM a valuable source of scientific material and biological information. The views supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is that type specimens be regarded as part of a nation's cultural heritage and that such specimens must be deposited in their country of origin (Sigler & Hawksworth 1987). The removal of specimens from the country of origin is a practice that still continues today, however, in contravention of this rule.
New initiatives
During the late 1980's to mid 1990's, activities at PREM were significantly
influenced by political events in South Africa
(Agricultural News 1990). The
changes were directly related to the first democratic national elections and
the advent of political freedom in the country. In 1992, three years before
this milestone event in South African history, PPRI together with a number of
other institutes from government departments, was transferred to the
autonomous corporate Agricultural Research Council (ARC). This brought about a
move away from the old Civil Service dispensation to market-driven activities.
Incorporation of the NCF together with the National Collections of Arachnids,
Insects and Nematodes, into the Biosystematics Division of PPRI, reaffirmed
our original strategic needs-driven functions: provision of identification-
and information services and directed biosystematic research backed by
representative reference collections.
Rapid changes in management structures, directives for agricultural research and a cut in parliamentary grants, however, severely impeded the continuation of meaningful research. Increasingly the MU had to express its functions in a more generally marketable form, culminating in the presentation of various training courses (see ARC web page <http://www.arc.agric.za>) and the expansion of diagnostic and information services. Training is provided in the form of courses, training manuals (Staff of the National Collection of Fungi 1994, Baxter & van der Linde 1999) and support to formal students in the form of experiential training and internships provided by the National Department of Science and Technology (DST). Demand for such training comes from countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Universities, ARC institutions, national and provincial government departments, and industry.
Within the developing countries of southern Africa, and the sub-Saharan
region, PPRI has become recognised as a major source of biosystematic
expertise and highly relevant reference material
(Jones 1995). The significance
of the collection can be measured, in part, by the accession and loan rates
from PREM (Fig. 18). Annually,
on average 60 specimens are sent out for research purposes. During the past 15
years specimens were sent not only to various institutions in South Africa,
but also internationally, to destinations such as Argentina, Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Norway, the People's Republic of China,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States
of America. In the same period the collection grew by 17 %. The most
significant contributions of foreign material to PREM in the past decade have
been a donation of Czechoslovakian Polyporaceae, collected by P.
Vampola, and nearly 1000 duplicate specimens of smut fungi from across the
world, received from K. Vank
, Germany. The most notable submissions of
South African fungi, made by mycologists not currently employed by the
Mycology Unit, were those of basidiomycetous fungi. These were donated by
G.C.A. van der Westhuizen (post retirement) and F. Wolfaardt in 1995.
Noteworthy contributions of fungi from indigenous plants, isolated from
members of the Proteaceae, were received from P.W. Crous and J.E.
Taylor. The conspicuous number of accessions in 1995
(Fig. 8) was indicative of the
approximately 700 specimens received from the South African Museum (SAM)
collection in Cape Town. This action finally consolidated the available South
African material collected by P. McOwan and preserved in PREM. In addition,
extensive contributions of various plant-pathogenic ascomycetous fungi, mostly
pathogens of forestry trees, of the genera Cercospora and allied
fungi, notably Leptographium, Mycosphaerella and Ophiostoma,
have been received from M.J. Wingfield, P.W. Crous and their students since
1995.
|
The South African government is still the largest client of the ARC and as such our activities are being guided by National Science Policies. These policies include the seven Presidential Imperatives (rural development, job creation, regional integration, urban renewal, human resource development, HIV/AIDS, and crime prevention), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and the directive of the ARC's line Department, namely the Department of Agriculture (DoA). A good example of the strategic services provided to government came about with the report by Crous et al. (2001) of the first appearance of the smut disease Karnal Bunt in South Africa. The PPRI MU became the only recognised laboratory that the Department of Agriculture permitted to analyse wheat samples for this disease. Subsequently, the MU has participated in the annual National Karnal Bunt Survey (KB) on a contract basis, and by the end of the 2004/2005 wheat growing season, had processed a total of 9300 samples (O'Brien & Rong 2005). As a consequence, the disease could be prevented to spread in South Africa.
Currently, the NCF is involved in exciting, new national and international initiatives in the fields of systematics, biodiversity, conservation and bioinformatics: international partnerships include the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, see SABIF <www.sabif.ac.za>), the Barcode of Life and BioNet-International, a global technical cooperation network concerned with biosystematics of invertebrates and microorganisms. Participation in national initiatives includes the Agricultural Geo-Referenced Information System (AGIS, <www.agis.agric.za>), the South African Biodiversity Initiative (SABI) and inputs to the initiatives of the newly formed South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
|
CONCLUSION |
|---|
|
TOPAbstractWHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
|
CHRONOLOGY |
|---|
|
TOPAbstractWHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
Acronyms and abbreviations used are the following:
|
Acknowledgments |
|---|
|
References |
|---|
|
TOPAbstractWHY KEEP REFERENCE COLLECTIONS?HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCONCLUSIONCHRONOLOGYReferences |
|---|
Anonymous (1915). The Department of Agriculture of the Union of South Africa -A short account of its history organization and activities. The Government printers and Stationery Office, Pretoria.
Agricultural News (1990). Numbers 23, 29, 37, 39 & 42. Directorate of Agricultural Information, Pretoria.
Ainsworth GC (1981). Introduction to the history of plant pathology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Baxter AP (1986). The National Collection of Fungi. South African Journal of Science 82: 348.
Baxter AP (1994). Past, present and prospective activities: Mycology Unit, PPRI. In: Proceedings of the 13th Plenary Meeting AETFAT Malawi (Seyani JH, Chikuni AC eds) 1:687 –695.
Baxter AP, Anelich RY, Roux C, Phillips AJL (1991). National Collection of Fungi: Policy and guidelines Regarding submission, identification and loan of specimens. Department of Agricultural Development, Pretoria.
Baxter AP, Rong IH (1992). What's in a (correct) name? Plant Protection News 28: 9.
Baxter AP, Van der Linde (ed.) (1999). Collecting and preserving fungi: A manual for mycology. SAFRINET of BioNET-INTERNATIONAL and The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Isteg Scientific Publications, Irene.
Bottomley AM (1929). The development of South African mycology and of the mycological herbarium at Pretoria. South African Journal of Science 26:326 –331.
Crous PW, Van Jaarsveld AB, Castlebury LA, Carris LM, Federick RD, Pretorius ZA (2001). Karnal Bunt of wheat newly reported from the African continent. Plant Disease 85: 561.
Doidge EM (pre-1945). Scope of the Phytopathological Section. Division of Plant Industry, Pretoria.
Doidge EM (1950). The South African fungi and lichens to the end of 1945. Bothalia 5:1 –1094.
Du Plessis EP (1984). Report on Taxonomy in the RSA. National committee for the IUBS, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria.
Eicker A, Baxter AP (1999). An historical overview of southern African systematic mycology. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 54 (1): 5–19.
Environmental Conventions (2005). Environmental Conventions. Internet: <http://www.opbw.org/int_inst/env.htm> Accessed: 2005 October 26.
Fourie DMC (pre-1970). The Botanical Research Institute - The early years. Unpublished text: Presentation at the Botanical Research Institute (now South African National Biodiversity Institute), Pretoria.
Gorter GJMA (1982). Supplement to Index of plant pathogens (I). Republic of South Africa Department of Agricultural Technical Services Science Bulletin 392: 1-14.
Gorter GJMA (1988). Die Suid-Afrikaanse Erysiphaceae (meeldouswamme). Annale van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch A3: 3(1):1 –64.
Gunn M (1967). Ethel Mary Doidge (1887–1965). Bothalia 9:251 -253.
Gunn M (1971). llltyd Buller Pole Evans (1879–1968). Bothalia 10 (2):131 -135.[Medline]
Gunn M, Codd LE (1981). Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa. A.A. Balkema, Cape Town.
Job DJ (1987). South African species of Hymenochaete (Aphyllophorales). South African Journal of Botany 53:293 –299.
Jones T (1995). BioNET-INTERNATIONAL Southern Africa LOOP (SAFRINET): A feasibility study. CAB International Mycological Institute, Egham, U.K.
Kellerman TS, Marasas WFO, Pienaar JG, Naudé TW (1972). A mycotoxicosis of Equidae caused by Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon, a preliminary communication. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 39:205 –208.[Medline]
Kellerman TS, Van Der Westhuizen GCA, Coetzer JAW, Roux C, Marasas WFO, Minne JA, Bath GF, Basson PA (1980). Photosensitivity in South Africa. The experimental production of the ovine hepatogenous photosensitivity disease Geeldikkop (Tribulosis ovis) by the simultaneous ingestion of Tribulus terrestris plants and cultures of Pithomyces chartarum containing the mycotoxin sporidesmin. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 47:231 –261.[Medline]
Knox-Davies PS (1973). Plant pathology in South Africa. Studia Microbiologica 2 (May): 10 (Newsletter: former South African Society for Plant Pathology and Microbiology).
Knox-Davies PS (1977). The science of plant pathology is 100 years old. SA Plant Pathologist7 : 12 (Newsletter: Southern African Society for Plant Pathology).
Lantern (1955). Journal of adult education. Special Centenary number 5: (2).
Lantern (1960). Journal of Knowledge & Culture: 9 (3).
Marasas WFO, Schumann IH (1972). The genus Pithomyces in South Africa. Bothalia 10:509 –516.
Marasas WFO, Kellerman TS, Pienaar JG & Naudé TW (1976). Leukoencephalomalacia: a mycotoxicosis of equidae caused by Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 43:113 –121.[Medline]
Marasas WFO (1990). Beginning of mycotoxin research at PREM: Fusarium moniliforme and the next 25 years. PREM 90th Year celebration speech at Pretoria. Unpublished text: Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria South Africa.
O'Brien OM, Rong IH (2005). National Karnal Bunt survey in South Africa: The occurrence of Karnal Bunt disease in the regulated area of South Africa Report 2004/2005. Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria.
Pole Evans LB (1916). A sketch of the rise, growth and development of mycology in South Africa. South African Journal of Science 13:97 –116.
Pretorius F (1985). The Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902. Struik Publishers (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town.
Roux C (1986). Leptosphaerulina chartarum sp. nov., the teleomorph of Pithomyces chartarum. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 86:319 –323.
Roux C (ed.) (1990). Raasblaar 10(23):16 . Plant Protection Research Institute: Internal News-letter. Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria.
Sigler L, Hawksworth DL (1987). International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF) Code of Practice for Systematic Mycologists. Mycopathologia 99:3 –7.[CrossRef][Medline]
Staff of the National Collection of Fungi, Pretoria,1994 . Elementary keys to common fungi in South Africa. Plant Protection Research Institute Handbook 2:1 –55.
Van der Westhuizen GCA (1977). Downy mildew fungi of maize and sorghum in South Africa. Phytophylactica 9:83 –89.
Van der Westhuizen GCA (1978). Four species of Helminthosporium from maize seed in South Africa. In:Symposium op Helminthosporium maydis op mielies in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika. Department of Agricultural Services, Technical Communication 128:11 –14.
Van der Westhuizen GCA, Holtzhausen MA (1980). Alternaria helianthi on sunflower in South Africa. Phytophylactica 12:49 –52.
Van der Westhuizen GCA, Marasas WFO, Schneider DJ (1985). Drechslera campanulata rediscovered on oats in South Africa. Phytophylactica 17:103 –106.
Van der Westhuizen, GCA (1990). The post Doidge era. PREM 90th celebration speech. Unpublished text: Plant Protection Research Institute Pretoria, South Africa.
Van der Westhuizen GCA (1991). The importance of taxonomy in plant pathology. South African Journal of Science 87:8 –11.
Van Warmelo KT (1967). The fungus flora of stock feeds in South Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 34:439 –450.
Van Warmelo KT, Marasas WFO, Adelaar TF, Kellerman TS, Van Rensburg IBJ, Minne JA (1970). Experimental evidence that lupinosis of sheep is caused by the fungus Phomopsis leptostromiformis (Kühnn) Bubák. Journal of the South African Veterinary Medicine Association 41:235 –247.
Van Warmelo KT (1990). PHB Talbot, the way I saw him. PREM 90th year celebration speech. Unpublished text: Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Wakefield EM (1936a). African fungi collected by OA Høeg in 1929–1930, I. Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab Forhandlinger 9 (12):42 –45.
Wakefield EM (1936b). African fungi collected by O.A. Høeg in 1929–1930, II. Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab Forhandlinger 9 (13):46 –49.
Wakefield EM (1936c). African fungi collected by O.A.
Høeg in 1929–1930, III. Det Kongelige norske
videnskabers Selskab forhandlinger
9 (14):50
–53.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  R. A Samson EDITORIAL AND REFLECTION Stud Mycol, January 1, 2007; 57(1): 1 - 3. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
