The fast growing local human population, especially through immigration from countries north of South Africa, is placing the Soutpansberg and Blouberg areas under increasing pressure. The insatiable demand for more arable land within these agriculturally marginal and semi-arid areas is leading to severe degradation of the remaining natural resources. The Soutpansberg–Blouberg region has been recognized as a Centre of Endemism and is regarded as a region of exceptionally high biological diversity. The Soutpansberg Conservancy and the Blouberg Nature Reserve reveal extremely rich diversities of plant communities relative to the sizes of these conservation areas. The Major Vegetation Types and plant communities of the Soutpansberg Centre of Endemism are described in detail with special reference to the Soutpansberg Conservancy and the Blouberg Nature Reserve. Phytosociological data from 466 sample plots were ordinated using a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DECORANA) and classified using Two–way Indicator Species Analysis(TWINSPAN). The resulting classification was further refined with table–sorting procedures based on the Braun–Blanquet floristic–sociological approach of vegetation classification using MEGATAB. Eight Major Vegetation Types were identified and described as Eragrostis lehmanniana var. lehmanniana–Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra BNR Northern Plains Bushveld, Euclea divinorum–Acacia tortilis BNR Southern Plains Bushveld, Englerophytum magalismontanum–Combretum molle BNR Mountain Bushveld, Adansonia digitata–Acacia nigrescens Soutpansberg Arid Northern Bushveld, Catha edulis–Flueggia virosa Soutpansberg Moist Mountain Thickets, Diplorhynchus condylocarpon–Burkea africana Soutpansberg Leached Sandveld, Rhus rigida var. rigida–Rhus magalismontanum subsp. coddii Soutpansberg Mistbelt Vegetation and Xymalos monospora–Rhus chirendensis Soutpansberg Forest Vegetation. Plant communities of each of the Major Vegetation Types are described. The primary ecological drivers of the event-driven and the classic climax vegetation types are discussed and management recommendations are made for effective conservation of these last remaining pockets of wilderness. The available data supports the recognition of the region as an important Centre of Plant Endemism and Biological Diversity requiring conservation attention. Copyright / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Plant Science / unrestricted

A biodiversidade constitui o pilar de sustentação da civilização humana. No entanto, sua manutenção é constantemente ameaçada pelo próprio homem, em face do modo de produção no qual as economias mundiais se baseiam. Conseqüentemente, tornou-se necessário transformar a biodiversidade em um bem jurídico, a fim de regulamentar seu uso, o que foi feito por meio da Convenção da Diversidade Biológica (CDB). Esta reconhece a soberania dos países signatários sobre a diversidade biológica e cultural presente em seus territórios e a importância da conservação dos recursos naturais e genéticos, por meio da criação e implementação de um sistema de unidades de conservação, proteção dos conhecimentos e práticas tradicionais das comunidades locais, dentre outras formas. Estabelece as diretrizes para tal, assegurando a repartição justa e equitativa dos benefícios gerados pelo uso destes recursos. Ao apresentar as principais políticas públicas implementadas pelo Brasil referentes à conservação da diversidade biológica e tomando por base, especificamente, a criação e implementação de uma área protegida dentro do Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação, este trabalho discute se a criação de reservas extrativistas representa uma alternativa viável à conservação da diversidade biológica e, conseqüentemente, à conservação do estilo de vida das comunidades tradicionais no Brasil. Partindo-se, então, do texto da CDB, discute também se é uma alternativa viável para que o Brasil cumpra seus compromissos junto à CDB. A análise da criação e implementação da Reserva Extrativista do Baixo Juruá, como estudo de caso, comprova que a criação desta categoria de unidade de conservação apresenta-se como uma alternativa bastante válida para a conservação da diversidade biológica e do modo de vida dos moradores de comunidades tradicionais, principalmente para a região Amazônica, como no caso apresentado. / Biodiversity is the mainstream of human civilization. However, its conservation is constantly threatened by mankind and their world production-based economy. It has therefore become necessary to transform biodiversity into an international law wellbeing to regulate its use. This has been achieved by the Biological Diversity Convention (BDC). The BDC recognizes allied countries\' independent right over their own biological and cultural diversity. It also conceives the importance of natural and genetic resources conservation by means of implementing a system of Conservational Units, as well as by the protection of traditional knowledge and practices of local communities among others. The Convention establishes guidelines to achieve these goals, always assuring a fair and equal share of all the benefits obtained from the use of the resources. This paper presents the main public policies implemented in Brazil for the conservation of biodiversity, more specifically the creation and implementation of a protected area as part of the Brazilian National Conservation Unit System. It looks into the feasibility and efficacy of creating an Extractivist Conservation Unit System regarding biodiversity and traditional communities\' lifestyle protection in Brazil according to the BDC established guidelines and goals. The Baixo Juruá Extractivist Conservation Unit is particularly analyzed, focusing on its creation and implementation. This analysis concludes that such category of Conservational Unit comprises a feasible strategy for biodiversity and traditional communities\' lifestyle protection, especially concerning the Amazon.

Biological diversity is a key component in assessing ecosystem health. Alteration, degradation and loss of habitat due to human influence is currently the primary stressor resulting in decreases in diversity. Reliable assessment of large areas in terms of biological integrity are needed for conservation and preservation efforts. Remotely sensed data provide an integrated view of reflected electromagnetic energy over large areas of the earth. These energy patterns provide unique spectral signatures which can be correlated to land cover and habitat. This research sought relationships between traditional ecological measures and information gathered from satellite digital imagery. Reliable interpretation of earth surface characteristics relies largely on accurate rectification to a map projection and subsequent thematic classification. Use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for rectification was superior than digitizing topographical maps. Differentially corrected GPS locations provided optimum rectification with SPOT satellite imagery while marginally better rectifications were obtained for Landsat MSS imagery using uncorrected GPS positions. SPOT imagery provided more accurate land cover classifications than did MSS. Detection of temporal land cover change using MSS imagery was hampered by confusion among intermediate successional classes. Confusion between upland and bottomland forest classes occurred with both SPOT and MSS. Landscape analyses using thematic maps produced from the previously discussed endeavors suggested that terrestrial habitat in the Ray Roberts Lake area became more fragmented and complex in shape. Habitat patches became smaller but more numerous. Forested areas were most effected and conservation efforts should focus on management strategies that promote vegetation succession and forest maturation. Remotely sensed SPOT data were successfully used to predict tree basal area. There were no significant relationships found with other in situ measures or between MSS data and any vegetation measures. Remote sensing provided information suitable for large scale projects concerning landscape-level ecological issues. Rectification and classification accuracies were the primary factors influencing meaningful interpretation. Project goals should determine the scale of remotely sensed data and acceptable level of accuracy.

Legal regulation of alien species of plants and animals Abstract This thesis deals with the legal regulation of invasive non-native species of plants and animals, i.e., preventing their spread and minimizing the negative consequences that these species cause on individual ecosystems and biodiversity in general. The aim of this work is to analyse the related effective international, EU and Czech national legislation and to define the most significant changes concerning the relevant Czech laws in connection with the implementation of Regulation (EU) No. 1143/2014 and Regulation (EC) No. 708/2007. At the beginning, the work deals with the history of the spread of non-native species, as identifying the critical pathways of their spread is also an important knowledge necessary for creating effective legislation and also the definition of fundamental terms - non-native species, invasive non-native species, and biodiversity. Furthermore, the work deals with the most important international treaties in this area, i.e., the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Convention on the Conservation of European Fauna and Flora and Habitats and the Madrid Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, with the relevant European Union legislation, i.e., a network...

Department of Ecology and Water Resources / MENVM

MSc (Zoology)) / Department of Zoology

MSc (Botany) / Department of Botany / Invasive alien plants (IAPs) are non-native species that have spread beyond the introduction site; become abundant to an extent that they serve as agents of change that also threaten native biological diversity (Garcia-Berthou, 2007). IAPs have medicinal applications for the treatment of various aliments in humans (Jäger et al., 1996). In this study, an ethnomedicinal survey was conducted on medicinal uses of invasive alien plant species in order to identify and investigate the various disease treatment methods employed by Bapedi traditional health practitioners within Capricorn District. Six traditional health practitioners were randomly selected, via the snowball method from each of the five local municipalities namely: Aganang, Blouberg, Lepelle-Nkupi, Molomole and Polokwane. The whole survey included 30 traditional health practitioners. A semi structured questionnaire was administered to document information about the medicinal uses of IAPs from participants. The collected data from the questionnaire was captured in Microsoft Excel 2010 and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study recorded 22 IAPs belonging to 14 plant families. Records or data collected show invasive alien plants species to have been used for treatment of different alignments amongst Bapedi traditional health practitioners. Plant families with the most recorded species include: Solanaceae and Myrtaceae with 18.2% for both of them. The plant parts most frequently used in descending order were as follows: roots vii (40%), followed by the leaves (39%), fruits (7%), thorns (6%), bark (4%), seeds (2%) and lastly stems (2%). Decoction was recorded as the most dominant method used during medicinal preparations (n = 176) and flu was recorded as the most treated ailment amongst traditional health practitioners (n = 29). Apart from clearing IAPs as part of management strategy by South African government, there are other alternative innovative ways that can be employed to ensure that the number of IAPs introduced does not exceed beyond measure.This could be achieved by encouraging local people to use them as either medicinal sources or by incorporating them into any other local ethnobotanical use. The new innovative ways (such as traditional health practitioners utilizing the IAPs instead of endangered plants or indigenous plants species) can bring in some form of relief to the already declining indigenous species populations. Research scholars from different research institutes and higher education research centres can regard IAPs used medicinally as source of new pharmaceutical leads to create new medications. With such attention turned to alien invasive species, their survival as well as their spread will be kept on check at the same time creating a control measure to their spread with little effort. Further laboratory-based studies are needed to determine efficiency and safety of the IAPs used by traditional health practitioners in this study. / NRF

Thesis (M.Tech.: Information Technology)-Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 iii, iii, 85 leaves / Throughout Africa, growing human populations and resulting loss of wildlife habitat is a critical issue for most animal species. It is more and more common for privately owned small or medium sized farms to reintroduce wildlife on their land and such protected areas are fast becoming the only refuges available to wild animals. However a comprehensive understanding of the complex ecological processes taking place is vital for the effective management of restricted areas and the conservation of biodiversity. Due to the enormous complexity of an ecological system and the long periods of the related dynamics, it is very difficult to analyse the interaction between animals and plant populations without suitable computer models. In this thesis, the dynamics between elephant and trees (a major food source) are considered using computer simulations.

What happens when resources get valuable and scarce? How is Intellectual Property dealing with market failures related to sub-patentable innovation or purely traditional knowledge with interesting applications? The protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources (TKGR) has been one of the major modern challenges in international IP law. The entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its implementation in national legislation has created more questions than the ones it answered. The objective of this dissertation is to assist in the evaluation of current national and regional implementation initiatives as well in the presentation and evaluation of different forms of entitlements that could be applicable in the case of TKGR. The dissertation has employed a theoretical framework for this evaluation, by combining the Coase Theorem and Rawls' theory of justice. The choice of these two theoretical models is not a random one. In order for the entitlement covering TKGR to be successful, it has to be efficient. It has to offer a stable and efficient marketplace where access to TKGR is possible without unnecessary frictions. However, efficiency could not be the only objective.  An entitlement focusing solely on efficiency would fall short of the needs and special considerations of TKGR trade. It would above all be counter to the objectives and major principles of the CBD, the “fair and equitable sharing of the benefits” and would certainly fail to address the very important North-South perspective.  Fairness is thus a necessary complement to the efficiency of the proposed entitlement. This dissertation proposes a thorough investigation of the special characteristics, of right-holders, subject-matter, market place as well as of the general expectations that an entitlement is supposed to fulfill. In parallel to that, it  looks into the meaning and scope of alternative entitlements in order to be able to propose the best alternative.

As the earth’s landscape becomes increasingly urbanized, local wildlife must adapt to urban conditions or migrate to areas that are more rural. Urban wildlife face challenges such as direct loss of habitat, competition with non-native species, disturbance due to anthropogenic noise, and micro-climatic changes. Factors such as temperature, relative humidity, and noise affect the acoustical environment and may affect the ability of many animals, including birds, to communicate. Understanding how urbanization affects birds’ singing behavior is critical because singing often plays a vital role in attracting mates and defending territories. In addition, as global climate change occurs it will become increasingly important to understand the influence of abiotic factors such as temperature on the singing behavior of birds. Developing a deeper understanding of how those abiotic factors affect singing and other associated behaviors may help guide future conservation actions. Carolina Wrens are often used to study the role of singing in defending territories. They are also a common subject for ranging studies. However, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the factors influencing Carolina Wren song activity over the course of a day. No studies have compared the singing activity of Carolina Wrens in urban and rural environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the singing activity of Carolina Wrens in urban and rural areas. Specifically, this study looked for patterns in the timing of songs throughout the day and examined the effects of season, temperature, and anthropogenic noise on singing activity in urban and rural settings. I analyzed data from 4 SongMeter© SM2 data loggers (2 located at an urban park in Bowling Green, KY and 2 located at a rural preserve in Hart County, KY). The data loggers were programmed to record ambient sound for 3 minutes at the beginning of every hour. A Hobo® data logger was deployed with each SongMeter© SM2 data logger to record temperature and relative humidity at 15-minute intervals. One week of data in May and one week of data in July were analyzed. Both weeks had similar photoperiods, temperatures, and amounts of precipitation. For each recording, I documented the number of Carolina Wren songs I heard and a categorical assessment of the precipitation and anthropogenic noise due to traffic or machinery. I conducted Chi-square analyses to compare the seasonal or site-based observed frequencies of singing activity to the corresponding expected frequencies. In May, Carolina Wrens at the urban site sang more than their rural counterparts. Daily activity patterns were visually analyzed using the average number of songs detected for each hour’s sampling period. No Carolina Wrens were heard singing the hour before sunrise or the hour after sunset. In May, the dawn chorus lasted nearly twice as long as in July. Zero-inflated Poisson regressions were used to determine the correlations between Carolina Wren singing activity and temperature or anthropogenic noise. Carolina Wren singing activity had significant correlations with both variables.