Context

Losing biodiversity

The work is situated in the context of sobering scientific data that we’re entering the planet’s 6th mass extinction. We are losing hundreds of plants, animals and insects everyday and the biggest drivers of this extinction are human activities on the planet. The rate of species going extinct on Earth is at a pace never seen before.

Deforestation in Indonesia to make way for a palm oil concession. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Greenpeace.

Extinct in The Wild

Plants unable to survive in the wild

This project is inspired by the story behind the loneliest plant on Earth, the Encephalartos woodii, and draws attention to plants unable to survive in the wild. Isolated from their habitat, these ‘extinct in the wild’ plants have been stripped of their 'ecological circumstances'. They are no longer reproductive members of their population and merely living their lives in a physiological sense - they are the ‘living dead’.

Encephalartos woodii, Temperate House, Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, September 2021. Photo: Laura Cinti. The Encephalartos woodii in Kew Gardens is an offset of the only plant of this specimen ever found in the wild. It was sent to Kew in 1899.

Cycads

Most endangered species in the world

Cycads are the oldest surviving seed bearing plant predating dinosaurs more than 300 million years ago having survived multiple mass extinctions and environmental changes. In spite of their incredibly long legacy, cycads are now the most endangered living organisms on Earth. Rare cycads have also become subject to a thriving illegal market worth millions of dollars annually.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Background

Rarest plant found in the Ngoye Forest

In 1895, a single solitary male tree was discovered in the Ngoye Forest in South Africa by John Medley Wood travelling with an oxwagon through the forest on a botanical expedition. No other specimen could be found and though several expeditions have since explored the forest, this lonely male remains the last of its wild ancestors. It was feared that this plant would be destroyed so stems were removed and propagated in botanical gardens. All existing specimens are clones of this plant and, like the last wild specimen, all are male. Both sexes are needed for reproduction and without a female, it will never naturally reproduce again. It is one of, if not the rarest, and possibly most sought after species of cycads.

Encephalartos woodii in habitat. The original male plant found in Ngoye, Zululand taken on the expedition by James Wylie in 1907. Photo: James Wylie.

Ngoye Forest

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The Ngoye Forest is vast with many areas inaccessible by foot leaving acres and acres uninspected and a possibility for a female to be hiding amongst the dense canopies. Our approach asked - how can remote sensing technologies be used to access previously inaccessible parts of the Ngoye Forest?

A pre-mission flight was conducted on a light sport aircraft, the Rainbow Cheetah. Piloted by Steve McCurrach of The Bateleurs, a non-governmental organisation who provide aerial support services to environmental missions in South Africa.

Aerial photograph over Ngoye Forest. Photo: Steve McCurrach, The Bateleurs, 2021.

Drone Missions

Surveying & mapping

A drone was equipped with a multispectral camera and programmed to fly in a grid over two selected areas each around 40 acres collecting a total of 4000 images. Flying 80 metres above the ground we could capture images with a ground resolution of 8 and half cm. The mission was conducted by Dr Debbie Jewitt of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife that manages the Ngoye Forest and 120 other protected areas.

Drone Mission Search for Encephalartos Woodii, Matrice 210 in flight over Ngoye Forest, South Africa. Photo: Dr Debbie Jewitt, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Multispectral Capturing

Using drones

The drone missions and aerial flights provided a wealth of photos that were each combined by stitching these together to form a map that could be analysed. This is the first time these methods have been used to search for Encephalartos woodii and it is hoped that it will more easily spot a cycad in the forest.

Drone Mission Search for Encephalartos Woodii, Ngoye Forest, South Africa. Mosiac map: Dr Debbie Jewitt, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, 2022.

The Search

Continues...

And while the search continues …the story of the enigmatic Encephalartos woodii and the elusive female, its discovery and subsequent disappearance from nature, reminds us just how easy it is to lose a species and lose biodiversity.

Living Dead: On the trail of a female, STUDIO(dys)TOPIA – At the Peak of Humankind, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, 2022.

Acknowledgements

& Credits

A project by Laura Cinti
in collaboration with Debbie Jewitt and Howard Boland.

Dr Debbie Jewitt, Conservation Scientist and Drone Pilot, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Musawenkosi Michael MM. Mkhize, Technician and Drone Pilot, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Sharon Louw, District Ecologist, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

John Craigie, Control Research Technician, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Steve McCurrach, Pilot and Director, The Bateleurs.

Library, Art & Archives team at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Rachel Lucas, Marketing and Commercial, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Dr Roy Osborne, World-renowned Cycad Expert and Author.

Wynand van Eeden, President of the Cycad Society of South Africa.

Professor Brian Huntley, Former Director of South Africa’s National Biodiversity Institute and Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden, South Africa.

Arnold Frisby, Curator, Cycad and Indigenous Plant Nursery (Manie van der Schijff Botanical Gardens) and Lecturer, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

For more information get in touch.

E. Woodii and I (Laura Cinti), Temperate House, Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, September 2021. Photo: Howard Boland. The E. Woodii in Kew Gardens is an offset of the only plant of this specimen ever found in the wild. It was sent to Kew in 1899.

AWARDS

& Nominations

Winner of PPDS’ sustainability-driven MUSE Digital Art Award.

starts prize 2023

S+T+ARTS Prize Nomination - Grand prize of the European Commission honouring Innovation in Technology, Industry and Society stimulated by the Arts 2023.