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Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy / The representation of contemporary southern African climate by a wide range of general circulation models used in climate studies is evaluated. In addition, projections of regional climate change by the models are interpreted in terms of their present climate performance. Projections of regional climate change by two different types of climate models are considered. First, projections of the equilibrium response to an instantaneous doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide using atmospheric models linked to simple mixed-layer oceans are assessed. Second, projections of the transient response to gradually-increasing anthropogenic forcing by fully-coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models are considered. All of the mixed-layer models considered have been developed since 1990 and are more recent and generally higher-resolution versions of the models considered previously for southern Africa. The improved resolution and model physics result in a general improvement in the representation of several features of circulation around southern Africa. Specifically, these include the meridional pressure gradient, the zonal wind profile, the intensity and seasonal location of the circumpolar trough and the subtropical anticyclones, as well as planetary wave structure at 500 hPa. Atmospheric models forced by observed sea-surface temperatures simulate the large-scale circulation adjustments around southern Africa known to accompany periods of above- and below-average rainfall over the subcontinent. Fully-coupled models simulate the observed features of intra- and intra- annual variability in mean sea-level pressure, although the simulated variability is weaker than observed. Summer rainfall totals throughout southern Africa are overestimated by all of the models, although the pattern of rainfall seasonality over the subcontinent as a whole is well-reproduced. The inclusion of sulphate aerosols in addition to greenhouse gases does not result in a statistically significant improvement in the simulation of contemporary temperature variability over southern Africa. Warming projected by fully-coupled models is smaller than projections by mixed-layer models due to the fact that the transient response of the fully-coupled system and not an equilibrium response of an atmospheric model linked to a mixed-layer ocean is simulated. The inclusion of sulphate aerosols results in a reduction in the magnitude and rate of warming over southern Africa. Projected changes in the diurnal temperature range are seasonally-dependent, with increases in summer and autumn and decreases in winter. Simulated changes in mean sea-level pressure are small but similar in magnitude to observed anomalies associated with extended wet and dry spells over the subcontinent. No change in rainfall seasonality over southern Africa is expected. Nonetheless, little confidence exists in projected changes in total rainfall. While both types of model simulate a 10-15% decrease in summer rainfall on average, projected changes are smaller than the simulation errors and little inter-model consensus in terms of the sign of projected changes exists. No change in the location or intensity of anticyclonic circulation and divergence at 700 hPa in winter is expected. While fully-coupled models provide a more comprehensive treatment of the global climate system and the process of climate change, there is no evidence to conclude that current fully-coupled models should be used to the exclusion of mixed-layer models when developing regional climate change scenarios for southern Africa. / Andrew Chakane 2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Three key objectives of transfrontier conservation are biodiversity conservation, local economic development and the promotion of peace and cooperation across international borders (Ramutsindela, 2004). Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA’s) may incorporate a variety of conservation land uses, and comprise of both consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife (Hanks, 2003). It is critical that this mosaic of land uses is well managed and integrated in order to meet the conservation and socio-economic goals of TFCA’s. One challenge is that different conservation land use areas may have varying effects on wildlife. This study aims to further our understanding of these effects in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park of South Africa and Mozambique. The research uses the behavioural responses of wildlife as a way of determining the tolerance of wildlife to potentially disturbing activities. Four different conservation land use areas, namely trophy hunting, communal land, photographic tourism and exclusive photographic tourism were studied and compared in and around the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, southern Africa. The aim of this study was to firstly establish the diversity of mammals and the frequency of mammal sightings within each conservation land use area, and secondly, assess the response behaviour of five mammal species to an approaching vehicle. K-means cluster analysis was used on both the mammal sightings data and the response behaviour data in order to determine key influencing variables. Throughout the study period, the mammal diversity and frequency of mammal sightings were the highest in the private ecotourism concession, followed by the national park, and then the trophy hunting reserve and lastly communal land. The behavioural responses displayed by the five study mammals (African elephant, African buffalo, impala, chacma baboon and Burchell’s zebra) also varied considerably between the four conservation land use areas. The lowest response indexes and least number of flight responses occurred in the national park, followed by the private ecotourism concession, and conversely, a higher average initial response index and a greater occurrence of flight responses occurring in the trophy hunting reserve and communal land. According to the findings from the cluster analyses, the type of conservation land use impacts on the sighting potential and sighting quality of mammals, but so do iii topographical differences and seasons. These results can help in the management of each conservation land use area on its own and as an integrated part of a TFCA.

A research report submitted to the Political Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts (MA) in Political Studies. March 2015 / Trade unions have always been part of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, whether as a civil society formation mobilizing for better wages and improved working conditions on the shop floor, or in alliance with political formations in a bid to transform society and introduce regime change. In most cases, especially in South Africa, it was the unions that continued the struggle even after political parties were banned. It was also through the mobilization strength and resources of the unions that political parties (National Liberation Movement) emerged as formidable and hegemonic forces in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Thus, the paper argues that, in part, UNIP (and later MMD), ZANU-PF and the ANC owe their political ascendancy to the mass mobilization by the trade unions. Trade unions have often had to resist subordination by the liberation movements. The paper suggests that; the fight for independent and worker-centered trade unions, and the unilateral implementation of structural adjustment programmes, were central to the conflict between trade unions and liberation movements. These are seen as factors that undermined the dominance of National Liberation Movements hegemony. The paper argues that; the contemporary union/party relations in South Africa show similar trajectories to those in Zambia and Zimbabwe. While the literature is explicit on how UNIP and ZANU-PF lost their ideological dominance and hegemony, the continued dominance of the ANC remains an object of ongoing debate.

The development of tourism may catalyse a vast array of impacts, social, cultural, socioeconomic, environmental or political. In ethnic minority communities and regions, impacts are potentially greater due to the pre-existing social, cultural and even sociopolitical constructs. Tourism, as a global phenomenon, is confined to operating within the local context. This is certainly the case in ethnic minority communities of China's southern peripheries. Tourism development is a differential process of formal and informal sector development. Formal sector development is generally capital intensive and relatively highly organised. In contrast, the informal sector involves many small vendors and family or community run businesses. The sectoral dichotomy may also be applied, in a general sense, to the types of tourists utilizing accommodation and services provided by these two distinct sectors. As the balance between the two sectors changes over time and across space, there is a commensurate shift in the type and scale of impacts generated by tourism in host communities. It is this that makes the sectoral paradigm so relevant to the role (or indeed lack of role) of ethnic minorities in tourism development in their local areas and communities. Apart from economic impacts, there are sociocultural and even socioenvironmental impacts on host communities. As with socioeconomic impacts, sociocultural impacts are also influenced by the differential development of the formal and informal sectors over time. Furthermore, particularly in ethnic minority areas, socioeconomic and sociocultural impacts are tightly integrated and one impact realm cannot adequately be considered in isolation.

I used a comparative and experimental approach to examine nest habitat selection, reproductive success, and nest site fidelity of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) in a large, non-fragmented grassland in southwest California. In 1999, I compared habitat characteristics between nest sites (n = 31) and randomly selected, unoccupied burrows (n = 31) in the local vicinity of the nest (paired burrows). In 2000, I compared habitat characteristics between nest sites (n = 33) and randomly selected, unoccupied burrows (n 32) within the study area (unpaired burrows). I examined reproductive success and variation in nest habitat characteristics, diet quality, and intraspecific competition using data from 1998, 1999, and 2000. I experimentally (n = 11 control and 11 treatment nests) assessed the effect of satellite burrow (multiple auxiliary burrows near the nest) use on productivity and behavior. I found little variation in habitat between nest sites and unoccupied burrows. Habitat selection was not strong when nests and unoccupied burrows were spatially correlated (paired burrows). However, nest sites had a larger number of large diameter burrows, satellite burrows, and perches than the unpaired burrows. Nest success ( I young fledged) and productivity (the number of young alive at 14 -21 days) varied substantially among some years, though the habitat variables I tested did not explain reproductive success when both failed and successful nests were evaluated. When nests were successful, productivity was influenced by rodent consumption. Nest fidelity within the breeding season was highly correlated with nest success. Nest abandonment occurred at 83% (n = 15 of 18), 92% (n = 12 of 13), and 83% (n = 20 of 24) of the failed nests in 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. Results of the experimental manipulation of satellite burrow access showed that productivity did not differ between groups but demonstrated that burrowing owls will adjust their behavior to use satellites. Owls in the treatment group (71%; n = 5 of 7) responded by moving their families to areas with access to satellite burrows but none of the control group owl families moved. This study illustrates the importance of identifying critical factors affecting reproductive success of burrowing owls in large grasslands. Maintenance of burrowing mammal populations to provide nest and satellite burrows will be important for protecting burrowing owls. Also, temporal dynamics influenced reproductive success. Habitat characteristics that enhance foraging ability may benefit productivity, especially in years of low rodent numbers. Furthermore, temporal variation in nest success may lead to low nest site fidelity. / Graduation date: 2002

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The Pahrump Band of Southern Paiute is an Indigenous group in southern Nevada that is not formally acknowledged by the United States government. This status was in part created by the production of space within the colonial system, through both cartographic and written texts. This thesis examines both the process of colonial space making around the Pahrump Band, and exposes the problems created by this process. Finally, a discussion is offered as to the value of re-presenting the spaces of the Pahrump Band in order to achieve political participation.

Two hypothese were considered within the confines of this study. In reference to the first, it has been demonstrated that the strength of perceived school cultures, when defined by meta-orientations, can be measured using culturally related constructs. While respecting the notion that cultures are living entities in a culturally related constructs. While respecting the notion that cultures are living entities in a continual state of change, the researcher found the perceived extant school culture of Southern Alberta during the course of the study appeared to be mainly transormational in nature. From this study, a cultural meta-orientation matrix has been proposed. Should this description have validity for schools in Southrn Alberta, and accepting the results of this study that the perceived working reality of school cultures is transformational in nature, both macro and sub-cultures wishing to work successfully with and within the extant school cultures would also be required to be transformational in order to achieve greater success. Regarding the second hypothesis, this study measured perceived levels of acceptance or resistance to change through the use of an individual change index. This index suggest teachers and principals in Southern Alberta were somewhat resistive to change initiatives at the time this inquiry took place. It is the conclusion of this researcher that such resistance may be attributed to a "clash of cultures"; specifically, the Alberta Education transmissional culture causing conflict within the transformational school cultures. / x, 114 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

Rangelands are an important resource to Alberta. Due to their size, mapping rangeland features is difficult. However, the use of aerial and satellite data for mapping has increased the area that can be studied at one time. The recent success in applying hyperspectral data to vegetation mapping has shown promise in rangeland classification. However, classification mapping of hyperspectral data requires existing data for input into classification algorithms. The research reported in this thesis focused on acquiring a seasonal inventory of in-situ reflectance spectra of rangeland plant species (endmembers) and comparing them to evaluate their separability as an indicator of their suitability for hyperspectral image classification analysis. The goals of this research also included determining the separability of species endmembers at different times of the growing season. In 2008, reflectance spectra were collected for three shrub species (Artemisia cana, Symphoricarpos occidentalis, and Rosa acicularis), five rangeland grass species native to southern Alberta (Koeleria gracilis, Stipa comata, Bouteloua gracilis, Agropyron smithii, Festuca idahoensis) and one invasive grass species (Agropyron cristatum). A spectral library, built using the SPECCHIO spectral database software, was populated using these spectroradiometric measurements with a focus on vegetation spectra. Average endmembers of plant spectra acquired during the peak of sample greenness were compared using three separability measures – normalized Euclidean distance (NED), correlation separability measure (CSM) and Modified Spectral Angle Mapper (MSAM) – to establish the degree to which the species were separable. Results were normalized to values between 0 and 1 and values above the established thresholds indicate that the species were not separable . The endmembers for Agropyron cristatum, Agropyron smithii, and Rosa acicularis were not separable using CSM (threshold = 0.992) or MSAM (threshold = 0.970). NED (threshold = 0.950) was best able to separate species endmembers. Using reflectance data collected throughout the summer and fall, species endmembers obtained within two-week periods were analyzed using NED to plot their separability. As expected, separability of sample species changed as they progressed through their individual phenological patterns. Spectra collected during different solar zenith angles were compared to see if they affected the separability measures. Sample species endmembers were generally separable using NED during the periods in which they were measured and compared. However, Koeleria gracilis and Festuca idahoensis endmembers were inseparable from June to mid-August when measurements were taken at solar zenith angles between 25° – 30° and 45° – 60°. However, between 30° and 45°, Bouteloua gracilis and Festuca idahoensis endmembers, normally separable during other solar zenith angles, became spectrally similar during the same sampling period. Findings suggest that the choice of separability measures is an important factor when analyzing hyperspectral data. The differences observed in the separability results over time also suggest that the consideration of phenological patterns in planning data acquisition for rangeland classification mapping has a high level of importance. / xii, 93 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm