A new broom sweeps clean: the economic and cultural value of grass brooms in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Cocks, Michelle L, Dold, Anthony P
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141382 , vital:37967 , DOI: 10.1080/14728028.2004.9752477
- Description: In southern Africa over the last twenty years, much attention has been given to the importance of NTFPs for rural livelihoods through their household consumption and sale. They have been classified as having either subsistence consumption or commercial values. These values are mostly related to their utilitarian functions, but recent studies show that NTFPs also hold strong cultural functions. Such cultural functions can play a role in both rural and urban livelihoods; consequently the values of NTFPs may be related to both utilitarian and cultural functions. This paper demonstrates the cultural functions of grass brooms in urban areas in South Africa and the impact of their trade on income generation in rural areas, and discusses the concept of culture as a significant factor in the understanding of the role of NTFPs in livelihoods, and their values.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141382 , vital:37967 , DOI: 10.1080/14728028.2004.9752477
- Description: In southern Africa over the last twenty years, much attention has been given to the importance of NTFPs for rural livelihoods through their household consumption and sale. They have been classified as having either subsistence consumption or commercial values. These values are mostly related to their utilitarian functions, but recent studies show that NTFPs also hold strong cultural functions. Such cultural functions can play a role in both rural and urban livelihoods; consequently the values of NTFPs may be related to both utilitarian and cultural functions. This paper demonstrates the cultural functions of grass brooms in urban areas in South Africa and the impact of their trade on income generation in rural areas, and discusses the concept of culture as a significant factor in the understanding of the role of NTFPs in livelihoods, and their values.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Environmental limits to the distribution of Scaevola plumieri along the South African coast
- Peter, Craig I, Ripley, Bradley S, Robertson, Mark P
- Authors: Peter, Craig I , Ripley, Bradley S , Robertson, Mark P
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011617
- Description: Scaevola plumieri is an important pioneer on many tropical and subtropical sand dunes, forming a large perennial subterranean plant with only the tips of the branches emerging above accreting sand. In South Africa it is the dominant pioneer on sandy beaches along the east coast, less abundant on the south coast and absent from the southwest and west coasts. Transpiration rates (E) of S. plumieri are predictably related to atmospheric vapour pressure deficit under a wide range of conditions and can therefore be predicted from measurement of ambient temperature and relative humidity. Scaling measurements of E at the leaf level to the canopy level has been demonstrated previously. Using a geographic information system, digital maps of regional climatic variables were used to calculate digital maps of potential transpiration from mean monthly temperature and relative humidity values, effectively scaling canopy level transpiration rates to a regional level. Monthly potential transpiration was subtracted from the monthly median rainfall to produce a map of mean monthly water balance. Seasonal growth was correlated with seasonal water balance. Localities along the coast with water deficits in summer corresponded with the recorded absence of S. plumieri, which grows and reproduces most actively in the summer months. This suggests that reduced water availability during the summer growth period limits the distribution of S. plumieri along the southwest coast, where water deficits develop in summer. Temperature is also important in limiting the distribution of S. plumieri on the southwest coast of South Africa through its effects on the growth and phenology of the plant.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Peter, Craig I , Ripley, Bradley S , Robertson, Mark P
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011617
- Description: Scaevola plumieri is an important pioneer on many tropical and subtropical sand dunes, forming a large perennial subterranean plant with only the tips of the branches emerging above accreting sand. In South Africa it is the dominant pioneer on sandy beaches along the east coast, less abundant on the south coast and absent from the southwest and west coasts. Transpiration rates (E) of S. plumieri are predictably related to atmospheric vapour pressure deficit under a wide range of conditions and can therefore be predicted from measurement of ambient temperature and relative humidity. Scaling measurements of E at the leaf level to the canopy level has been demonstrated previously. Using a geographic information system, digital maps of regional climatic variables were used to calculate digital maps of potential transpiration from mean monthly temperature and relative humidity values, effectively scaling canopy level transpiration rates to a regional level. Monthly potential transpiration was subtracted from the monthly median rainfall to produce a map of mean monthly water balance. Seasonal growth was correlated with seasonal water balance. Localities along the coast with water deficits in summer corresponded with the recorded absence of S. plumieri, which grows and reproduces most actively in the summer months. This suggests that reduced water availability during the summer growth period limits the distribution of S. plumieri along the southwest coast, where water deficits develop in summer. Temperature is also important in limiting the distribution of S. plumieri on the southwest coast of South Africa through its effects on the growth and phenology of the plant.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism, South Africa
- Victor, A E, Dold, Anthony P
- Authors: Victor, A E , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6555 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006013
- Description: We present Red List assessments of threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. We evaluated the status of taxa using categories and criteria adopted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1994 and updated in 2001. In total, 126 taxa are threatened with extinction in the Albany Centre, and six are now extinct. A further 22 are listed as Data Deficient. In the past, agriculture has been a severe threat to the survival of rare species in this part of the Eastern Cape; the main threats to the continuing existence of threatened plants in this area are illegal collecting, residential development and urban growth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Victor, A E , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6555 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006013
- Description: We present Red List assessments of threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. We evaluated the status of taxa using categories and criteria adopted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1994 and updated in 2001. In total, 126 taxa are threatened with extinction in the Albany Centre, and six are now extinct. A further 22 are listed as Data Deficient. In the past, agriculture has been a severe threat to the survival of rare species in this part of the Eastern Cape; the main threats to the continuing existence of threatened plants in this area are illegal collecting, residential development and urban growth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
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