- Title
- Linking people’s needs, preferences and values to ecosystem services provided by marine phytoplankton of Algoa Bay, South Africa
- Creator
- Snow, Bernadette
- Subject
- Marine phytoplankton -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Subject
- Marine biology -- Research Biodiversity conservation -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- DPhil
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/33363
- Identifier
- vital:32669
- Description
- Marine, coastal and ocean development has gained impetus around the globe and in particular along Africa’s coastal states. A socio-ecological systems framework approach was adopted to explore marine and coastal socio-ecological systems in Algoa Bay, situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa a Bay with a rich history steeped in culture and diversity. Phytoplankton biodiversity was determined for the Bay to characterise aspects of the marine environment in Algoa Bay. The policy landscape for South Africa was also analysed to characterise the governance landscape and identify if the policies, legislation and frameworks adopted and applied would support socio-ecological systems thinking and support equitable development of marine and coastal resources. Positives raised by manager are the general positive attitude and pro-environmental value system. To understand how people within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality value the marine and coastal environment, their knowledge of phytoplankton and services provided, governance knowledge, attitudes towards the future of the socio-environment landscape and value positions that would identify pro-environmental behaviour of the communities surveyed. Loss of marine and coastal environments and services would be a direct threat to spiritual and cultural practices and beliefs of the amaXhosa. Further access was a driving theme in this study and therefore development and conservation efforts need to heed the value and importance of having access to the marine and coastal environment, not only for sustaining livelihoods but for religious and leisure experiences. Size fractionated biomass was determined to describe the contribution of different cell size assemblages to the overall productivity of Algoa Bay. The analysis showed a general dominance of microplankton cell sizes with the picoplankton not contributing much towards the overall biomass of the period analysed. Cell size of the phytoplankton species provides an indication of the environmental changes, together with contribution towards biomass. Species that bloom also change the productivity of the system, for example a diatom bloom will increase productivity more so than a dinoflagellate bloom. Cell size will influence response of phytoplankton to environmental changes and how phytoplankton adapts physiologically to stressors such as climate change. However in the context of studies linking biodiversity to a socio-ecological framework, size fractionated data is not required and overall productivity and diversity of the system is better suited for this type of study. The direct link between the ecological and social data is the application of the information for management of the ecosystem and as an early warning system. The information learnt from the managers and community also highlights the need for a shared approach to gathering knowledge and learning about the world around us.
- Format
- 354 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Bernadette Snow.pdf | 7 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |