Albuca setosa in montane surroundings

Albuca setosa has made wide-ranging ecological adaptations to features of its living conditions all over southern Africa. This involves the mastering of diverse challenges to survive and thrive. Simultaneously it has made many tacit, mutually beneficial agreements with insects and other animals over the aeons of its living history. This involves pollination partners and limiting the consumption of vital plant parts by herbivores. In picture, the A. setosa plant flowers serenely at altitude in the Drakensberg near the Sani Pass.

The wider the geographical distribution of any species, the higher the probability that survival challenges will be overcome somewhere in its range for the species to continue. The ideal is for this spreading of a species across bigger parts of the earth to happen naturally, not “assisted” or interfered with by people.

Still, the natural way of expansion and migration of a species may also crowd out some opposition and become invasion. Coexistence appears deceivingly peaceful in nature at times, but the battle for Lebensraum and resources often lurks in many intense forms, involving survival risk for many a species at any time. Add to this the havoc climatic extremes may sometimes wreak, particularly in the times lying ahead for all globally, including us. Much to learn, plan, implement and hopefully survive, in order for reaching a new, calmer era in a new ecological mix. By when?