A social-ecological investigation into urban domestic gardens and avifauna in medium-sized towns of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Tricam, Shayla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Urban ecology (Biology) -- South Africa , Biotic communites -- South Africa , Gardens -- South Africa -- Managemenet , Birds – Ecology – South Africa , Gardening to attract birds -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145314 , vital:38427
- Description: Urban domestic gardens are an often overlooked component of urban green infrastructure, despite their potential to contribute to the preservation of urban biodiversity. As opposed to public greenspaces, private gardens are individually owned and managed, thus act as social-ecological systems, where the cumulative actions of urban residents can scale up to influence ecological patterns and processes on a larger scale. The diversity of fauna and flora within urban gardens provide a range of ecosystem goods and services, as well as less tangible benefits in the form of recreation, education and culture. However, little is known about the contribution of urban domestic gardens to urban biodiversity and its potential conservation value in South Africa. This study investigated urban domestic gardens along a socio-economic gradient in two medium-sized towns, Grahamstown and Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study found distinct differences among urban resident garden management practices as well as the avifauna which were seen within the gardens across the socio-economic gradient. The Garden Management Intensity index was higher within affluent households compared to other socio-economic levels, with subsequent management scores not differing statistically along the gradient. While there was variation within garden management practices, as well as the number of residents who participated in supplementary bird feeding, little variation was seen in the activities which were enjoyed by the residents, indicating numerous benefits the garden environment provides for all urban residents. The bird community composition along the socio-economic gradient displayed patterns directly reflecting the “luxury effect”, where households with a higher socio-economic status had harbour gardens with greater levels of biodiversity. This study showed that affluent gardens displayed far greater diversity, richness and abundance of urban birds. Multivariate analyses confirmed the patterns by highlighting a distinct bird community in the affluent zone, compared to other two socio-economic zones, which housed a second bird community. Furthermore, the main driver of the bird community composition was dominated by vegetation complexity, most notably tree cover within the gardens. Therefore, this study highlighted that patterns of ecological inequality are highly evident in medium-sized towns in South Africa, where older, affluent suburbs households display greater diversity and abundance of birdlife, compared to subsequent socio-economic zones within the study. Prioritisation with regards to the benefits a garden environment brings to urban residents in terms of a connection to nature, access to urban greenery, and relationship to urban wildlife is vital and should be promoted and planned for across all socio-economic zones.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Tricam, Shayla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Urban ecology (Biology) -- South Africa , Biotic communites -- South Africa , Gardens -- South Africa -- Managemenet , Birds – Ecology – South Africa , Gardening to attract birds -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145314 , vital:38427
- Description: Urban domestic gardens are an often overlooked component of urban green infrastructure, despite their potential to contribute to the preservation of urban biodiversity. As opposed to public greenspaces, private gardens are individually owned and managed, thus act as social-ecological systems, where the cumulative actions of urban residents can scale up to influence ecological patterns and processes on a larger scale. The diversity of fauna and flora within urban gardens provide a range of ecosystem goods and services, as well as less tangible benefits in the form of recreation, education and culture. However, little is known about the contribution of urban domestic gardens to urban biodiversity and its potential conservation value in South Africa. This study investigated urban domestic gardens along a socio-economic gradient in two medium-sized towns, Grahamstown and Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study found distinct differences among urban resident garden management practices as well as the avifauna which were seen within the gardens across the socio-economic gradient. The Garden Management Intensity index was higher within affluent households compared to other socio-economic levels, with subsequent management scores not differing statistically along the gradient. While there was variation within garden management practices, as well as the number of residents who participated in supplementary bird feeding, little variation was seen in the activities which were enjoyed by the residents, indicating numerous benefits the garden environment provides for all urban residents. The bird community composition along the socio-economic gradient displayed patterns directly reflecting the “luxury effect”, where households with a higher socio-economic status had harbour gardens with greater levels of biodiversity. This study showed that affluent gardens displayed far greater diversity, richness and abundance of urban birds. Multivariate analyses confirmed the patterns by highlighting a distinct bird community in the affluent zone, compared to other two socio-economic zones, which housed a second bird community. Furthermore, the main driver of the bird community composition was dominated by vegetation complexity, most notably tree cover within the gardens. Therefore, this study highlighted that patterns of ecological inequality are highly evident in medium-sized towns in South Africa, where older, affluent suburbs households display greater diversity and abundance of birdlife, compared to subsequent socio-economic zones within the study. Prioritisation with regards to the benefits a garden environment brings to urban residents in terms of a connection to nature, access to urban greenery, and relationship to urban wildlife is vital and should be promoted and planned for across all socio-economic zones.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Seasonal trends of rainfall intensity, ground cover and sediment dynamics in the Little Pot River and Gqukunqa River catchments, South Africa
- Authors: Herd-Hoare, Sean
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Land degradation -- Control -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Vegetation mapping -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rain and rainfall -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Gqukunqa River catchment (South Africa) , Little Pot River catchment (South Africa) , Tsitsa River catchment (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146288 , vital:38512
- Description: Natural rangelands provide a variety of ecosystem services including livestock production which occurs on land under freehold land tenure and on land under communal tenure. There is an ongoing debate around the extent to which land degradation is occurring on these rangelands under different land management and land tenure systems and what the main degradation drivers are. Over-grazing, rainfall and soil type are key drivers of rangeland dynamics and the resultant sediment yield in the river systems, however, over-grazing is an outcome of land management while rainfall and soil type are natural drivers. This study explores the relationship between rainfall and daily sediment flux as well as the seasonal trends of vegetation cover and the study is part of a greater research effort called the Tsitsa Project which is based in the Tsitsa River catchment (near Maclear, Eastern Cape, South Africa). The Tsitsa Project aims at developing and managing both land and water in a sustainable way by improving the land, water and lives of people living in the Tsitsa River catchment. The restoration efforts of the Tstisa Project will aid in extending the lifespan of both the proposed dams on the Tsitsa River. The Tsitsa River catchment is characterised by grasslands, steep topography, highly erodible soils with many large gullies present and a very high sediment yield in the Tsitsa River which allowed for the exploration of some of the system drivers of sediment yield in this catchment. The study involved two sub-catchments of the Upper Tsitsa River catchment of different land management strategies: one dominated by commercial livestock farms (Little Pot River catchment) and one dominated by communal rangelands (Gqukunqa River catchment). The aim of this study was to determine the seasonal trends of rainfall intensity, ground cover and sediment dynamics in the Little Pot River and Gqukunqa River catchments. The purpose of the findings was to improve management strategies in degraded areas and catchments. In order to achieve this aim a variety of field and desktop methods were used. Field methods involved measuring variables including: vegetation biomass, vegetation cover, soil surface hardness, biocrust cover and slope angle for a range of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from the Sentinel-2A sensor. The study assessed the system response of the field variables in both catchments over one rainfall season (2018-2019). Desktop methods included various NDVI analyses as well as analyses of trends and relationships between vegetation dynamics, rainfall and sediment. The relationship between erosive rainfall events, daily rainfall, antecedent rainfall and daily sediment flux was explored over the time period of January 2016 to January 2019 and October 2015 to January 2019 for the Little Pot River catchment and the Gqukunqa River catchment respectively. NDVI was explored as a proxy for vegetation cover to extrapolate across the catchments and monitoring period. NDVI was found to have a weak positive relationship with vegetation cover and biomass (R2 values ranged from 0,04 to 0,525). Mean monthly catchment NDVI values, biomass and vegetation cover increased throughout the wet season of 2018-2019 in both catchments. Mean monthly NDVI values increased from 0,26 to 0,55 in the Little Pot River catchment and from 0,29 to 0,53 in the Gqukunqa River catchment over the course of the 2018-2019 wet season. NDVI, biomass and vegetation cover was found to be higher on south-facing slopes than north-facing slopes in both catchments for the majority of the wet season. The Gqukunqa River has significantly higher daily sediment fluxes than the Little Pot River despite similar NDVI and rainfall intensities which is owed to the dispersive soils in the Gqukunqa River catchment. Soil surface hardness results were inconclusive due to rainfall before or during every field trip which changed the properties of the soil. The largest erosive rainfall, daily rainfall and daily sediment events occurred from January to March each wet season in both catchments. Rainfall intensity and sediment fluxes were found to have a weak relationship, however, there was a stronger relationship found between antecedent rainfall and sediment flux. The larger daily sediment fluxes in each catchment often did not result from an erosive rainfall event on the same day but rather from multiple days of rainfall which can result in saturated soils and runoff leading to surface and sub-surface erosion. The possibility of sub-surface erosion via chemical processes contributing to the larger sediment events was also explored to explain the stronger relationship between antecedent rainfall and daily sediment flux.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Herd-Hoare, Sean
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Land degradation -- Control -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Vegetation mapping -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rain and rainfall -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Gqukunqa River catchment (South Africa) , Little Pot River catchment (South Africa) , Tsitsa River catchment (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146288 , vital:38512
- Description: Natural rangelands provide a variety of ecosystem services including livestock production which occurs on land under freehold land tenure and on land under communal tenure. There is an ongoing debate around the extent to which land degradation is occurring on these rangelands under different land management and land tenure systems and what the main degradation drivers are. Over-grazing, rainfall and soil type are key drivers of rangeland dynamics and the resultant sediment yield in the river systems, however, over-grazing is an outcome of land management while rainfall and soil type are natural drivers. This study explores the relationship between rainfall and daily sediment flux as well as the seasonal trends of vegetation cover and the study is part of a greater research effort called the Tsitsa Project which is based in the Tsitsa River catchment (near Maclear, Eastern Cape, South Africa). The Tsitsa Project aims at developing and managing both land and water in a sustainable way by improving the land, water and lives of people living in the Tsitsa River catchment. The restoration efforts of the Tstisa Project will aid in extending the lifespan of both the proposed dams on the Tsitsa River. The Tsitsa River catchment is characterised by grasslands, steep topography, highly erodible soils with many large gullies present and a very high sediment yield in the Tsitsa River which allowed for the exploration of some of the system drivers of sediment yield in this catchment. The study involved two sub-catchments of the Upper Tsitsa River catchment of different land management strategies: one dominated by commercial livestock farms (Little Pot River catchment) and one dominated by communal rangelands (Gqukunqa River catchment). The aim of this study was to determine the seasonal trends of rainfall intensity, ground cover and sediment dynamics in the Little Pot River and Gqukunqa River catchments. The purpose of the findings was to improve management strategies in degraded areas and catchments. In order to achieve this aim a variety of field and desktop methods were used. Field methods involved measuring variables including: vegetation biomass, vegetation cover, soil surface hardness, biocrust cover and slope angle for a range of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from the Sentinel-2A sensor. The study assessed the system response of the field variables in both catchments over one rainfall season (2018-2019). Desktop methods included various NDVI analyses as well as analyses of trends and relationships between vegetation dynamics, rainfall and sediment. The relationship between erosive rainfall events, daily rainfall, antecedent rainfall and daily sediment flux was explored over the time period of January 2016 to January 2019 and October 2015 to January 2019 for the Little Pot River catchment and the Gqukunqa River catchment respectively. NDVI was explored as a proxy for vegetation cover to extrapolate across the catchments and monitoring period. NDVI was found to have a weak positive relationship with vegetation cover and biomass (R2 values ranged from 0,04 to 0,525). Mean monthly catchment NDVI values, biomass and vegetation cover increased throughout the wet season of 2018-2019 in both catchments. Mean monthly NDVI values increased from 0,26 to 0,55 in the Little Pot River catchment and from 0,29 to 0,53 in the Gqukunqa River catchment over the course of the 2018-2019 wet season. NDVI, biomass and vegetation cover was found to be higher on south-facing slopes than north-facing slopes in both catchments for the majority of the wet season. The Gqukunqa River has significantly higher daily sediment fluxes than the Little Pot River despite similar NDVI and rainfall intensities which is owed to the dispersive soils in the Gqukunqa River catchment. Soil surface hardness results were inconclusive due to rainfall before or during every field trip which changed the properties of the soil. The largest erosive rainfall, daily rainfall and daily sediment events occurred from January to March each wet season in both catchments. Rainfall intensity and sediment fluxes were found to have a weak relationship, however, there was a stronger relationship found between antecedent rainfall and sediment flux. The larger daily sediment fluxes in each catchment often did not result from an erosive rainfall event on the same day but rather from multiple days of rainfall which can result in saturated soils and runoff leading to surface and sub-surface erosion. The possibility of sub-surface erosion via chemical processes contributing to the larger sediment events was also explored to explain the stronger relationship between antecedent rainfall and daily sediment flux.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Using a spatial resilience lens to understand alignments and misalignments in South Africa’s marine governance system
- Authors: Hardisty, Shannon
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Marine parks and reserves -- South Africa , Marine parks and reserves -- South Africa -- Management , Marine parks and reserves -- Government policy -- South Africa , Table Mountain National Park (South Africa) , Spatial ecology -- South Africa , Coastal zone management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164649 , vital:41152
- Description: In marine protected areas (MPAs), the radically open nature of marine ecosystems, the seemingly contradictory short-term goals of fisheries management (resource use) and conservation efforts (biodiversity protection), the variety of stakeholders, and the inherently political nature of space ha ve contributed to a disconnect between policy and practice. Many groups operate in an MPA at various spatial and socio-political scales, from national government bodies to local community groups, as such an MPA can be viewed as a complex, multi-scale and multi-level social-ecological system (SES). A greater understanding of the multi-scale processes driving the spatial resilience of SES can help address scale mismatches between continuous ecological change and the long-term governance of a seascape. South Africa has a long history of spaces and natural resources being politicised and faces high levels of unemployment and political frustration. Marine governance has been characterised as being siloed, lacking transparency regarding government processes and even between departments, and not properly addressing the needs of local communities; resulting in scale and level mismatches throughout the multi-scale processes (from national policies to local regulations)therefore, it is pertinent to understand the interactions between various national policies, their implementation, and their impacts. Using a spatial resilience lens, I set out to understand scale alignment in South Africa’s marine governance systems as it relates to MPAs. A spatial resilience lens emphasises analysis of both spatial and temporal scales, thus highlighting the multi-scale variables and interactions that occur within a system. I first sought to understand the policy and management across national and regional scales by conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with experts which were analysed using thematic analysis. I then approached the question of alignment from a local to national scale by using the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area as a case study, here I carried out a series of workshops and interviews with line fishers, women’s groups, and eco-tourism operators from three different communities. Experts identified six themes when describing the structure of gove rnance in South African MPAs; they consisted of: government departments and marine legislation, management level factors, communication and information sharing, local level factors, biophysical factors, and scale. Communication and information sharing was the most mentioned referenced theme (40.26 %). The relationships between the communities and other actors (i.e. how communities are impacted, or impact on, the Department of Environmental Affairs , the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, and Park Authorities) contributed 67.27 % to the total number of mentions, 91 % of which were from the following themes: communication and information sharing, local level factors, biophysical factors, and scale. My results indicate that weak, top-down relationships dominate the governance system in South Africa. During the Cape Town workshops I applied the spatial resilience lens in three ways. Firstly, the participants collaborated on a mapping exercise discussing the existing zone types within the MPA, as well as developing their own. There was an 87.87 % overlap of community designed zones on the existing MPA zones, however the types of zones designed by the community were different. Secondly, I carried out a document analysis and used information from the workshops to analyse the status and rights designation of important species for different user groups. The results show that the various stakeholder groups, while all active in the marine environment, interact with the ecosystem at different scales and with differing species. The differing interactions between groups result in challenges such as representation and complicated power dynamics between user groups. Finally, I asked participants to discuss factors that affect their ability to gain a livelihood from the sea. The external elements and their effects differed between the user groups, identifying important socio-political interactions. Whilst the external elements were all geographically distinct and localised, the spatial resilience lens allowed for a cross-scale, and to a certain extent cross-sector, understanding of these elements thus producing a more holistic understanding. My thesis shows that user groups operate on different spatial scales within the marine environment as a result of social, economic, and political influences leading to several scale-based challenges. The identified scale-based challenges have contributed to misalignments in marine governance in South Africa. My study shows that scale mismatches have important implications for understanding how marine policy influences user groups and identified pathways that affected policy implementation , and identifies future research application of a spatial resilience lens within social-ecological systems, for example it’s potential use in understanding the gendered nature of MPAs
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Hardisty, Shannon
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Marine parks and reserves -- South Africa , Marine parks and reserves -- South Africa -- Management , Marine parks and reserves -- Government policy -- South Africa , Table Mountain National Park (South Africa) , Spatial ecology -- South Africa , Coastal zone management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164649 , vital:41152
- Description: In marine protected areas (MPAs), the radically open nature of marine ecosystems, the seemingly contradictory short-term goals of fisheries management (resource use) and conservation efforts (biodiversity protection), the variety of stakeholders, and the inherently political nature of space ha ve contributed to a disconnect between policy and practice. Many groups operate in an MPA at various spatial and socio-political scales, from national government bodies to local community groups, as such an MPA can be viewed as a complex, multi-scale and multi-level social-ecological system (SES). A greater understanding of the multi-scale processes driving the spatial resilience of SES can help address scale mismatches between continuous ecological change and the long-term governance of a seascape. South Africa has a long history of spaces and natural resources being politicised and faces high levels of unemployment and political frustration. Marine governance has been characterised as being siloed, lacking transparency regarding government processes and even between departments, and not properly addressing the needs of local communities; resulting in scale and level mismatches throughout the multi-scale processes (from national policies to local regulations)therefore, it is pertinent to understand the interactions between various national policies, their implementation, and their impacts. Using a spatial resilience lens, I set out to understand scale alignment in South Africa’s marine governance systems as it relates to MPAs. A spatial resilience lens emphasises analysis of both spatial and temporal scales, thus highlighting the multi-scale variables and interactions that occur within a system. I first sought to understand the policy and management across national and regional scales by conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with experts which were analysed using thematic analysis. I then approached the question of alignment from a local to national scale by using the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area as a case study, here I carried out a series of workshops and interviews with line fishers, women’s groups, and eco-tourism operators from three different communities. Experts identified six themes when describing the structure of gove rnance in South African MPAs; they consisted of: government departments and marine legislation, management level factors, communication and information sharing, local level factors, biophysical factors, and scale. Communication and information sharing was the most mentioned referenced theme (40.26 %). The relationships between the communities and other actors (i.e. how communities are impacted, or impact on, the Department of Environmental Affairs , the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, and Park Authorities) contributed 67.27 % to the total number of mentions, 91 % of which were from the following themes: communication and information sharing, local level factors, biophysical factors, and scale. My results indicate that weak, top-down relationships dominate the governance system in South Africa. During the Cape Town workshops I applied the spatial resilience lens in three ways. Firstly, the participants collaborated on a mapping exercise discussing the existing zone types within the MPA, as well as developing their own. There was an 87.87 % overlap of community designed zones on the existing MPA zones, however the types of zones designed by the community were different. Secondly, I carried out a document analysis and used information from the workshops to analyse the status and rights designation of important species for different user groups. The results show that the various stakeholder groups, while all active in the marine environment, interact with the ecosystem at different scales and with differing species. The differing interactions between groups result in challenges such as representation and complicated power dynamics between user groups. Finally, I asked participants to discuss factors that affect their ability to gain a livelihood from the sea. The external elements and their effects differed between the user groups, identifying important socio-political interactions. Whilst the external elements were all geographically distinct and localised, the spatial resilience lens allowed for a cross-scale, and to a certain extent cross-sector, understanding of these elements thus producing a more holistic understanding. My thesis shows that user groups operate on different spatial scales within the marine environment as a result of social, economic, and political influences leading to several scale-based challenges. The identified scale-based challenges have contributed to misalignments in marine governance in South Africa. My study shows that scale mismatches have important implications for understanding how marine policy influences user groups and identified pathways that affected policy implementation , and identifies future research application of a spatial resilience lens within social-ecological systems, for example it’s potential use in understanding the gendered nature of MPAs
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
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