Fire Regimes in the Biomes of South Africa

1984 ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fire Regimes

scholarly journals Convergent phylogenetic and functional responses to altered fire regimes in mesic savanna grasslands of North America and South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 203 (3) ◽  
pp. 1000-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth J. Forrestel ◽  
Michael J. Donoghue ◽  
Melinda D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Functional Responses

scholarly journals Online appendix 1:A geomorphic and soil description of the long-term fire experiment in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik J. Venter ◽  
Navashni Govender
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Online Appendix ◽  
Soil Variation ◽  
Fire Experiments

In 1954, the experimental burning programme into fire research was initiated in the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. It is viewed as one of the last remaining long- term landscape fire experiments in Africa. Throughout the more than five decades of fire treatments in the experiment, numerous surveys (expanding various spatial and temporal scales), research projects (covering biotic and abiotic components) and analyses have been conducted with the aim to assess the impacts of different fire regimes on the savannah biome. The design of the experiment intended to test the effect of season and frequency of burning on vegetation within four major landscapes in the KNP. However, these effects have been partly obscured by factors not fully taken into account by the experimental design, namely, herbivory, artificial water provision and soil variation. Soil variation between replicates in the same landscape, as well as within individual replicates, has raised the issue of the representivity of the trial. This paper provided a description and ranking of the experimental burning trial according to the geomorphic and soil characteristics of each plot in comparison to the surrounding landscape.Conservation implications: The KNP burn plots are one of the largest and longest-running fire experiments on fire ecology in African savannahs. However, studies need to consider the underlying geomorphic and soil template when designing experiments and interpreting results. This work describes the representivity of the plots across, and within, treatments.

scholarly journals Thirty years of change in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, South Africa

Bothalia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. J. Privett ◽  
R. M. Cowling ◽  
H. C. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This study used permanently marked 50 m: sites, surveyed at a 30 year interval, to provide a descriptive account of the temporal change in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. South Africa. Management records were used to examine the role of post-fire age. fire frequency and intensity, as well as biotic interactions (competition from overstorey proteoids and alien plants) in influencing vegetation composition over this time period. The mean similarity in species composition of sites between surveys was 62%, indicating an average of nearly 40% turnover in species over the 30 year period. The main causes of this change included differences resulting from different stages in the post-fire succession as well as the impact of differential fire regimes (especially frequency effects). Competition from serotinous Proteaceae. which proved highly mobile after fire, as well as invasive Australian acacias also impacted on the composition of the vegetation over time. The study demonstrated that fynbos communities are temporally dynamic and that the changes over time in species composition are caused by a variety of processes. The study also provided evidence for the role of temporal diversity in contributing to the high species diversity in fynbos systems.

scholarly journals A geomorphic and soil description of the long-term fire experiment in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik J. Venter ◽  
Navashni Govender
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Soil Variation ◽  
Water Provision ◽  
Fire Experiments

In 1954, the experimental burning programme into fire research was initiated in the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. It is viewed as one of the last remaining long- term landscape fire experiments in Africa. Throughout the more than five decades of fire treatments in the experiment, numerous surveys (expanding various spatial and temporal scales), research projects (covering biotic and abiotic components) and analyses have been conducted with the aim to assess the impacts of different fire regimes on the savannah biome. The design of the experiment intended to test the effect of season and frequency of burning on vegetation within four major landscapes in the KNP. However, these effects have been partly obscured by factors not fully taken into account by the experimental design, namely, herbivory, artificial water provision and soil variation. Soil variation between replicates in the same landscape, as well as within individual replicates, has raised the issue of the representivity of the trial. This paper provided a description and ranking of the experimental burning trial according to the geomorphic and soil characteristics of each plot in comparison to the surrounding landscape.Conservation implications: The KNP burn plots are one of the largest and longest-running fire experiments on fire ecology in African savannahs. However, studies need to consider the underlying geomorphic and soil template when designing experiments and interpreting results. This work describes the representivity of the plots across, and within, treatments.

scholarly journals Modelling the effects of CO2 on C3 and C4 grass competition during the mid-Pleistocene transition in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Ecker ◽  
Douglas Kelley ◽  
Hiromitsu Sato
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Vegetation Model ◽  
Proxy Record ◽  
Climate Reconstructions ◽  
General Climate ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the interior of South Africa show a wetter environment than today and a non-analogous vegetation structure in the Early Pleistocene. This includes the presence of grasses following both C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways, whereas C3 grasses decline after the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT, c. 1.2–0.8 Ma). However, the local terrestrial proxy record cannot distinguish between the potential drivers of these vegetation changes. In this study we show that low glacial CO2 levels, similar to those at the MPT, lead to the local decline of C3 grasses under conditions of decreased water availability, using a vegetation model (LPX) driven by Atmosphere–Ocean coupled General Climate Model climate reconstructions. We modelled vegetation for glacial climates under different levels of CO2 and fire regimes and find evidence that a combination of low CO2 and changed seasonality is driving the changes in grass cover, whereas fire has little influence on the ratio of C3:C4 grasses. Our results suggest the prevalence of a less vegetated landscape with limited, seasonal water availability, which could potentially explain the much sparser mid-Pleistocene archaeological record in the southern Kalahari.

Time and Latitude in South Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
J. Hers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
Royal Observatory ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Astronomical Determination ◽  
Limited Accuracy ◽  
Better Than

In South Africa the modern outlook towards time may be said to have started in 1948. Both the two major observatories, The Royal Observatory in Cape Town and the Union Observatory (now known as the Republic Observatory) in Johannesburg had, of course, been involved in the astronomical determination of time almost from their inception, and the Johannesburg Observatory has been responsible for the official time of South Africa since 1908. However the pendulum clocks then in use could not be relied on to provide an accuracy better than about 1/10 second, which was of the same order as that of the astronomical observations. It is doubtful if much use was made of even this limited accuracy outside the two observatories, and although there may – occasionally have been a demand for more accurate time, it was certainly not voiced.

Combining Professional Interests and Travel: People to People Citizen Ambassador Program

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Alex Johnson ◽  
Amanda Hitchins
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Exchange Program

Abstract This article summarizes a series of trips sponsored by People to People, a professional exchange program. The trips described in this report were led by the first author of this article and include trips to South Africa, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Israel. Each of these trips included delegations of 25 to 50 speech-language pathologists and audiologists who participated in professional visits to learn of the health, education, and social conditions in each country. Additionally, opportunities to meet with communication disorders professionals, students, and persons with speech, language, or hearing disabilities were included. People to People, partnered with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), provides a meaningful and interesting way to learn and travel with colleagues.

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