Vegetation type conservation targets, status and level of protection in KwaZulu-Natal in 2016 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Systematic land-cover change in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for biodiversity
South African Journal of Science, 2015
Land-cover change and habitat loss are widely recognised as the major drivers of biodiversity loss in the world. Land-cover maps derived from satellite imagery provide useful tools for monitoring land-use and land-cover change. KwaZulu-Natal, a populous yet biodiversity-rich province in South Africa, is one of the first provinces to produce a set of three directly comparable land-cover maps (2005, 2008 and 2011). These maps were used to investigate systematic land-cover changes occurring in the province with a focus on biodiversity conservation. The Intensity Analysis framework was used for the analysis as this quantitative hierarchical method addresses shortcomings of other established land-cover change analyses. In only 6 years (2005-2011), a massive 7.6% of the natural habitat of the province was lost to anthropogenic transformation of the landscape. The major drivers of habitat loss were agriculture, timber plantations, the built environment, dams and mines. Categorical swapping...
Land cover and climate change threats to savanna and grassland habitats in KwaZulu-Natal
2017
Conservation planning in the face of global change is still in its infancy. A suggested approach is to incorporate environmental gradients into conservation planning as they reflect the ecological and evolutionary processes generating and maintaining diversity. Our study provides a framework to identify the dominant environmental gradients determining floristic composition and pattern. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling was used on 2155 sampling plots in savanna and grassland habitat located across the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (94 697 km), a floristically rich region having steep environmental gradients, to determine the dominant gradients. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to group similar plots which were then used in a Classification and Regression Tree analysis to determine the environmental delimiters of the identified vegetation clusters. Temperature-related variables were the strongest delimiters of floristic composition across the province, in particular ...
Regional Environmental Change
As a conservation strategy, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) establishes biodiversity gardens in areas with unique vegetation types that are vulnerable to extinction. The study aimed to (1) determine the vegetation cover dynamics of the Free State National Botanical Garden (FSNBG) over a 30-year period (1987–2017), focusing on different vegetation classes; (2) evaluate the ecological integrity of the Critical Biodiversity Area 1 (CBA1) vegetation using species abundance and vegetation cover; and (3) quantify potential conservation threats that may be drivers of vegetation cover changes. The “moderate vegetation cover” and “dense vegetation cover” had increased by 25.1 ha and 8.6 ha respectively in the FSNBG. Woody vegetation cover expanded significantly over the past 30-year period, suggesting “bush” encroachment. Shannon–Wiener diversity indices showed high overall plant species diversity of CBA1 vegetation type (H = 3.5), with the vegetation cover remainin...
Rates and patterns of habitat loss across South Africa’s vegetation biomes
South African Journal of Science, 2021
The loss of natural habitat resulting from human activities is the principal driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems globally. Metrics of habitat loss are monitored at national and global scales using various remote sensing based land-cover change products. The metrics go on to inform reporting processes, biodiversity assessments, land-use decision-making and strategic planning in the environmental and conservation sector. We present key metrics of habitat loss across South Africa at national and biome levels for the first time. We discuss the spatial patterns and trends, and the implications and limitations of the metrics. Approximately 22% of the natural habitat of South Africa has been lost since the arrival of European settlers. The extent and the rate of habitat loss are not uniform across South Africa. The relatively mesic Grassland, Fynbos and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt biomes have lost the most habitat, while the arid Nama-Karoo, Succulent Karoo and Desert have lost the least. Rates of loss increased across all biomes in recent years (2014-2018), indicating that the historical drivers of change (i.e. expansion of croplands, human settlements, plantation forestry and mining) are intensifying overall. We should caution that the losses we report are conservative, because the land-cover change products do not capture degradation within natural ecosystems. Preventing widespread biodiversity losses and securing the benefits we derive from biodiversity requires slowing and preventing further habitat degradation and loss by using existing land-use planning and regulatory tools to their full potential. Significance: • The loss of natural habitat resulting from human activities is the principal driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems in South Africa. • Monitoring trends and patterns of habitat loss at a national scale provides a basis for informed environmental decision-making and planning, thus equipping civil society and government to address habitat loss and protect biodiversity while also meeting key development and socioeconomic needs.
Rates and patterns of habitat loss across AUTHORS: South Africa’s vegetation biomes
South African Journal of Science, 2021
The loss of natural habitat resulting from human activities is the principal driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems globally. Metrics of habitat loss are monitored at national and global scales using various remote sensing based land-cover change products. The metrics go on to inform reporting processes, biodiversity assessments, land-use decision-making and strategic planning in the environmental and conservation sector. We present key metrics of habitat loss across South Africa at national and biome levels for the first time. We discuss the spatial patterns and trends, and the implications and limitations of the metrics. Approximately 22% of the natural habitat of South Africa has been lost since the arrival of European settlers. The extent and the rate of habitat loss are not uniform across South Africa. The relatively mesic Grassland, Fynbos and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt biomes have lost the most habitat, while the arid Nama-Karoo, Succulent Karoo and Desert have ...
Assessing Management Effectiveness and Setting Priorities in Protected Areas in KwaZulu-Natal
BioScience, 2003
KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife is the governmental agency responsible for managing protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province, South Africa. The agency recently conducted an assessment of the management effectiveness of all 110 protected areas throughout the province. The assessment highlighted a range of management problems, including poor design and layout of protected areas; staffing problems; and inadequate financial resources, management planning, research efforts, and resource inventories. Major threats include invasive alien plants and the isolation of protected areas, the latter leading to problems in species viability. The assessment was part of a broader systematic conservation planning program being conducted throughout KZN Province; this article concludes with a discussion of how these two assessment processes are being integrated.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 2001
Southern Africa's subtropical forest biome, though small and highly fragmented, supports much of the region's biodiversity. With limited resources available for conservation and the exploitative use of forest escalating, identifying a network of priority forest reserves is important. We examine the distribution of forest birds, butterflies and mammals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using an iterative algorithm we explore the efficiency of existing protected areas, species richness and rarity hotspots, prime forest sites (selected by forest area) and complementary networks as alternative approaches to priority reserve selection, as well as the potential use of 'indicator' taxa. Existing protected areas represent 98% of species but are relatively inefficient in terms of area. Alternative selection criteria represent a high proportion of species (86-92%) and provide efficient bases for developing fully representative reserve networks. All species are represented within a network of 22 complementary quarter degree cells. This network includes several larger forests and existing protected areas and is recommended for priority conservation. Complementary networks identified separately for birds, butterflies and mammals overlap little, but each represents a high proportion of the remaining taxa, supporting their potential as representative 'indicator' taxa. The evolutionary history of the three main forest types in KwaZulu-Natal explains observed spatial patterns of alternative reserve networks. Priority areas are concentrated in scarp and coastal forest belts, regions of comparatively recent evolutionary activity with high species richness. Afromontane forest is older and less diverse, but its inclusion in any reserve network is necessary for the full representation of forest diversity.
Environmental Conservation, 2016
SUMMARYAs multi-use conservation landscapes, biosphere reserves (BRs) exemplify the landscape mosaic approach to environmental decision-making. In this study, time-series remotely-sensed data (1993–2006–2012) were used to monitor vegetation transformation in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (K2C) of South Africa, updating previous land-cover research. We identified changes in spatial extent, rate and intensity of land-cover change and extrapolated observed trends to 2018. The increased rate of change in the recent observation period (2.3 vs. 5.7%) was driven by more intensive gains in impacted vegetation and settlement since 2006 (>210 km2and >120 km2), with resultant transformation of intact habitat undermining regional connectivity. By 2012, intact vegetation had suffered losses of 6.3% (>350 km2) since 2006 and >14% (>750 km2) since 1993. A further 9.5% loss of intact habitat may represent a critical threshold, establishing K2C above the 50% threshold of lan...
Bothalia, 2017
Background: The variety of applications in which the Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (VEGMAP) is used requires the map to be continually updated and refined to reflect the latest available information. The VEGMAP has been updated twice, in 2009 and 2012, since its first release in 2006.Objectives: The first objective is to report on the motivations for changes in the 2009 and 2012 versions. The second objective is to describe new vegetation types and subtypes included in these versions.Method: Changes to the VEGMAP are implemented after a peer-review process that is managed by the National Vegetation Map Committee. Accepted changes are then incorporated into the VEGMAP using GIS software.Results: Seventy-one of the 449 vegetation types were affected by updates. Changes included the addition of new vegetation types and subtypes, modifications to the boundaries of types present in the 2006 VEGMAP and changes to the names of vegetation types.Conclusion: The update...