I ett naturreservat intill en camping i utkanten av Järnaområdet skapades en ny typ av Folkets hus. Byggnaden är placerad i sydostlig riktning på toppen av en udde, med ett stort entréplan som starten av huset som sedan klättrar sig ned längs med landskapet mot stranden, där man finner den avslutande badplatsen. Det inrymmer en hosteldel med café och en butik för cykel- och båtuthyrning, samt försäljning av allt som hör friluftsliv till, för att knyta samman platsen och byggnaden med naturreservatet och de motionerare som på olika sätt tar sig till platsen. Här finns även en restaurang, konferenssal, utställning samt öppna gemensamma ytor så som offentliga kontor, mötesrum och ett gemensamt allrum där centrets olika gäster kan möstas. Alla dessa ytor knyts samman av en serie trappor som klättrar med byggnaden ner för berget, med öppna plattformar där man närsomhelst kan kliva av och på byggnaden. Naturreservatets redan befintliga stråk har jobbats in i projektet och passerar genom byggnadens entréplattform och fortsätter vidare från butiksplanet, våningen under. Från byggnaden kommer nya stigar skapas genom besökarnas naturliga rörelse genom och runt alla avsatser. / In a nature reserve next to a campsite on the outskirts of the Järna area, a new type of Folkets hus was created. The building is located in a south-easterly direction on top of a headland, with a large entrance floor as the start of the house which then climbs down along the landscape towards the beach, and ends with a bathing spot. It houses a hostel part with a café and a shop for bicycle- and boat rental, as well as sales of everything that belongs to outdoor life, to connect the place and the building with the nature reserve and the exercisers who pass through the place in different ways. There is also a restaurant, conference hall, exhibition and open common areas such as public offices, meeting rooms and a common living room where the center's various guests can meet. All these surfaces are connected by a series of stairs that climb with the building down the mountain, with open platforms where you can exit and enter the building at any time. The nature reserve's already existing trail have been worked into the project and pass through the building's entrance platform and continue on from the store floor, one floor below. From the building, new paths will be created through the visitors' natural movement through and around all ledges.

Nature reserves affect the local environment and communities. I use household data from the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) to estimate the impacts of nature reserves on several aspects of rural households: migration, local off-farm work, and off-farm income. This thesis also examines the heterogeneous impacts of nature reserves across administrative levels, lengths of existence time, and types. To reduce selection bias, propensity scores matching (PSM) is carried out to match counties with nature reserves to counties that have a similar possibility of establishing nature reserves, but that do not yet have any. Considering that counties with nature reserves might affect their neighboring counties without nature reserves, I construct two additional samples: one that excludes adjacent counties, and the other that generates new indicators for adjacent counties to check spillover effects directly. I use models with year fixed effects and county fixed effects to estimate the impacts across samples. The estimation results show that national nature reserves (NNRs) generally decrease the possibility of migration, while the impact depends on how long the NNRs have been in place. In the short run, NNRs increase migration. Forest NNRs significantly decrease migration but increase participation in local off-farm work and off-farm income. Nonforest NNRs have positive influences on migration and off-farm income. Although both forest and nonforest NNRs increase off-farm income, the sources might be different. The off-farm income increase in counties with forest NNRs might come from local off-farm work because forest NNRs encourage local off-farm work. The off-farm income increase in counties with nonforest NNRs might come from migration work because nonforest NNRs increase migration. Provincial nature reserves (PNRs) increase the likelihood of migration and the estimates also imply that PNRs only have short-run impacts on the local communities. Forest PNRs increase migration while nonforest ones decrease migration. PNRs generally decrease participation in local off-farm work and off-farm income, except for nonforest PNRs increase both of them. The results indicate that nature reserves of different administrative levels and lengths of existence time negatively affect local off-farm participation and off-farm income. These results imply that nature reserves in China during 2002-2013 had overall negative impacts on the local livelihood. / M.S. / Nature reserves are a crucial ecological policy in China for protecting endangered species and the environment. There is no doubt that nature reserves are beneficial to the environment. However, the multi-faceted social impacts of the establishment of nature reserves on the local households are unclear. This thesis studies the impacts of nature reserves on migration, participating in local off-farm work, and household off-farm income. I obtained household data from the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP). The selection of nature reserves' locations is nonrandom: counties with nature reserves and those without are different in geographic characteristics, such as the distances to the nearest provincial capital and prefecture, average slope, and average elevation, which could be correlated with local economic development. Without eliminating those differences, the results will be misleading when comparing counties with nature reserves with those without nature reserves. This thesis considers the heterogeneous impacts of nature reserves across administrative levels, lengths of existence time, and types. Considering that counties with nature reserves might also affect their adjacent counties without nature reserves, I construct two additional samples: one that excludes adjacent counties and the other that generates new indicators for adjacent counties to measure the spillover effects directly. The results show that different designations of nature reserves have various impacts on migration. National nature reserves (NNRs) decrease migration, while provincial nature reserves (PNRs) generally increase migration. In the short run, NNRs increase migration and PNRs also increase migration. In general, nature reserves across different administrative levels and lengths of existence time all decrease local off-farm participation and off-farm income. This result implies that nature reserves in China during 2002-2013 had overall negative impacts on the local livelihood in the aspects of participation in local off-farm work and off-farm income.

The Blyde Canyon Nature reserve displays its natural beauty for most National and International visitors all over the World. The region is renowned for its high rainfall and misty weather, which enhances the natural beauty of the area. Because of the mist belt effect, the area is one of the largest commercial forestry areas in South Africa. Baboons also seek after the topography and vegetation type (Northeastern mountain sourveld) that is typical of this area and numerous baboon troops occur in this region. This combination is often the cause of conflict between baboons and humans. The need arise for these baboons to be studied and managed as a component of this very important ecosystem. The main aims of the study were firstly to identify a natural ranging baboon troop, to habituate them and gather data regarding home range sizes, troop sizes, densities and seasonal food selection and secondly to give a detailed habitat description and vegetation map of the troop's home range. The baboon activity data was collected in 15-minute intervals over a one year period on a troop at Bourke's Luck. This included all activities such as walking, social, foraging, and resting. The food parts selected as well as the species foraged on was identified. Numerous statistical methods were used on the baboon data such as; the Shapiro Wilk test, Spearman rank-order correlation, ANOVA, and the Kolmogarov-Smirnov two sample test. There was a positive correlation between home range areas and troop sizes and the baboons preferred certain habitats above others during different seasons. To give a detailed habitat description of the troop's home range, 50 sample plots was stratified-randomly distributed in order to include all the different stratification units. a TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures was carried out on the Bourke's Luck section that included the baboons home range. 13 Plant communities, which can be grouped into 7 major community types were identified. This study resulted in the ecological interpretation of baboon activities related to the ecological interpretation of the vegetation in the baboon troop's home range. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.Tech. (Nature Conservation)

The Blyde Canyon Nature reserve displays its natural beauty for most National and International visitors all over the World. The region is renowned for its high rainfall and misty weather, which enhances the natural beauty of the area. Because of the mist belt effect, the area is one of the largest commercial forestry areas in South Africa. Baboons also seek after the topography and vegetation type (Northeastern mountain sourveld) that is typical of this area and numerous baboon troops occur in this region. This combination is often the cause of conflict between baboons and humans. The need arise for these baboons to be studied and managed as a component of this very important ecosystem. The main aims of the study were firstly to identify a natural ranging baboon troop, to habituate them and gather data regarding home range sizes, troop sizes, densities and seasonal food selection and secondly to give a detailed habitat description and vegetation map of the troop's home range. The baboon activity data was collected in 15-minute intervals over a one year period on a troop at Bourke's Luck. This included all activities such as walking, social, foraging, and resting. The food parts selected as well as the species foraged on was identified. Numerous statistical methods were used on the baboon data such as; the Shapiro Wilk test, Spearman rank-order correlation, ANOVA, and the Kolmogarov-Smirnov two sample test. There was a positive correlation between home range areas and troop sizes and the baboons preferred certain habitats above others during different seasons. To give a detailed habitat description of the troop's home range, 50 sample plots was stratified-randomly distributed in order to include all the different stratification units. a TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures was carried out on the Bourke's Luck section that included the baboons home range. 13 Plant communities, which can be grouped into 7 major community types were identified. This study resulted in the ecological interpretation of baboon activities related to the ecological interpretation of the vegetation in the baboon troop's home range. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.Tech. (Nature Conservation)

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc Wildlife Management)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

The vegetation of the Nooitgedacht section of the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve resembles Bankenveld vegetation and differs from the other areas of the reserve. This study was undertaken to identify, classify, and describe the plant communities present on this section, and to determine their veld condition. The Braun-Blanquet approach was followed to classify the different plant communities. A total number of 170 sample plots (100m2) were placed in all homogeneous vegetation units in a randomly stratified basis. The Ecological Index Method (EIM) was used to determine the veld condition. Data were collected using the steppoint method and incorporated into the GRAZE model from where the veld condition was calculated. A minimum of 400 step points were surveyed in each community with more points in the larger communities. Plant community data was analysed using the JUICE software program. A total of 11 plant communities were identified. The overall veld condition score indicates the vegetation to be in a good condition, resulting in a high grazing capacity. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Nature Conservation)

Climatic oscillation during the Quaternary resulted in fragmentation of once more continuous ancient floras and a series of invasions of different floras into the Pondoland Centre in response to climatic change, with some elements invading more than once. This implies both a temporally complex and a floristically complex origin for the extant flora of the Centre. Data derived from analysis of the melange of extant floristic elements in the Pondoland Centre is presented in support of this hypothesis. A synfloristic comparison of Oribi Gorge (OGNR) and Umtamvuna Nature Reserves (UNR) is the basis for this study. A comparison of the species lists generated for OGNR and UNR reveals that 24% of the 1514 angiosperm species are shared. The familial composition of the reserves is similar, with eight of the ten most diverse families contributing a similar proportion of species to the respective floras, with the exception of Acanthaceae. The ten most diverse families comprise a comparatively small proportion of the respective floras; this is indicative of high diversity over long geological periods, i.e. of refugia. Analysis at the generic level revealed similar consistancy between the two gorge floras. Approximately 4% of the UNR species and 2.3% of OGNR species are Pondoland Centre endemics. Approximately 40% of the endemic species are shared by the gorges. Data reveals that both palaeoendemic (predominantly woody, forest taxa) and neoendemic (predominantly herbaceous or suffrutescent, grassland taxa) species occur. The Pondoland Centre is thus a refugium for species trapped on the Msikaba Group sandstones as a result of climatic oscillation during the Quaternary, and a centre of neoendemism. OGNR and UNR floras include Cape, Afromontane and tropical elements (11.3%, 2.8% and 19.1% respectively for OGNR and 16%,3.4% and 15.3% respectively for UNR). Seventy - two percent of Afromontane species are shared, indicating a relatively recent invasion(s) and lor the relative proximity of the gorges to the Afromontane flora. The lower species overlap in the Cape element (39.2%) of the two gorges implies that the invasion of the element is ancient, with subsequent extinction of many of the taxa from OGNR in response to climatic change. It is also possible that this invasion was initally less successful; fewer species found refuge in OGNR. The tropical element comprises the largest proportion of the flora in both gorges and many (ca. 50%) of the species are shared. The degree of species overlap indicates that the invasive flora was either initially more similar or that it is tess prone to extinction. The level of overlap could also suggest that the invasion was more recent than that of the Cape taxa. The tropical element is larger in OGNR and the Cape element is larger in UNR. This is partly due to the gorges' respective proximities to the tropical and Cape floras. This trend is echoed in the endemic data. iv The conservation status of the endemics and of the Pondoland vegetation types is established and recommendations for further research are made. The data support the establishment of a larger UNR, the maintenance of both Umtamvuna and Oribi Gorge as formal nature reserves and the establishment of a new reserve (or reserves) within the Pondoland Centre. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermarizburg, 1998.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 71-73).

The vegetation of the Nooitgedacht section of the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve resembles Bankenveld vegetation and differs from the other areas of the reserve. This study was undertaken to identify, classify, and describe the plant communities present on this section, and to determine their veld condition. The Braun-Blanquet approach was followed to classify the different plant communities. A total number of 170 sample plots (100m2) were placed in all homogeneous vegetation units in a randomly stratified basis. The Ecological Index Method (EIM) was used to determine the veld condition. Data were collected using the steppoint method and incorporated into the GRAZE model from where the veld condition was calculated. A minimum of 400 step points were surveyed in each community with more points in the larger communities. Plant community data was analysed using the JUICE software program. A total of 11 plant communities were identified. The overall veld condition score indicates the vegetation to be in a good condition, resulting in a high grazing capacity. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Nature Conservation)

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Johannesburg, South Africa 2017 / Concerns exist over the continual decline of marula trees (Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra) as a result of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) impact and a lack of recruitment and regeneration. One strategy of protecting adult marula trees is the usage of elephant mitigation methods. This study took place in Jejane Private Nature Reserve (JPNR), a protected area which recently opened up to the Greater Kruger National Park and had not had elephants in over 100 years. The aim of the study was to investigate the changes to the marula population structure in JPNR three years after the migration of elephants to the area due to fence removal, and to test whether African honeybees (Apis mellifera subsp. scutellata) could be used as a mitigation method for elephant impact on marula trees. A previous size-class survey had been done on a sample of JPNR’s marula population in 2009, prior to the fence removal in 2013. A resurvey of these trees was used to assess the elephant-induced impact and mortality levels on the marula trees and to compare these levels to previously recorded impact and mortality levels on marula trees in the Kruger National Park (KNP). Marula seed predation levels and seedling recruitment were also assessed to address recruitment concerns. The resurveyed marula population had declined by 23.8% post-elephant migration, with the highest annual mortality rates (AMR) and impact scores recorded for trees in the 5 - 11 m height classes. Impact scores on marula trees in JPNR were higher than impact scores recorded on KNP marula trees. Only two marula seedlings were found across all transects, with evidence of high seed predation on marula endocarps. JPNR displayed an adult-dominated marula population with a lack of regeneration, possibly due to a lack of fire which has increased available shelter for seed predators such as small mammals. African honeybees were then used to investigate their effectiveness as an elephant mitigation method and to compare this method against wire-netting (a method experimentally used to prevent ring-barking by elephants). Fifty active beehives were hung from 50 marula trees, with another 50 dummy (inactive) beehives hung from branches on the opposite ends of each beehive tree’s main stem. Fifty additional marula trees were wire-netted and a further 50 were used as control trees. Elephant impact on all 150 trees was measured prior to the addition of treatments and post-treatment addition for nine months. 54% of the control trees received some form of elephant impact, in comparison to 28% of the wire-netted trees and only 2% of the beehive trees. Wire-netting protected marula trees against bark-stripping, but did not prevent elephants from breaking branches. Beehives proved highly efficient at mitigating all forms of elephant impact. The financial cost and maintenance required for the beehive mitigation method is greater than that of wire- netting, but the beehives can provide honey and pollination services as an additional benefit. The results of this study illustrate that African honeybees can be used as an effective non-lethal mitigation method for elephant impact on marula trees and are a viable strategy to reduce human-elephant conflict in South Africa’s protected areas. / MT 2017