An ecosytem-based spatial conservation plan for the South African sandy beaches. Sandy beaches are valuable ecosystems. They support a collection of species that is unique, comprising many endemic species, and provide a number of key ecosystem goods and services, including scenic vistas for human recreation, nesting sites for turtles and birds, and important areas for biogeochemical recycling, water filtration and purification. However, sandy beaches have not been well understood or appreciated as ecosystems, and consequently have a legacy of poor coastal management. In many instances this has lead to a "tyranny of small decisions", where multiple, seemingly insignificant management decisions and actions have resulted in complete transformation and degradation of the shoreline in several places. In addition to inappropriate management strategies, beaches are also poorly represented in conservation areas. Further, where they are recognised as being "conserved" in marine protected areas, this often is a false sense of protection because the far more sensitive dune portion of the littoral active zone is invariably not included in the reserve. In short, there is a need for a new way to approach sandy beach conservation and management that includes the system (dunes, intertidal beaches and surf zones) as a whole. On one hand, the approach should make provision for use of the abundant natural resources and opportunities associated with sandy shores in ways that are sustainable and contribute to biodiversity stewardship - through ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning. But, on the other hand, it must simultaneously contribute to securing a sufficient amount of the key ecological attributes of beaches (habitats, biodiversity and processes) in a network of reserves, to ensure that the ecosystem, natural resources, and services all persist in perpetuity - through systematic conservation planning. The aim of this Thesis is to integrate these into a single approach, which I call ecosystem-based spatial conservation planning for sandy beaches, using the South African sandy shores as a case study. To achieve this broad aim, the Thesis is divided into three parts. Part 1 deals with establishing baseline information by quantifying spatial patterns in sandy beach habitats (Chapter 1), biodiversity, key assemblages and processes, and outstanding physical features (Chapter 2). First, mapping sandy beach habitats is a challenge given the vast, linear extent of shorelines and significant resources required to complete the project. Therefore, a novel approach was derived using statistical techniques (conditional inference trees) to identify physical features of beaches that can be observed on Google Earth (or similar) imagery, and that can provide good predictions of beach morphodynamic (habitat) types. Based on the results of this analysis, sandy beaches (and all other coastal habitat types) were mapped digitally in ArcGIS. Second, spatial patterns in sandy beach biodiversity (vertebrates, macrofauna, microflora and foredune plants) were mapped by compiling existing data on the distributions of key species that have been well studied or mapped previously (vertebrates and foredune plants), and by niche modelling (macrofauna and microflora). For the latter, data from all previous sandy-beach sampling events in South Africa were compiled from published and unpublished sources, and supplemented with additional sampling of 23 beaches along the national shoreline, targeting macrofauna and phytoplankton. Altogether, the macrofauna database comprised data from 135 sites and 186 sampling events, and the microflora (phytoplankton and microphytobenthos) database comprised data from 73 sites and 510 samples. The probabilistic distribution of each "resident" species (present at 10 or more sites) was modelled in MaxEnt version 3.3.3k, probability thresholds were determined statistically (to convert the data into predicted presence-absence), and displayed as a digital map. A composite biodiversity map was compiled, and key trends in species richness and endemism along the national shoreline were quantified. To supplement biodiversity proper, additional valued-features of sandy beaches were mapped, including: important assemblages; unique habitat features; and sites associated with key ecological processes. Part 2 considers threats to sandy beaches in the context of deriving an appropriate management strategy that seeks to provide for use of the coast, but in a way that has least overall impact to the ecosystem. A method for assessing cumulative threats to sandy beaches is adapted from an existing framework (Chapter 4). This entailed compiling a list of threats to beaches, and scoring these (out of 10) in terms of the severity of their respective impacts to beaches, and how long it would take the ecosystem to recover should the threat be removed. The scoring was based on the collective expert opinion of the scientific community working on sandy beaches, at a workshop during the VIth International Sandy Beach Symposium 2012. To standardize the scores and ensure broad applicability, a base case scenario of a pristine beach was established, and maximum theoretical scores were provided for this context. The method for integrating these scores into a spatial, cumulative threat assessment was then determined. In Chapter 5, the maximum theoretical scores (from Chapter 4) were down-scaled to suit the current threat regime to the South African sandy beaches, and the cumulative threat assessment methodology was applied. From this analysis, the most threatened beaches in South Africa, and the most important threats were highlighted. A decision-support tool for managers was derived from the site-specific cumulative threat-impact scores, based first on the degree of permanent habitat transformation, and second on the cumulative impact of other stressors where the impacts these stressors have could potentially be mitigated or ameliorated. Part 3 concerns conservation of beaches explicitly. It addresses how much of which valued features of beaches is required to ensure their long-term persistence, and the design of a network of beaches in South Africa that are of ecological importance and should be set aside as reserves. Conservation targets are set in Chapter 6, using species-area curves to determine a baseline percentage-area required to protect sandy beach habitats, which is modified using heuristic principles based on habitat rarity and threat status (from a recent national assessment). A fixed target was applied to all species, also modified by heuristic principles, and another fixed target was applied to key assemblages and processes.

It is hypothesized that difference between containers and between sediments will produce structural differences in the resulting communities by intensifying competition for resources, and by excluding certain classes of predators. It is also hypothesized that the level of the effect of container, substrate, and time on community structures will be dependent on tidal level. Paine (1969) and Dayton (1972) have demonstrated that the structure of some communities is largely determined by the effects of foundation, or keystone, species. It is suggested that the structure of classic-substrate communities may be determined similarly.

No description available.

In the present study, aspects of the behavior and ecology of two sympathetic intertidal hermit crabs, Pagurus hirsutiusculus and Pagurus samuelis were studied with the intention of expanding the use of fitness set analysis to other species, particularly extending studies over the entire breeding season.

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of Cape Hatteras National Seashore from visitors and local residents of the Outer Banks, and to explore the differences in use for off-road vehicle (ORV) users and pedestrians within each of these user groups. During the summer of 1978, 598 visitors were randomly sampled at Cape Hatteras and sent mail-back questionnaires. Eighty percent of the 598 eligible respondents returned the questionnaire, providing half the data for this study. Four hundred thirty-two local residents were systematically sampled from phone books of residents of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and sent mail-back questionnaires in the winter of 1978. Sixty percent of the 342 eligible respondents returned the questionnaire, providing the other half of the data used in this study. It was found that the ORV and pedestrian visitors used the seashore quite differently, visiting many locations in different proportions and participating in activities differently. Seasonal and experience-related differences were present. Local resident ORV owners and non-ORV owners were different in their use of Cape Hatteras for recreational purposes as well. The ORV owner was a much more active user of the seashore than the non-ORV owner. Many implications for planning and management of Cape Hatteras are suggested. Based upon the results obtained, no substantive conclusions can be made about whether user conflict exists between ORV and non-ORV users. / Master of Science

Orientador: Fosca Pedini Pereira Leite / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T00:36:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pavani_Lilian_M.pdf: 1390022 bytes, checksum: 43df8a085a06d86b5eadaf092c0fbf14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Na região do Canal de São Sebastião, onde opera o maior terminal petrolífero do Brasil, há extensos bancos de algas pardas do gênero Sargassum e anfípodes associados, mas também existem hidrocarbonetos alifáticos e aromáticos de petróleo na água e no sedimento. Sabese que os anfípodes são eficientes bioindicadores de qualidade ambiental, assim como as algas são importantes bioacumuladores. Avaliou-se a presença de hidrocarbonetos em Sargassum e buscou-se relacionar suas concentrações com distâncias crescentes a partir do terminal, tanto ao norte quanto ao sul da Ilha de São Sebastião. Essas concentrações e distâncias também foram utilizadas para verificar a estruturação das comunidades de anfípodes do fital de Sargassum. Essa avaliação foi feita para anfípodes, abordando-se a composição de grupos tróficos e de espécies. Não foi constatada relação entre as distâncias e concentrações de hidrocarbonetos presentes nas algas e na estruturação das comunidades de anfípodes em nenhuma das abordagens. No entanto, notou-se correspondência entre elas, o que indica que a identificação em famílias para o estabelecimento de grupos tróficos pode ser eficiente numa avaliação ambiental mais rápida. Também se obteve importante informação em relação à fauna de anfípodes do litoral do Estado de São Paulo, uma vez que ainda não havia estudos na Ilha de São Sebastião e a fauna de ilhas do estado ainda é pouco conhecida / Abstract: In the São Sebastião Channel region, where operates the greatest Brazilian petroliferous terminal, there are extensive banks of the brown seaweed Sargassum with many associated amphipods, but also polyciclic aromatic hydrocarbons and aliphatic hydrocarbons, which are present both in sedment and water. The amphipods are known to be efficient bioindicators of environmental quality, as well as the seaweed are important bioacumulators. The presence of hydrocarbons in Sargassum and its relationship with increasing distances from the terminal, both north and south of the São Sebastião Island, was evaluated. These concentrations and distances were also used to verify the structure of amphipod communities associated to Sargassum . This evaluation was made for amphipods identified in trofic groups and in species. There was no significant relationship between distances from the terminal and concentrations of hydrocarbons in the seaweed or the estructure of the amphipod communities. However, correspondence between the aproachs (trofic groups and species) was noticed, which indicates that the identification in families for the establishment of trofic groups can be efficient in a faster ambient evaluation. Also, important information related to amphipods of the São Paulo State coast was achieved, as far as the fauna of São Sebastião Island was first studied and the islands fauna of the State are still little known / Mestrado / Ecologia / Mestre em Ecologia

Abstract Many plant species inhabiting the seashore meadows of the Bothnian Bay, especially early successional ones, have become threatened. Isostatic land uplift creates virgin land for early successional species to colonise. However, at the same time it gradually elevates the habitat and eventually makes the habitat unsuitable for them. Disturbances of the waterfront may slow down succession and create new empty sites. In order to persist on the shores, pioneer species have to be able to colonise new sites by seeds, vegetative propagules or growth. In this thesis I studied the status of an endangered early successional grass species, A. fulva var. pendulina, at the Liminka Bay. According to a matrix population model based on eight years of observations (1992–1999), the population seemed not to be in immediate danger of extinction. However, simulations based on four-year field observations (2000–2003) indicated that if the current trend continues, the species will decrease considerably in area in the next 30 years. In the field studies no seedlings or viable seeds of A. fulva were found. In spite of this, high genotypic diversity was found in the A. fulva population, suggesting that sexual reproduction has taken place at some time during the history of the population. Analysis of the population structure revealed a low level of genotypic differentiation between subpopulations and significant sub-structuring within subpopulations. The overall pattern of genetic variation suggests that the population has characters of both stepping-stone and metapopulation models. The results of the study on the ability of a seashore plant Potentilla anserina ssp. egedii to change its allocation of resources to sexual and vegetative reproduction according to competitive stress implied that the species can modify the allocation of resources to different life-history traits. For a plant living in disturbance-prone environment, it may be beneficial to be able to rapidly track the competition-free space formed by disturbances by changing its reproductive pattern. Management studies on three endangered seashore plant species showed that deterioration of suitable habitats of A. fulva and Primula nutans var. jokelae could be slowed down by management, and the vegetative and/or sexual reproduction of these species was enhanced. However, in the case of Puccinellia phryganodes, no positive response to management was observed.

Hard substrates in the marine environment are an important ecosystem of great scientific and economic value. Hard substrates provide suitable habitat for a diverse assemblage of benthic organisms. This thesis investigated the ecology of benthic hard substrate communities along a section of wave-exposed coastline, including the Sardinia Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA), in the warm-temperate Agulhas bioregion of South Africa. The effect of physical variables on benthic communities, including both the intertidal and shallow subtidal, was quantitatively assessed across (Chapter 3) and along (Chapter 4) the shore to provide a model of zonation for this bioregion and a baseline of community patters and biodiversity, as this information was lacking especially for the Sardinia Bay MPA. The zones described in Chapter 3 were in agreement with previous trends described for this bioregion with the addition of different biotopes in the upper Balanoid and deeper subtidal zones as well as the addition of an intermediate/transition zone in the subtidal between the algal dominated shallow subtidal and deeper subtidal, which has an increased abundance of sessile invertebrates. Disturbance is an important process in structuring benthic communities, and its role in structuring shallow benthic communities was investigated using a disturbance simulation experiment across a wave-exposure gradient (Chapter 5). Communities were found to change along the exposure gradient and monitoring the undisturbed communities showed that large waves caused disturbances across all the exposures. The recovery process was similar across all exposures mainly through lateral vegetative growth and regrowth from basal parts with communities in disturbed quadrats recovering to resemble the surrounding undisturbed community. Recruitment did not have a significant effect in the recovery process and community composition was therefore a result of the effects of the physical environment along the exposure gradient. Lastly this thesis investigated the indirect effects of protection in the small Sardinia Bay MPA (Chapter 6). Despite the small size of the MPA this study found differences in diversity and abundance between communities inside and outside the MPA. These differences in benthic biota infer indirect effects of protection that are probably due to the increase in abundance of exploited fish inside the MPA. Lower abundances of red algae, macroinvertebrates and diversity inside the MPA in the shallow depth category was attributed to the higher abundance of the generalist fish species that concentrate in the shallows. Significantly lower abundances of Chordata in the shallow and medium depth categories inside the MPA was attributed to predation by the benthic carnivorous species as ascidians are included in the diet of these species. This chapter also compared the effectiveness of destructive (scraped quadrats) and non-destructive (visually assessed quadrats) sampling methods. Scraped quadrats were found to be more effective in detecting changes across the MPA compared to visually assessed quadrats. Destructive methods sample the entire assemblage, to a higher taxonomic level, and measure abundance using biomass. It was concluded that biomass is a better metric when comparing communities across protection or other treatments as it provides better biological information of the community.

An investigation of ecosystem functioning of sandy beaches in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) was carried out with the aim of describing their type and pollution status. Water salinity, temperature, pH, beach slope, water inorganic nutrient concentrations, urea, and chlorophyll-a concentration as well as the composition of zooplankton, phytoplankton, meiofauna, benthic microalgae and bacteria were examined at thirteen beaches. The beaches were classified into three types: short beaches; long beaches with surf diatoms; and long beaches that import biomass (without surf diatoms). Of the thirteen beaches, five were non-polluted and eight polluted with polluting human activities in and around them. Most beaches were dominated by fine sand except for St. Georges Strand where the particles were medium to fine sand and Maitland’s River Beach, Bluewater Bay and Sardinia Bay that had coarse sand. Nutrient concentrations ranged from 1.98 ± 0.10 μM to 19.30 ± 3.02 μM nitrate; 4.88 ± 1.00 μM to 11.97 ± 1.00 μM ammonium; 0.67 ± 0.00 μM to 2.31 ±1.00 μM soluble reactive phosphorus; and 0.00 to 0.03 ± 0.00 μg l-1 urea-N. Chlorophyll-a concentrations ranged from 0.04 ± 0.02 to 1.57 ± 0.11 μg l-1. Chlorophyll-a concentrations were negatively correlated to ammonium for all beach types (short beaches: r = 0.94; long importing beaches: r = 0.95 and surf diatom beaches: 0.94) and to nitrate for short and long importing beaches (short: r = 0.97 and long importing: r = 0.85). By contrast, a positive correlation was found between observed between chlorophyll-a concentrations and urea for surf diatom beaches (r = 0.93) and for long importing beaches (r = 0.73). Chlorophyll-a concentrations were negatively correlated to short beaches (r = 0.99) and long importing beaches (r = 0.76). The E. coli and total coliforms in all the sampled beaches were within the recommended South African water quality guidelines for contact recreation as specified by DWAF (1995) except at New Brighton Beach (2 419 total coliforms/100 ml and 1 853 E. coli cells/100 ml) and St. Georges Strand (274 total coliforms/100 ml). Diatoms dominated the phytoplankton and benthic microflora; calanoid copepods dominated the zooplankton and deposit-feeding nematodes dominated the meiofauna in all the beaches with no changes found at polluted beaches.

The aim of this study was to compare the outputs of two modes of citizen participation, the solicitation of written public input, and mail-back questionnaires, on the basis of the opinions and preferences expressed about ORV use and management at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This comparative analysis was undertaken in order to gain a fuller understanding of the pitfalls and potentialities of survey research in the citizen participation process. The first of two data sets came from a 1978 survey of CHNS residents and visitors on their views about ORV use and possible management actions at the seashore. The second source of data was derived from a content analysis of the written public input on the ORV use and management issue. The Codinvolve System, which was pioneered by the U.S. Forest Service, was used for the content analysis. A test of the reliability of the coding was conducted to evaluate the coding procedure. A phi-test generated coefficients, which when transformed into chi-square values, revealed that the reliability rate was better than 90.0%. The comparison of the two data sets, the survey results, and the Codinvolve output, focused upon the differences between them with respect to the number and character of expressed opinions. Differences between the public input submitted prior to the release of a controversial National Park Service draft ORV management plan and that received after its release were also analyzed. Due to the general scarcity of comments within the public input, chi-square comparisons between the data sets were not feasible. Instead, comparisons of percentages were used to identify the salient differences. Substantial differences were found between the survey and Codinvolve data sets in both the number and character of expressed opinions. However, no substantial differences were found between the pre-plan public input and the post-plan public input. It was noted that the Park Service’s draft ORV management proposals were mentioned in over three-quarters of the post-plan public input. In conclusion, this study suggested that the solicitation of written public input is not an effective citizen participation technique as it fails to educate the public about the various elements and decision parameters associated with an issue. Furthermore, this citizen participation technique provided very limited data on the opinions and preferences of the affected public about ORV use and management. The possible research which survey research can perform in citizen participation and environmental conflict resolution are also discussed. The addition of a workbook or information manual to a mail-back questionnaire was suggested as a means of endowing this citizen participation technique with an educative element. The need for further research on the design and effectiveness of the combined workbook/mail-back questionnaire approach was stressed. / Master of Science