Distinguishing elephant induced thicket degradation and climate related factors in Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Mapheto, Tlhologelo James
- Date: 2023-04
- Subjects: Elephant – Behaviour -- South Africa -- Addo Elephant National Park , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/60753 , vital:66741
- Description: The Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) is an ecologically sensitive environment where the increase in elephant population, especially in a changing climate is a recipe for landscape degradation and biodiversity loss. The Park is situated in the drought prone Eastern Cape Province, however, the effects of drought on thicket vegetation is less understood. This study aimed to distinguish elephant-induced thicket degradation from the effects of climatic factors, using remote sensing, GIS, and statistical techniques. To characterise and map vegetation conditions of the reserve temporal series Landsat imagery (n = 22) from 1998 to 2018 were analysed. Vegetation states were determined using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from the growing season of the study period. Using supervised per-pixel image classification technique, the NDVI values characterized into distinct land cover classes viz (1) Intact Thicket, (2) Transformed Thicket, (3) Degraded Thicket, (4) Bare Ground and (6) Water Bodies. Post-classification change detection and landscape fragmentation analysis was performed. Climatic data were obtained from existing weather stations and raster surface of accumulated rainfall and mean maximum temperature were developed using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW). Time series analysis was implemented on the NDVI and climatic condition data by plotting annual measures to indicate variable trends. Temporal trend analysis was performed on the NDVI data using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall trend analysis test to indicate thicket vegetation condition improvement and general degradation. The Residual Trend (RESTREND) approach was employed to remove the effect of rainfall on vegetation productivity. This involved using the Ordinary Least Square regression functionality in ArcMap to compute the relationship between ∑NDVI and accumulated rainfall for every pixel for the study period. The products of the regression were assessed using Pearson’s Correlation (r) at a significance level of 90% (p-value ≤ 0.1) to distinguish strong relationships. Overlay analysis was performed, using the NDVI trend slope and the correlation coefficient (r) raster surfaces, to model vegetation dynamics influenced by elephant activities. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, School of Environmental Sciences, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-04
- Authors: Mapheto, Tlhologelo James
- Date: 2023-04
- Subjects: Elephant – Behaviour -- South Africa -- Addo Elephant National Park , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/60753 , vital:66741
- Description: The Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) is an ecologically sensitive environment where the increase in elephant population, especially in a changing climate is a recipe for landscape degradation and biodiversity loss. The Park is situated in the drought prone Eastern Cape Province, however, the effects of drought on thicket vegetation is less understood. This study aimed to distinguish elephant-induced thicket degradation from the effects of climatic factors, using remote sensing, GIS, and statistical techniques. To characterise and map vegetation conditions of the reserve temporal series Landsat imagery (n = 22) from 1998 to 2018 were analysed. Vegetation states were determined using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from the growing season of the study period. Using supervised per-pixel image classification technique, the NDVI values characterized into distinct land cover classes viz (1) Intact Thicket, (2) Transformed Thicket, (3) Degraded Thicket, (4) Bare Ground and (6) Water Bodies. Post-classification change detection and landscape fragmentation analysis was performed. Climatic data were obtained from existing weather stations and raster surface of accumulated rainfall and mean maximum temperature were developed using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW). Time series analysis was implemented on the NDVI and climatic condition data by plotting annual measures to indicate variable trends. Temporal trend analysis was performed on the NDVI data using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall trend analysis test to indicate thicket vegetation condition improvement and general degradation. The Residual Trend (RESTREND) approach was employed to remove the effect of rainfall on vegetation productivity. This involved using the Ordinary Least Square regression functionality in ArcMap to compute the relationship between ∑NDVI and accumulated rainfall for every pixel for the study period. The products of the regression were assessed using Pearson’s Correlation (r) at a significance level of 90% (p-value ≤ 0.1) to distinguish strong relationships. Overlay analysis was performed, using the NDVI trend slope and the correlation coefficient (r) raster surfaces, to model vegetation dynamics influenced by elephant activities. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, School of Environmental Sciences, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-04
Causal determinants of the public's attitudes towards hunting as a basis for strategies to improve the social legitimacy of hunting
- Coetzer, Wentzel Christoffel
- Authors: Coetzer, Wentzel Christoffel
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Hunting -- South Africa , Wildlife management -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DTech
- Identifier: vital:10759 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021164
- Description: It is widely acknowledged that the organised wildlife and hunting industry in South Africa contributes significantly to the country’s economy, as well as to the effective management and conservation of wildlife on privately owned land. Despite this, hunting has come under increasing attack by anti-hunting proponents who wish to bring a ban on hunting. A number of broad shifts across society at large and lobbying against hunting by anti-hunting proponents have given rise to legitimate concerns regarding the social acceptability of hunting. To maintain the social legitimacy of hunting, it is imperative to put strategies in place to actively broaden the base of public acceptance of hunting. Towards this aim, this study is an empirical investigation of the causal determinants of the public’s attitudes towards hunting and of the implications it holds for improving the social legitimacy of hunting. The study commenced by building a sound theoretical foundation from the available literature on the measurement of attitudes, the structure and formation of attitudes, the instrumental and experiential aspects of attitudes, attitudinal ambivalence, the psychology of strong attitudes, as well as the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. Thereafter, the study turned to identify an adequate and empirically valid research approach for investigating attitudes and its causal determinants. A popular attitude theory in social psychology, namely the theory of reasoned action, was identified as a suitable conceptual framework for conducting this study. According to the reasoned action model, the salient behavioural beliefs people associate with a particular behaviour form the informational foundation (or cognitive foundation) on which their attitudes towards the behaviour are based. More specifically, the model suggests that peoples’ overall attitude towards a behaviour is a function of their perceived probability that a behaviour will produce certain outcomes (belief strength), as well as the degree to which they judge the perceived outcomes of the behaviour as positive or negative (outcome evaluation). The methodological design of the study’s empirical component was strictly based on the standard procedures prescribed by the theory of reasoned action. Two consecutive and methodologically interrelated surveys were conducted amongst members of the public to collect the study’s primary data. The main salient behavioural beliefs on which different attitudes towards hunting are based were identified and further investigated. The results were analysed from the perspective of the theory of reasoned action and a clear understanding of the causal determinants of different attitudes towards hunting were attained. Based on the findings of the study, a number of conclusions and recommendations were made that may guide the development of future strategies to improve the social legitimacy of hunting. Amongst other things, it was suggested that public education programmes should be developed to address the public’s misconceptions of hunting; that public relation campaigns be undertaken to improve the public’s negative image of hunters; and that hunter education programmes be put in place to make hunters aware of the role they could play at community level to improve the social acceptability of hunting. Detailed guidelines regarding the contents of such education programmes and public relation campaigns were provided.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Coetzer, Wentzel Christoffel
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Hunting -- South Africa , Wildlife management -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DTech
- Identifier: vital:10759 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021164
- Description: It is widely acknowledged that the organised wildlife and hunting industry in South Africa contributes significantly to the country’s economy, as well as to the effective management and conservation of wildlife on privately owned land. Despite this, hunting has come under increasing attack by anti-hunting proponents who wish to bring a ban on hunting. A number of broad shifts across society at large and lobbying against hunting by anti-hunting proponents have given rise to legitimate concerns regarding the social acceptability of hunting. To maintain the social legitimacy of hunting, it is imperative to put strategies in place to actively broaden the base of public acceptance of hunting. Towards this aim, this study is an empirical investigation of the causal determinants of the public’s attitudes towards hunting and of the implications it holds for improving the social legitimacy of hunting. The study commenced by building a sound theoretical foundation from the available literature on the measurement of attitudes, the structure and formation of attitudes, the instrumental and experiential aspects of attitudes, attitudinal ambivalence, the psychology of strong attitudes, as well as the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. Thereafter, the study turned to identify an adequate and empirically valid research approach for investigating attitudes and its causal determinants. A popular attitude theory in social psychology, namely the theory of reasoned action, was identified as a suitable conceptual framework for conducting this study. According to the reasoned action model, the salient behavioural beliefs people associate with a particular behaviour form the informational foundation (or cognitive foundation) on which their attitudes towards the behaviour are based. More specifically, the model suggests that peoples’ overall attitude towards a behaviour is a function of their perceived probability that a behaviour will produce certain outcomes (belief strength), as well as the degree to which they judge the perceived outcomes of the behaviour as positive or negative (outcome evaluation). The methodological design of the study’s empirical component was strictly based on the standard procedures prescribed by the theory of reasoned action. Two consecutive and methodologically interrelated surveys were conducted amongst members of the public to collect the study’s primary data. The main salient behavioural beliefs on which different attitudes towards hunting are based were identified and further investigated. The results were analysed from the perspective of the theory of reasoned action and a clear understanding of the causal determinants of different attitudes towards hunting were attained. Based on the findings of the study, a number of conclusions and recommendations were made that may guide the development of future strategies to improve the social legitimacy of hunting. Amongst other things, it was suggested that public education programmes should be developed to address the public’s misconceptions of hunting; that public relation campaigns be undertaken to improve the public’s negative image of hunters; and that hunter education programmes be put in place to make hunters aware of the role they could play at community level to improve the social acceptability of hunting. Detailed guidelines regarding the contents of such education programmes and public relation campaigns were provided.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Opportunity and connectivity : selecting land managers for involvement in a conservation corridor linking two protected areas in the Langkloof Valley, South Africa
- Authors: McClure, Alice
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Corridors (Ecology) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , National parks and reserves -- South Africa , Landscape ecology -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa , Land use -- South Africa -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4770 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007590 , Corridors (Ecology) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , National parks and reserves -- South Africa , Landscape ecology -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa , Land use -- South Africa -- Planning
- Description: The Eden To Addo Corridor Initiative aims to connect formally protected areas in a conservation corridor from the coastal area of the Eden District near Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, South Africa to the Addo National Elephant Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The corridor will incorporate government and privately owned land, and will be an attempt to maintain ecological processes at a range of spatial and temporal scales. The Langkloof Valley lies between the Baviaanskloof World Heritage Area and the Tstitsikamma National Park; two formally protected areas that will be incorporated into the Eden To Addo Corridor. Spatial prioritization analyses allow conservation planners to select areas that should be targeted for conservation action based on a range of criteria. Historically, ecological criteria have been included mostly alone in spatial prioritization. Recently, the idea of ‘conservation opportunity’ has emerged in the field of conservation planning; the notion suggests that a range of different types of data should be included in processes to spatially prioritise for conservation. By including those data defined as ‘human’ and ‘social’ data into prioritising activities, the feasibility of conservation plans can be accounted for, but historically conservation planners have failed to do so. I conducted a literature review that demonstrated that although the importance of human and social data are acknowledged in the conservation planning literature, these data that define opportunity are rarely actually included in spatial prioritisation analyses. I then carried out a social assessment that allowed me to define the social and human context of our study area and, specifically, what stewardship instruments land managers in the Langkloof would be prepared to engage. We found that land managers were generally willing to engage, but lacked the financial capacity to adopt conservation methods. Using a subset of the social and human data that were collected in the social assessment, I trialled a new Decision Support Software to fuse those data with ecological data in a novel attempt to identify priority areas for conservation action based on ecological integrity and feasibility. We also scheduled (ranked) land managers to approach for conservation action with a focus on local champions and clusters of land managers displaying strong conservation characteristics. Two corridors were identified; a major corridor in the western region of the valley and a secondary corridor closer to the middle. The members of the Initiative have been briefed on the outcomes, which provided them an opportunity to provide feedback; it is hoped that the framework of this study can be used for planning future connections. The Eden To Addo Corridor Initiative sent out a stewardship extension officer in February 2011 to approach those land managers areas that were identified. This planning exercise is a good demonstration of how, by collaborating effectively, academic conservation planners can contribute to supporting decision making by organizations that are implementing conservation action.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: McClure, Alice
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Corridors (Ecology) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , National parks and reserves -- South Africa , Landscape ecology -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa , Land use -- South Africa -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4770 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007590 , Corridors (Ecology) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , National parks and reserves -- South Africa , Landscape ecology -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa , Land use -- South Africa -- Planning
- Description: The Eden To Addo Corridor Initiative aims to connect formally protected areas in a conservation corridor from the coastal area of the Eden District near Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, South Africa to the Addo National Elephant Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The corridor will incorporate government and privately owned land, and will be an attempt to maintain ecological processes at a range of spatial and temporal scales. The Langkloof Valley lies between the Baviaanskloof World Heritage Area and the Tstitsikamma National Park; two formally protected areas that will be incorporated into the Eden To Addo Corridor. Spatial prioritization analyses allow conservation planners to select areas that should be targeted for conservation action based on a range of criteria. Historically, ecological criteria have been included mostly alone in spatial prioritization. Recently, the idea of ‘conservation opportunity’ has emerged in the field of conservation planning; the notion suggests that a range of different types of data should be included in processes to spatially prioritise for conservation. By including those data defined as ‘human’ and ‘social’ data into prioritising activities, the feasibility of conservation plans can be accounted for, but historically conservation planners have failed to do so. I conducted a literature review that demonstrated that although the importance of human and social data are acknowledged in the conservation planning literature, these data that define opportunity are rarely actually included in spatial prioritisation analyses. I then carried out a social assessment that allowed me to define the social and human context of our study area and, specifically, what stewardship instruments land managers in the Langkloof would be prepared to engage. We found that land managers were generally willing to engage, but lacked the financial capacity to adopt conservation methods. Using a subset of the social and human data that were collected in the social assessment, I trialled a new Decision Support Software to fuse those data with ecological data in a novel attempt to identify priority areas for conservation action based on ecological integrity and feasibility. We also scheduled (ranked) land managers to approach for conservation action with a focus on local champions and clusters of land managers displaying strong conservation characteristics. Two corridors were identified; a major corridor in the western region of the valley and a secondary corridor closer to the middle. The members of the Initiative have been briefed on the outcomes, which provided them an opportunity to provide feedback; it is hoped that the framework of this study can be used for planning future connections. The Eden To Addo Corridor Initiative sent out a stewardship extension officer in February 2011 to approach those land managers areas that were identified. This planning exercise is a good demonstration of how, by collaborating effectively, academic conservation planners can contribute to supporting decision making by organizations that are implementing conservation action.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »