The disappearance of the wetlands of Taiwan have reflected all kinds of biological drifting about aimlessly. We have to take action for protecting the wetlands, due to there are less than before. In the face of the wetlands that there are not much left, we must treasure and offer protection. The action that a lot of wetlands protection at present is going on. We need to invest more research and monitoring, and should investigate the state of wetland health that file, expect that can utilize limited resources more effectively during the process of protecting. This research expects to build the index system constructing out a set of Taiwan wetlands and assessing to the characteristic of the wetland of Taiwan. After consulting the domestic and international relevant index system, this research drafts preliminary wetland health assessment system. Through Delphi method, gathering opinions and suggestions from experts and scholars this research could set up the health assessment indicators of Taiwan artificial wetlands. Index system is divided into environment and management two general parts, and is categorized into six major indexes groups, including organism, water, soil, environment, management and social economy, amounts to 18 indexes. In the case of Zo-Zai Wetland Park, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, we applied this index system to inspect the health degree of Zo-Zai Wetland Park and its index results. Assessing the result for being 'good' in health, and cause the unhealthy projects of wetland include restoration species grow up degree, the distribution of the invasive species, the water quality situation, the hydrology situation and the maintenance funds of the wetland . The whole but the speech, the continent Zo-Zai Wetland Park still belongs the health, but influence the wetland healthy factors still need to monitor continuously in order to maintain wetland health quality. This research hopes to diagnose the health state of the wetlands, through health assessment indicators system and regular wetland monitoring, Then designing the wetland follow-up planning and management strategies to result the wetlands¡¦ problems earlier. Finally, it hopes to help restoring the wetlands in Taiwan.

¡§Zhou-Zai Wetland Park¡¨ is a specific prototype of created wetland ecosystems constructed in urban areas, This park represents integration between development and preservation of a wetland habitat through ecotechnology. It is a created wetland designed to conserve the endangered species of Jacanas in Taiwan, which were suffered from the destruction of habitat in the past. The wetland comprises pool and marsh types of wetland systems, and the inflow of the systems is pumped from the Lian-Chih Lake. Several problems were found when we operated and managed the park including eutrophication, low water exchange rate, and hypoxia in some water areas, emergence, and invasive alien species. The current management strategies are difficult to improve the status. Therefore some suggestions are given to solve such problems including constructing a treatment wetland in injection area in order to improve the water quality of influent and then provide a better water environment of habitat for water fowls as well as to prevent the intrusion of invasive alien species.

The wetlands on the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia are primarily groundwater fed and exhibit a variety of hydrological regimes that give rise to a high degree of habitat and species diversity. Hydrologically unstable systems experience ecophasal shifts that can disrupt an established steady state within the wetland ecosystem. Communities of both plants and animals can accordingly disintegrate into more or less isolated populations, open to re-invasion by preceding or "new" species when conditions change again. Given the ephemeral and episodic nature of much of the surface water on the Eastern Shores, ecological dynamics of this type are likely. Fish and aquatic invertebrates were sampled from a number of routine and other sites between May 2002 and April 2003. Measurements of various environmental and abiotic factors (including pH, ionic conductivity and dissolved oxygen levels) were taken with each sample in order to establish relationships between environmental changes and the assemblages of aquatic fauna occurring within the Eastern Shores wetlands. Conditions on the Eastern Shores during the study were somewhat anomalous, as the region experienced drought conditions during this period. The Eastern Shores wetlands support a diversity of aquatic fauna, including at least four species of freshwater fish listed as rare or threatened by the IUCN. The aquatic organisms existing within this dynamic system exhibited changes in abundance and distribution that reflected the spatial and temporal changes in their environment. The relationships between aquatic organisms and their environment were complex, with assemblages being affected by combinations of changing environmental and habitat variables as well as other factors such as the environmental stability of habitats and stochastic effects. Given the complex nature of these interactions, aquatic macrofauna on the Eastern Shores are likely to be best conserved through the preservation a heterogeneous mix of wetland habitats, maintaining the diversity of wetland structure and function on the Eastern Shores that can facilitate an element of lottery in the development and structure in biotic assemblages. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

A varied literature has emerged assessing the history and principles of the SDI programme and its individual initiatives. Within the literature, a widespread critique has developed that views the SDIs as falling short in two crucial areas. First, the SDIs have, in general, had limited developmental impacts . Second, many of the initiatives failed to develop adequate institutional responses to the specific conditions they faced in their various localities. The study describes the Lubombo SDI and its anchor project, the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. It argues that the Lubombo SDI, from the outset, took institutions seriously with a long view of development. It did not seek to deliver large-scale investment in a short period. Rather, it focused on shifting the development fundamentals - including key aspects of the Lubombo region's institutional arrangements - and concentrating its resources on facilitating a major project capable of pulling the various agencies with a stake in the region's development onto a common platform. This concentration of effort, and the creation of a dedicated authority with a clear statutory mandate to promote development and conservation, has brought advances to an area where development was effectively blocked for many years. But the dynamic nature of the institutional environment remains a key challenge affecting the GSLWP and the execution of the Authority's mandate. The ability of the Authority to continue mediating the multiple tensions and complexities affecting the GSLWP will be crucial if the agenda first set by the Lubombo is to be carried forward in the coming years. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005

Tourism is the fastest growing economic industry and has become one of the leading sources of growth and development in South Africa. However, tourism is in a constant state of flux requiring continuous research to document and analyse these shifting trends. Since 1999, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa’s first World Heritage Site) has been using ecotourism as part of its development and conservation strategy. This has resulted in the shift in tourism from what used to be a fishing destination prior 1999 to its current form as a premier ecotourism destination. The aim is to analyse and document the shift from mass tourism to ecotourism in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, using the Eastern Shores as a case study. Through modernism and postmodernism tourism discourse, this dissertation analyses visitor characteristics, behaviour and perceptions of both tourists and tourism businesses over time in an attempt to describe and explain the tourism shift on the Eastern Shores. This research reveals that there has been a distinct tourism shift in the Park from the ‘mass’ fishermen created by the Fordist mode of mass and standardised production to the more ecologically inclined ‘niche’ tourist where the de-differentiation of postmodernism has created diversified forms of tourists and tourism products. Within these broad classifications, this research has discovered the existence of more nuanced tourist profiles. Mass tourists range from the ‘sun, sea, sand, sex and sangria’ tourist to fishermen. Ecotourists on the other hand range from the casual or mainstream ecotourist who practices a shallow form of ecotourism to the dedicated ecotourist whose activities promote conservation and sustainable development allowing for a deeper form of ecotourism. Further, on the Eastern Shores, domestic coastal ‘mass tourists’ have also become more ecologically inclined. Previously these tourists would come for one activity, that is, to relax on the beach or fish. At present, the majority of these tourists now also pursue nature based activities, adventure tourism and/or sightseeing. The changes in the tourists visiting the Eastern Shores are representative of the global shifts in tourism that are currently taking place. Tourism is constantly evolving as part of global capitalism and will continue to shape tourism in iSimangaliso Wetland Park. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Of the seven pelican species found world wide, only the Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) and the Pink-backed Pelican (P. rufescens) are found in Africa. The KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa supports only one breeding site for each of these species, and both sites represent the southern most breeding colonies for the two species in the eastern region of Africa. These nesting sites fall within the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, and are afforded a degree of protection, but the same is not true for their foraging and dispersal ranges, and this is a cause for concern. Considerable amounts of data have been collected relating to the status, distribution and breeding efforts of these two species in north eastern KwaZulu-Natal. These data have been collected in a variety of ways by a large number of people. Part of this work represents an attempt to collate and summarise these data to produce an estimation of the status, distribution and breeding success of these species, and to evaluate any trends in their demography. For this south eastern region of Africa I estimated the population for the Great White Pelican to range between 6000 and 9000 individuals, and the Pink-backed Pelican to range between 600 and 900 individuals. Pelicans are highly mobile birds, and this allows them to move considerable distances when they forage, disperse or migrate. They are also long-lived birds with few natural predators. The two pelican species in south eastern Africa have been poorly studied and little is known about their movements, population dynamics and causes of mortality. Habitat change poses a potential threat to pelicans in north eastern KwaZulu-Natal, and habitat loss could drive these species out this region to areas north of South Africa. Much of this north eastern region of KwaZulu-Natal is under threat, mainly through the actions of man. Many areas are naturally unsuitable for pelican foraging, while others are vital to the survival of both species. This study includes an attempt to assess the movements of these two species in south eastern Africa, and to assess the relative importance and condition of the potential pelican habitat in the north eastern KwaZulu-Natal region, focusing particularly on Lake St Lucia and the Pongolo River floodplain. All this is necessary to produce a baseline from which long term predictions of potential pelican species survival can be made. In the absence of documented life tables and environmental variability data, a range of parameters was modelled to generate population viability analyses to simulate possible scenarios. These extinction models show the outcomes of both the deterministic and the stochastic processes. An attempt was also made to identify the factors that impact most severely on the persistence of these two species. The models were most sensitive to variation in survivorship in the first year of life and to the frequency of catastrophes. Changes in these parameters had the greatest effect on extinction risk. In January 2004 Lake St Lucia was reduced to a fraction of its normal capacity as a result of a severe drought in this region of KwaZulu-Natal. After rains in the area the lake level rose and then fluctuated considerably over the next 24 months. During this time the mouth of the estuary into the sea was closed. Great White Pelican numbers and lake levels were monitored throughout this period. This part of the study relates the changes in population numbers to the lake conditions, and highlights the importance of the lake to this avian species. It uses lake levels as a proxy for the conditions of wetlands in the Lake St Lucia region. It also addresses the implications of these relationships to the management strategy of the lake and the conservation of some avifauna. To identify conservation concerns for the Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans it was necessary to generate these baseline estimations. Although much of this information is uncertain for these two species, an attempt has been made here to predict the persistence of these species in north eastern KwaZulu-Natal and to highlight the conservation issues related to their future. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006

Videography is a valuable tool in biological and ecological studies. Using video footage obtained during previous coelacanth surveys, this thesis investigated coelacanths and their associated habitats in the submarine canyons of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa. This thesis aimed to (1) describe the biological habitats within the submarine canyons, (2) determine coelacanth distribution within these habitats, and (3) assess the use of computer-aided identification to successfully identify individual coelacanths. Seven different habitat types were noted with the most distinctive being the canyon margins that consisted of dense agglomerations of gorgonians, wire and whip corals, and sponges. Results suggested that although substratum type has a great influence on invertebrate community structure in the canyons, depth is the principal factor. Coelacanths were associated with cave habitats within the steep rocky canyon walls. Habitat analyses allowed predictive classification tree models to be constructed. Depth, underlying percentage of rock, and percentage cover of gorgonians and sponges were the most important variables for determining coelacanth presence and absence. The overall correct classification rate for the model was estimated at 96.6%, correctly predicting coelacanth absence (> 99%) better than presence (60%). Because coelacanths have a unique spot pattern it was possible to quickly and accurately identify specific individuals photographically using computer-aided identification software. Without any manual intervention by an operator the software accurately identified between 56 and 92% of the individuals. Identification success increased to 100% if the operator could also manually select from other potential matching photographs. It was also shown that fish exhibiting a yaw angle not exceeding 60° could be accurately identified in photographs. Each of the sections presented in this thesis represent a possible step towards analysing coelacanth-related habitats, locating and then analysing new habitats. Steps include first locating a population and then performing a habitat analysis. Coelacanth location within the different habitats can then be determined allowing the development of predictive models to potentially identify possible locations of new populations. The final step is to identify individual fish within the population for assessing demographic parameters and population monitoring.