A monitoring program of forest herbs was initiated at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). The objectives of this project were to produce a quantitative description of the current forest herb communities which can be used as a baseline for monitoring future change as well as a foundation for making informed management decisions. Herbaceous vegetation in previously established permanent forest monitoring plots was characterized during the summers of 1993-94. In the future, these baseline data can be used to detect changes in forest herb communities that might result from natural succession, management decisions and/or environmental changes. The landuse history for these plots was evaluated as a factor affecting the present diversity, richness and cover of the forest herbs at Mammoth Cave National Park. Prior to the establishment of MCNP, landuse consisted of a mosaic of agriculture, logging, and grazing. The park provides unique natural experiment to study the recovery of vegetation following a variety of human influenced disturbances.Thirty-two permanent plots were used to collect species presence and cover in early spring and mid-summer. Five forest herb communities were classified for spring and summer. All plots for the spring and summer community classification were the same except for two. Environmental variables, overstory vegetation, and previous landuse are identified as variables that have significant associations with herbaceous composition. Herbaceous cover, richness, and diversity were higher in areas that were forested before park establishment. The results of this study support the contention that human induced disturbances have more detrimental effect on forest herbs compared to overstory tree species. / Department of Biology

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 353-427) / xii, 427 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / "The Parks" and its constituent labour force was established by the state to underpin the profitability of industrial capital. It is now to be dismantled, its residents dispersed in order to recreate the conditions for renewed profitability. Focusses on a study of "The Parks" community to give a better understanding under Australian conditions of: the special, socially constituted nature of place; the interplay of the global-local and the impacts of economic restructuring; the inseparability of labour and housing markets; and, how the agency of private markets and the state interpenetrate each other. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Adelaide University, Dept. of Geographical and Environmental Studies, 2001

Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-73).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 266-280).

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 127 p. : ill., maps. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Impact assessment is a requirement for development in many countries across the globe, seeking to inform the decision-maker as to the environmental, social and economic impact of an ongoing or proposed project. Socioeconomic impact assessment (SEIA) is a means of informing decision-makers as to the socioeconomic effects a project could have, or is having, thus contributing to informing adaptive management practices. However, the tendency of socioeconomic impact assessment to highly quantitative economic methods of analysis raises the question of whether the desired results are achieved by the process. The purpose of the research was to determine whether highly quantitative forms of economic analysis are suitable for measurement of impacts in a social context where distributive as well as net impact is important; to critically analyze the method utilized in achieving highly quantitative economic impact assessment results; and lastly to draw conclusions and make recommendations regarding the efficacy of monitoring processes used to inform adaptive management practices. The research was conducted by means of a case study focusing on three SEIAs carried out on the same entity, namely the Addo Elephant National Park. Managed by South African National Parks (SANP), it began expanding its borders in the early 2000s. Funded by the World Bank, SANP was required to carry out a comprehensive Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in 2003 to ensure the expansion did not have negative environmental, social and economic repercussions, and where such consequences were unavoidable, to ensure that mitigation and management thereof was informed by useful monitoring exercises. Given the need for resettlement and issues of economic distributive concern raised in the 2003 SEA, the three socioeconomic impact assessments conducted from 2005 – 2010 as part of the ongoing monitoring exercises formed an ideal framework for answering the primary research questions. The findings indicate that despite consistent terms of reference, different assessors interpret mandates from the commissioning body in different ways, leading to varied applications of the same theory, some methodologically better than others. Economic multiplier analysis was found to be inadequate as a measure of the distributive effects of economic impact. Moreover, a lack of consistency, accountability and transparency in the monitoring process led to three sets of results that were incomparable over time and thus inadequate as a means to inform adaptive management practices. Asymmetries of and between power and expertise in the commissioning body and the assessors led to breakdowns of the assessment process in terms of accountability and integrity and resulted in a failure to properly define the scope of the study and measure the relevant indicators. The following recommendations were made: that the economic multiplier method be complemented by additional methods of analysis when utilized in disparate social contexts where distribution of economic benefit is important; that monitoring practices be systematized at an early stage of the process to ensure comparable results useful in informing ongoing management practices; and that what an assessment measures and how it measures it be clarified with reference to an objective source. Finally, the number of factors for consideration in any impact assessment means that measurement of the full picture suffers resource constraints, emphasizing the need for impact assessment oversight to recognize the deficiencies of the process whilst still acknowledging that ‘some number is better than no number’.

The study was conducted in the Greater Kruger National Park Complex (GKNP), which consists of the Kruger National Park (KNP) and adjacent private game reserves and focuses primarily on the following objectives: • To monitor and evaluate the standard of the existing disease surveillance programmes for the following diseases, Foot and Mouth, Anthrax, Tuberculosis, Brucellosis and Rabies, within the Kruger National Park and adjacent private game reserves by evaluating the level of competency and knowledge in field rangers, field guides and trails rangers with regard to these specific diseases. It can be stated that important differences exist between disease surveillance techniques used for domestic animals and those used for wildlife (Bengis, R.G., Kock, R.A., & Fischer, J., 2002). According to Morner, T., Obendorf, D.L., Artios, M., & Woodford, M.H., 2002, it is more difficult to monitor diseases in wildlife than in domestic animals because wild animals are not constrained by boundaries and can roam over large. distances. For significant diseases in wildlife, an active surveillance programme may be the preferred approach with the aim to collect a certain number of samples from a target population (live or dead animals) to determine the point prevalence of certain pathogens. Active veterinary participation is essential in protected area management, with emphasis on training of technicians, rangers and field biologists with regard to specific diseases and their clinical signs, surveillance and sampling techniques, data collection, and reporting. For the purpose of this study, data collection was conducted by means of a questionnaire drawn up according to the related critical points as described in the Dufour grid (Dufour, 1998). The results of this study clearly showed a need to address certain important aspects regarding a wildlife disease programme within the GKNP. A more efficient wildlife disease surveillance programme, which included more specific and “hands-on” trained staff, would definitely ensure a better early warning system which would detect new or emerging disease outbreaks. / M. Tech. (Nature Conservation))

Populations of small prey species (< 92 kg) can be regulated by competition, habitat-mediated responses, climate change, disease and predation. Populations of small prey species have declined in the Addo Elephant National Park Main Camp Section since the reintroduction of apex predators (lion and spotted hyaena). One possible explanation is predation by lion and spotted hyaena. However, small prey species are not generally considered preferred prey items of these predators, hence their contribution to predator diets needs to be explored. Global Positioning System (GPS) cluster analysis has emerged as a viable approach to locate lion kills for lion diet estimation in AENP, however this technique is known to bias diet estimates to large prey species. Understanding the impact of lion predation on populations of small prey in Main Camp therefore requires better estimates of lion diets. This study investigated the potential underestimation of small prey species in lion diet estimates by combining the data from scat analysis and carcasses located at GPS clusters. The adjusted lion diets were then used to investigate if the impact of lion predation could explain declines in small prey, by relating lion prey preferences to prey population trends in Nyathi. Using the results from Nyathi, it could then be inferred whether lions could have been responsible for the declines observed in Main Camp. Six GPS-collared lions provided location data used to construct individual movement paths, along which spatio-temporal clusters of GPS locations (n = 4896) were identified for ground investigation. Carcasses (n = 643) were recorded at the GPS clusters and scats (n = 256) were collected at GPS clusters with or without carcasses. Data from the located carcasses and scat collections were then used to create a history of feeding events for each collared lion in Main Camp-Colchester and Nyathi from a) carcasses alone or b) a combination of scats and carcasses, based on an estimated short and long lion throughout period. Relative prey availability was estimated based on camera trapping in Nyathi in high lion, low lion and no lion use areas, as lions may encounter some prey species more than other prey species. Jacobs’ index prey preference was used to investigate the importance of prey species to lion diets at three landscape scales: 1) Nyathi, 2) lion UD and 3) core lion UD. Lastly, prey population trends were investigated in Nyathi to provide an indication of possible changes in prey populations. Large prey species dominated the adjusted diets of lions in Main Camp-Colchester and Nyathi. However, when comparing the GPS carcass-derived lion diet estimate to the combined lion diet estimate, small prey were underestimated more often than large prey in the GPS carcass-derived lion diet estimate. Missed feeding events were therefore a function of prey body size. In addition, missed feeding events were also representative of the lion diets based on carcasses, with the tendency for species more often consumed to be missed more often in the diet record. However, even though small prey species were underestimated, they represented the minority of species consumed by lions and were predominantly avoided by lions in Nyathi. Lion prey preferences thus did not correlate to the declines in small prey species in Naythi, suggesting other potential drivers are important for small population trends in Nyathi. Lion predation cannot be ruled out as a driver of the decline in small prey species in Main Camp, due to different ecological conditions (e.g. vegetation density) in Main Camp compared to Nyathi, during the observed small prey population declines. Lion prey preferences in Nyathi revealed fine-scale variations in species specific preferences by lions, as well as site-specific differences in prey preferences when compared to published lion prey preference meta-analyses. These findings suggest that metaanalysis studies should be used as a guideline from which hypotheses about local predatorprey interactions can be developed rather than as an absolute measure of prey preference.

A vegetation survey, on the plant community level of organization, was conducted on the Mfabeni swamp on the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia. The survey included both the sedge/grass swamp and the swamp forest. Mfabeni swamp is a peatland with peat up to 10m in depth. Except for limited studies in Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, this is a first vegetation survey on the plant community level of peatland vegetation in southern Africa. Total floristic composition and habitat information were recorded in 214 sample plots, fully referenced by GPS for GIS mapping. The data were captured in the TURBOVEG data base for vegetation data, classified using the TWINSPAN numerical classification algorithm and phytosociological tables were compiled using the MEGATAB computerized table management program. Fourteen plant communities were identified, characterized by diagnostic and dominant species, described, and the localities noted by GIS. The data were also processed by the PCOrd numerical ordination program and the axes of the resulting ordination diagrams were related to environmental conditions. This gave an indication of the environmental factors controlling the existence and distribution patterns of the different plant communities. An ordination was run on the habitat data collected to further illustrate the relationship between the plant communities and environmental variables. It seems that water depth, seasonality of the water depth and certain water chemical properties, such as pH conductivity and dissolved oxygen content of the water play an important role in determining floristic composition and therefore plant community type in the Mfabeni swamp. / Dissertation (MSc(Botany))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Plant Science / unrestricted