scholarly journals Savannas of southern Africa: attributes and use of some types along the Tropic of Capricorn

Bothalia ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 675-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Van der Meulen ◽  
H. A. M. J. Van Gils
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Landscape Approach ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Vegetation Growth ◽  
Vegetation Surveys ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Landscape Basis

Two recent reconnaissance vegetation surveys of savanna in the Kalahari of Botswana and in the western Transvaal (RSA) carried out on a landscape basis are described. Attributes and utilization of four selected stations along a transect of about 1 000 km near the Tropic of Capricorn, with a climate changing eastward from arid to subhumid. are compared. The stations represent microphyllous /íajcïfl-savannas and mesophvllous Burkea-Ochna-Terminalia savannas on deep red sands, covering extensive parts in both survey areas. Land attributes used are physiography, macro-climate, vegetation (growth), large herbivores and land use practices. The most striking difference between the four areas are the land use practices. Some notes on the survey methodology are presented. The authors conclude that for small-scale vegetation-land use surveys the 'holistic' landscape approach can be recommended.

scholarly journals Trait-based responses to forestry and animal husbandry modify long-term changes in forest understories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konsta Happonen ◽  
Lauralotta Muurinen ◽  
Risto Virtanen ◽  
Eero Kaakinen ◽  
John-Arvid Grytnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Reindeer Husbandry ◽  
Understory Communities ◽  
Land Use Practices

AbstractAimLand use is the foremost cause of global biodiversity decline, but species do not respond equally to land-use practices. Instead, responses are mediated by species traits, but long-term data on the trait-mediated effects of land-use on communities is scarce. Here we study how forest understory communities have been affected by common land-use practices during 4–5 decades, and whether changes in diversity are related to changes in functional composition.LocationFinlandTime period1968–2019Major taxa studiedVascular plantsMethodsWe resurveyed 245 semi-permanent vegetation plots in boreal herb-rich forest understories, and used path analysis to relate changes in diversity, species composition, average plant size, and leaf economic traits to reindeer husbandry, forest management intensity, and changes in canopy cover and canopy traits.ResultsForestry affected understories indirectly by increasing canopy shading, which increased understory SLA and decreased LDMC over the study period. Intensive management also decreased species richness and increased turnover. In areas with reindeer husbandry, reindeer density had increased along with understory evenness and diversity. Areas with reindeer husbandry also had lower temporal community turnover. Plant height had increased in areas without reindeer, but this trend was suppressed or even reversed within the reindeer herding area.Main conclusionsFunctional traits are useful in connecting vegetation changes to the mechanisms that drive them. Forest management causes directional selection on light-interception traits by altering shade. Reindeer husbandry seems to buffer forest understory communities against compositional changes by altering selection on whole-plant traits such as size. These trait-dependent selection effects could inform which species benefit and which suffer from different types of land use, and point to the potential usefulness of large herbivores as tools for managing vegetation changes under global change.

scholarly journals Optimization of land use of alpine-subalpine highlands Chornohora on the basis of the landscape principles

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Mykola M. Karabiniuk ◽  
Vladyslav Yu. Peresolyak
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Ecological State ◽  
Landscape Approach ◽  
Pasture Land ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Land Use System ◽  
Landscape Basis

The article presents the experience of using the landscape approach in optimizing the land use system of the alpine-subalpine highlands of Chornohora in the borders of the Transcarpathian region, the quality of the pasturage. On the basis of the features of the landscape organization of the mountainous territory and the properties of the integral geomapplexes of Chornohora, on the example of the key-site Sheshul – Petros, as well as regularities of the distribution of negative natural processes, the main centers and scale of the influence of the pasturage objects on the specific natural territorial complexes of the level of the tract were determined. On the landscape basis there are conditionally distinguished highland natural complexes from artificially developed pasture lands of forest middle level tier. The largest field pasturing type in the vicinity of the key area of Sheshul – Petros, the features of their placement and functioning, as well as the extent of attracting highland tracts, which are also used in the economy as pasture land in our research. The analysis of the morphological structure of the highlands made it possible to establish regularities of the organization of natural complexes, which express the properties and ecological state of the polonina pasture lands, and to develop recommendations for optimization of the pasturage as the main land useage of the highlands of Chornohora.

Accelerating Change

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Stewart Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
Economic Independence ◽  
Contract Negotiations ◽  
Reduced Frequency ◽  
Ecological Event ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Ecological Regime

Emancipation proved to be a far-reaching ecological event. Whereas the ecological regime of slavery had reinforced extensive land-use practices, the end of slavery weakened them. Freedpeople dedicated less time to erosion control and ditching and used contract negotiations and sharecropping arrangements to avoid working in a centrally directed gang. Understandably, freedpeople preferred to direct their own labor on an individual plot of land. The eventual proliferation of share-based or tenant contracts encouraged the physical reorganization of plantations. The combination of these two progressive alterations to labor relations tragically undermined African Americans’ efforts to achieve economic independence by tightening natural limits on cotton production and reducing blacks’ access to the South’s internal provisioning economy. The cessation, or even reduced frequency, of land maintenance on farms exacerbated erosion, flooding, and crops’ susceptibility to drought.

Deferring Crisis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Stewart Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Antebellum South ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Ecological Regime

This chapter explores the ecological regime of slavery and the land-use practices employed by farmers across the antebellum South. Despite the diverse ecologies and crop regimes of the region, most southern farmers employed a set of extensive agricultural techniques that kept the cost of farming down and helped circumvent natural limits on crop production and stock-raising. The use of shifting cultivation, free-range animal husbandry, and slaves to perform erosion control masked the environmental impacts of farmers’ actions, at least temporarily. Debates over westward expansion during the sectional crisis of the 1850s were not just about the extension of slavery, they also reflected practical concerns regarding access to new lands and fresh soil. Both were necessary for the continued profitability of farming in the South.

scholarly journals A Model-Based Tool for Assessing the Impact of Land Use Change Scenarios on Flood Risk in Small-Scale River Systems—Part 1: Pre-Processing of Scenario Based Flood Characteristics for the Current State of Land Use

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Frauke Kachholz ◽  
Jens Tränckner
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Small Rivers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ungauged Catchments ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Impact

Land use changes influence the water balance and often increase surface runoff. The resulting impacts on river flow, water level, and flood should be identified beforehand in the phase of spatial planning. In two consecutive papers, we develop a model-based decision support system for quantifying the hydrological and stream hydraulic impacts of land use changes. Part 1 presents the semi-automatic set-up of physically based hydrological and hydraulic models on the basis of geodata analysis for the current state. Appropriate hydrological model parameters for ungauged catchments are derived by a transfer from a calibrated model. In the regarded lowland river basins, parameters of surface and groundwater inflow turned out to be particularly important. While the calibration delivers very good to good model results for flow (Evol =2.4%, R = 0.84, NSE = 0.84), the model performance is good to satisfactory (Evol = −9.6%, R = 0.88, NSE = 0.59) in a different river system parametrized with the transfer procedure. After transferring the concept to a larger area with various small rivers, the current state is analyzed by running simulations based on statistical rainfall scenarios. Results include watercourse section-specific capacities and excess volumes in case of flooding. The developed approach can relatively quickly generate physically reliable and spatially high-resolution results. Part 2 builds on the data generated in part 1 and presents the subsequent approach to assess hydrologic/hydrodynamic impacts of potential land use changes.

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