Landscape Change and Ecological Processes in Relation to Land-Use in Namaqualand, South Africa, 1939 to 2005

Hongslo, Eirin; Rohde, Rick; Hoffman, Timm

doi:10.1080/03736245.2009.9725333

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…43 Allsopp et al, 2007. 44 Hoffman and Rohde, 2007;Hongslo et al, 2010. 45 Le Maitre et al, 1999 Livestock grazing pressure, however, is not the only land use practice which can influence the composition of riparian vegetation.…”

Section: Land Use History As An Explanation For Observed Changes In Ementioning

confidence: 96%

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Rivers Through Time: Historical Changes in the Riparian Vegetation of the Semi-Arid, Winter Rainfall Region of South Africa in Response to Climate and Land Use

Hoffman

Rohde

2010

J Hist Biol

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This paper examines how the riparian vegetation of perennial and ephemeral rivers systems in the semi-arid, winter rainfall region of South Africa has changed over time. Using an environmental history approach we assess the extent of change in plant cover at 32 sites using repeat photographs that cover a time span of 36-113 years. The results indicate that in the majority of sites there has been a significant increase in cover of riparian vegetation in both the channel beds and adjacent floodplain environments. The most important species to have increased in cover across the region is Acacia karroo. We interpret the findings in the context of historical changes in climate and land use practices. Damage to riparian vegetation caused by mega-herbivores probably ceased sometime during the early 19th century as did scouring events related to large floods that occurred at regular intervals from the 15th to early 20th centuries. Extensive cutting of riparian vegetation for charcoal and firewood has also declined over the last 150 years. Changes in the grazing history as well as increased abstraction and dam building along perennial rivers in the region also account for some of the changes observed in riparian vegetation during the second half of the 20th century. Predictions of climate change related to global warming anticipate increased drought events with the subsequent loss of species and habitats in the study area. The evidence presented here suggests that an awareness of the region's historical ecology should be considered more carefully in the modelling and formulation of future climate change predictions as well as in the understanding of climate change impacts over time frames of decades and centuries.

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Section: Land Use History As An Explanation For Observed Changes In Ementioning

confidence: 96%

“…54 Musil et al, 2004. 55 Hoffman and Rohde, 2007;Hongslo et al, 2010;Rohde and Hoffman, 2008. 56 Midgley and Thuiller, 2007. leading to large-scale die-offs in riverine tree species.…”

Section: The Role Of Environmental History In Climate Change Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Rivers Through Time: Historical Changes in the Riparian Vegetation of the Semi-Arid, Winter Rainfall Region of South Africa in Response to Climate and Land Use

Hoffman

Rohde

2010

J Hist Biol

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“…In this way, histories of injustice are inscribed into the plants and landscape itself-clearly visible in the difference in plant cover and diversity simply by looking along the fences that separate communal from commercial land (Rohde & Hoffman, 2008;Todd & Hoffman, 1999. This pattern is repeated across Namaqualand (Hoffman & Rohde, 2010;Hongslo, Rohde, & Hoffman, 2009). Largely as a result of annual and short-lived plants replacing perennials, stock animal numbers fluctuate more widely in the communal area.…”

Section: Difficult Life In the Kamiesberg Todaymentioning

confidence: 95%

Water, justice, and wellbeing in the Kamiesberg, Namaqualand: Reflecting on local histories in the context of the Anthropocene

Cohen

2020

WIREs Water

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This paper explores relationships between water and well-being in the Leliefontein Pastoral Area, Namaqualand, South Africa. Despite its geographical focus, it nonetheless articulates with broader regional and national debates around water in the Anthropocene. As a positive response to calls for water justice in South Africa, the paper argues for the need for water justice that is attuned to the particularities of South Africa's complex social-ecologies. In order to make this case, the paper explores a regional literature rich in works in the disciplines of environmental history, anthropology and ecology that demonstrates deep entanglements between water, dispossession of land, and oppressive power in the Leliefontein Pastoral Area, and Namaqualand more generally. Because of the histories and ways of life it describes, the literature underscores the need to consider wellbeing as it relates to water in varying forms-as that which flows through pipes and taps, but also that which cycles through the air, falls on the ground, is taken up by plants, and eaten by stock animals. A consideration of Leliefontein's water history also surfaces the historically delimited nature of water that is primarily known as a natural resource, measured in liters and assessed in terms of its microbial and chemical contents. Other kinds of waters exist and persist in the area and are also vital to how many people experience and think about their own wellbeing. This becomes especially significant in the face of expected effects of climate change in the region.

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“…Riverine areas in particular have shown an increase in cover, largely of the 3-5 m tall tree, Acacia karroo. The few repeat photographs of the ecotone between the Succulent Karoo and the Nama-karoo biomes also suggests an increase in cover, but of C4 grasses within the genus Stipagrostis (Hongslo et al, 2009) (Figure 3). In contrast to the predictions from both the niche-based, climate-only models as well as the Dynamic Vegetation Models, there is no suggestion from this evidence that the more arid Desert biome to the north and east has expanded its range into the Succulent Karoo biome over the last 50 years.…”

Section: Succulent Karoo Biomementioning

confidence: 98%

Rethinking catastrophe? Historical trajectories and modelled future vegetation change in southern Africa

2019

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Most climate change projections for southern Africa describe a hotter and drier future for the subcontinent with catastrophic consequences for the environment and the socio-ecological sustainability of the region. We investigate whether evidence of the projections proposed for the climate and vegetation of the subcontinent is already evident. Results from the climate record indicate that the historical trend of increasing temperature is consistent with future projections for the region. Rainfall, however, appears not to have changed significantly.Results from an analysis of 1,321 repeat historical photographs indicate broad trends in vegetation trajectories in the major biomes of southern Africa. Contrary to early projections for the Succulent Karoo biome, biomass and cover have increased, largely in response to changes in land use practices in the region. Cover in the fire-adapted Fynbos biome has either remained stable or has increased over time with an unanticipated expansion of forest species, particularly in localities which have been protected from fire for long periods. The shrub-dominated Nama-karoo biome has seen an increase in grass cover, and rather than contracting, as suggested in the early modelled projections, the Grassland biome appears to have expanded westwards into former Nama-karoo biome sites. The Savanna biome has experienced a rapid increase in woody plant at rates that have not been anticipated by the models.An analysis of historical trajectories provides a useful context against which future trajectories can be evaluated. It also illustrates how land-use management has influenced vegetation change in the past and what might be done to mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change in the future.

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Landscape Change and Ecological Processes in Relation to Land-Use in Namaqualand, South Africa, 1939 to 2005

Cited by 12 publications

References 20 publications

Rivers Through Time: Historical Changes in the Riparian Vegetation of the Semi-Arid, Winter Rainfall Region of South Africa in Response to Climate and Land Use

Rivers Through Time: Historical Changes in the Riparian Vegetation of the Semi-Arid, Winter Rainfall Region of South Africa in Response to Climate and Land Use

Water, justice, and wellbeing in the Kamiesberg, Namaqualand: Reflecting on local histories in the context of the Anthropocene

Rethinking catastrophe? Historical trajectories and modelled future vegetation change in southern Africa

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