Response of southern African vegetation to climate change at 1.5 and 2.0° global warming above the pre-industrial level

Lawal, Shakirudeen; Lennard, Christopher; Hewitson, Bruce

doi:10.1016/j.cliser.2019.100134

Cited by 46 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…There are many studies on the responses of South African ecosystems to contemporary and future predicted climate change (e.g., [67][68][69][70][71]), but there is less understanding of how these responses affect the provision of different ecosystem services [72,73]. Likewise, many studies have examined ecosystem responses to land degradation (and its converse, restoration) in South Africa (e.g., [51,[74][75][76]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

et al. 2021

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Although changes in ecosystems in response to climate and land-use change are known to have implications for the provision of different environmental and ecosystem services, quantifying the economic value of some of these services can be problematic and has not been widely attempted. Here, we used a simplified raster remote sensing model based on MODIS data across South Africa for five different time slices for the period 2001–2019. The aims of the study were to quantify the economic changes in ecosystem services due to land degradation and land-cover changes based on areal values (in USD ha−1 yr−1) for ecosystem services reported in the literature. Results show progressive and systematic changes in land-cover classes across different regions of South Africa for the time period of analysis, which are attributed to climate change. Total ecosystem service values for South Africa change somewhat over time as a result of land-use change, but for 2019 this calculated value is USD 437 billion, which is ~125% of GDP. This is the first estimation of ecosystem service value made for South Africa at the national scale. In detail, changes in land cover over time within each of the nine constituent provinces in South Africa mean that ecosystem service values also change regionally. There is a clear disparity between the provinces with the greatest ecosystem service values when compared to their populations and contribution to GDP. This highlights the potential for untapped ecosystem services to be exploited as a tool for regional sustainable development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

et al. 2021

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“…The importance of duff burning is further strengthened with climateecosystem interactions. With the increasing mean temperature and CO2 concentrations, the duff layer accumulation is potentially benefiting from the acceleration of vegetation growth (Qian et al, 2010;Huang et al, 2018;Lawal et al, 2019;Bai et al, 2020) and soil organic carbon decomposition (Fierer et al, 2006;Karhu et al, 2014). Besides, tropical peatland fires are sensitive to ENSO-induced climate variability, indicating that it is necessary to evaluate the fire-climate interactions in order to better understand the duff and peat burning (Field et al, 2009;Tosca et al, 2011…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duff burning from wildfires in a moist region: different impacts on PM<sub>2.5</sub> and Ozone

Zhang

Liu

Goodrick

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Wildfires can significantly impact air quality and human health. However, little is known about how duff and peat burning contributes to these impacts. This study investigates the air quality impacts of duff consumption during the four largest wildfire events this century in southeastern United States, with a focus on the different impacts on fine particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in size (PM2.5) and ozone (O3). The emissions of duff burning were estimated based on a field measurement. The emissions from the burning of other fuels were obtained from the Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN). The air quality impacts were simulated using a 3-D regional air quality model. The results show the duff burning emitted PM2.5 comparable to the burning of the above-ground fuels. The simulated surface PM2.5 concentrations due to duff burning increased by 61.3 % locally over a region approximately 300 km within the fire site and by 21.3 % and 29.7 % in the remote metro Atlanta and Charlotte during the 2016 southern Appalachian fires, and by 131.9 % locally and by 17.7 % and 24.8 % in the remote metro Orlando and Miami during the 2007 Okefenokee fire. However, the simulated ozone impacts from the duff burning were negligible due to the small duff emission factors of ozone precursors such as NOx. This study suggests the need to improve the modeling of PM2.5 and the air quality, human health, and climate impacts of wildfires in moist ecosystems by including duff burning in global fire emission inventories.

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“…However, these communities are heavily influenced by seasonal changes, with a shift in moisture and temperature. This should raise some questions to the effect of climate change in these areas which are expected to become dryer and warmer in the next few decades [90].…”

Section: Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Communities in the Fynbos Region of South Africa: What Happens during Woody Alien Plant Invasions

2020

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The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is globally known for its plant biodiversity, and its flora is commonly referred to as fynbos. At the same time, this area is under severe pressure from urbanization, agricultural expansion and the threat of invasive alien plants. Acacia, Eucalyptus and Pinus are the common invasive alien plants found across the biome and considerable time, effort and resources are put into the removal of invasive alien plants and the rehabilitation of native vegetation. Several studies have shown that invasion not only affects the composition of plant species, but also has a profound effect on the soil chemistry and microbial populations. Over the last few years, a number of studies have shown that the microbial populations of the CFR are unique to the area, and harbour many endemic species. The extent of the role they play in the invasion process is, however, still unclear. This review aims to provide an insight into the current knowledge on the different microbial populations from this system, and speculate what their role might be during invasion. More importantly, it places a spotlight on the lack of information about this process.

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Response of southern African vegetation to climate change at 1.5 and 2.0° global warming above the pre-industrial level

Cited by 46 publications

References 70 publications

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

Duff burning from wildfires in a moist region: different impacts on PM<sub>2.5</sub> and Ozone

Microbial Communities in the Fynbos Region of South Africa: What Happens during Woody Alien Plant Invasions

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Response of southern African vegetation to climate change at 1.5 and 2.0° global warming above the pre-industrial level

Cited by 46 publications

References 70 publications

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

Duff burning from wildfires in a moist region: different impacts on PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt; and Ozone

Microbial Communities in the Fynbos Region of South Africa: What Happens during Woody Alien Plant Invasions

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Product

Resources

About

Duff burning from wildfires in a moist region: different impacts on PM<sub>2.5</sub> and Ozone