Browsing Research Articles (Geography and Environmental Studies) by Title

Now showing items 35-54 of 117

    • Economic and demographic performance of municipalities in South Africa : an application of Zipf's rule 

      Morudu, Hlabi; Du Plessis, Danie (University of the Free State, 2013)
      There are vast differences among South African local municipalities, with a limited number of large municipalities (both in terms of population size and economic activity) and a seemingly disproportionate number of ...

    • Effect of feature dimensionality on object-based land cover classification : a comparison of three classifiers 

      Myburgh, Gerhard; Van Niekerk, Adriaan (CONSAS Conference, 2013)
      The efficient mapping of land cover from remotely sensed data is highly desirable as land cover information is essential for a range of environmental and socio-economic applications. Supervised classifiers are often applied ...

    • EUNIS Habitat Classification: Expert system, characteristic species combinations and distribution maps of European habitats 

      Chytry, Milan; Tichy, Lubomir; Hennekens, Stephan M.; Knollova, Ilona; Janssen, John A. M.; Rodwell, John S.; Peterka, Tomas; Marceno, Corrado; Landucci, Flavia; Danihelka, Jiri; Hajek, Michal; Dengler, Jurgen; Novak, Pavel; Zukal, Dominik; Jimenez-Alfaro, Borja; Mucina, Ladislav; Abdulhak, Sylvain; Acic, Svetlana; Agrillo, Emiliano; Attorre, Fabio; Bergmeier, Erwin; Biurrun, Idoia; Boch, Steffen; Boloni, Janos; Bonari, Gianmaria; Braslavskaya, Tatiana; Bruelheide, Helge; Campos, Juan Antonio; Carni, Andraz; Casella, Laura; Cuk, Mirjana; Custerevska, Renata; De Bie, Els; Delbosc, Pauline; Demina, Olga; Didukh, Yakiv; Dite, Daniel; Dziuba, Tetiana; Ewald, Jorg; Gavilan, Rosario G.; Gegout, Jean-Claude; del Galdo, Gian Pietro Giusso; Golub, Valentin; Goncharova, Nadezhda; Goral, Friedemann; Graf, Ulrich; Indreica, Adrian; Isermann, Maike; Jandt, Ute; Jansen, Florian; Jansen, Jan; Jaskova, Anni; Jirousek, Martin; Kacki, Zygmunt; Kalnikova, Veronika; Kavgacı, Ali; Khanina, Larisa; Korolyuk, Andrey Yu.; Kozhevnikova, Mariya; Kuzemko, Anna; Kuzmic, Filip; Kuznetsov, Oleg L.; Laiviņs, Maris; Lavrinenko, Igor; Lavrinenko, Olga; Lebedeva, Maria; Lososova, Zdenka; Lysenko, Tatiana; Maciejewski, Lise; Mardari, Constantin; Marinsek, Aleksander; Napreenko, Maxim G.; Onyshchenko, Viktor; Perez-Haase, Aaron; Pielech, Remigiusz; Prokhorov, Vadim; Rasomavicius, Valerijus; Rojo, Maria Pilar Rodriguez; Rusina, Solvita; Schrautzer, Joachim; Sibik, Jozef; Silc, Urban; Skvorc, Zeljko; Smagin, Viktor A.; Stancic, Zvjezdana; Stanisci, Angela; Tikhonova, Elena; Tonteri, Tiina; Uogintas, Domas; Valachovic, Milan; Vassilev, Kiril; Vynokurov, Denys; Willner, Wolfgang; Yamalov, Sergey; Evans, Douglas; Lund, Mette Palitzsch; Spyropoulou, Rania; Tryfon, Eleni; Schaminee, Joop H. J. (2020-07)
      Abstract: Aim: The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal ...

    • Evaluating ‘homegrown’ research networks in Africa 

      Adelle, Camilla; Elema, Nico; Chakauy, Ereck; Benson, David (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2018)
      Attempts to improve the policy environment have led to a growing pressure on governments in Africa to embark on policymaking that is more evidence based and considers a wide spectrum of scientific and indigenous knowledge. ...

    • Evaluation of satellite-derived burned area products for the fynbos, a Mediterranean shrubland 

      De Klerk, Helen Margaret; Wilson, Adam M.; Steenkamp, Karen (CSIRO Publishing, 2011-10-17)
      Fire is a critical ecological process in the fynbos of the south-western area of South Africa, as it is for all dwarf Mediterranean shrublands. We evaluated the potential of current publicly available MODIS burned area ...

    • Everyday hazards and vulnerabilities amongst backyard dwellers : a case study of Vredendal North, Matzikama Municipality, South Africa 

      Zweig, Patricia J. (AOSIS Publishing, 2015-11)
      The populations of many small towns in South Africa continue to expand unmatched by parallel economic growth, entrenching high levels of poverty. The town of Vredendal, located close to the national route between Namibia ...

    • Extreme 1-day rainfall distributions : analysing change in the Western Cape 

      De Waal, Jan H.; Chapman, Arthur; Kemp, Jaco (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2017)
      Severe floods in the Western Cape Province of South Africa have caused significant damage to property and infrastructure over the past decade (2003–2014). The hydrological design criteria for exposed structures and design ...

    • Fire and life history affect the distribution of plant species in a biodiversity hotspot 

      Magadzire, Nyasha; De Klerk, Helen M.; Esler, Karen J.; Slingsby, Jasper A. (Wiley, 2019)
      Aim: Species distribution models (SDMs) provide valuable insights into species–environment relationships and potential climate change impacts on diversity. Most SDMs do not account for the role of natural disturbance ...

    • Fire‑mediated disruptive selection can explain the reseeder–resprouter dichotomy in Mediterranean‑type vegetation 

      Altwegg, Res; De Klerk, Helen Margaret; Midgley, Guy F. (Springer, 2014)
      Crown fire is a key selective pressure in Mediterranean-type plant communities. Adaptive responses to fire regimes involve trade-offs between investment for persistence (fire survival and resprouting) and reproduction (fire ...

    • Food for body and soul : tourism development opportunities in the Western Cape 

      Van der Merwe, Johannes (SUN MeDIA, 2013)
      This article applies spatial multiple criteria evaluation (MCE) by weighted linear combination of factor layers in a computerised geographical information system (GIS) to aid development of spatial policy and planning of ...

    • Framing the concept of satellite remote sensing essential biodiversity variables : challenges and future directions 

      Pettorelli, Nathalie; Wegmann, Martin; Skidmore, Andrew; Mucher, Sander; Dawson, Terence P.; Fernandez, Miguel; Lucas, Richard; Schaepman, Michael E.; Wang, Tiejun; O’Connor, Brian; Jongman, Robert H. G.; Kempeneers, Pieter; Sonnenschein, Ruth; Leidner, Allison K.; Bohm, Monika; He, Kate S.; Nagendra, Harini; Dubois, Gregoire; Fatoyinbo, Temilola; Hansen, Matthew C.; Paganini, Marc; De Klerk, Helen Margaret; Asner, Gregory P.; Kerr, Jeremy T.; Estes, Anna B.; Schmeller, Dirk S.; Heiden, Uta; Rocchini, Duccio; Pereira, Henrique M.; Turak, Eren; Fernandez, Nestor; Lausch, Angela; Cho, Moses A.; Alcaraz-Segura, Domingo; McGeoch, Melodie A.; Turner, Woody; Mueller, Andreas; St-Louis, Veronique; Penner, Johannes; Vihervaara, Petteri; Belward, Alan; Reyers, Belinda; Geller, Gary N. (John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2016-03)
      Although satellite-based variables have for long been expected to be key components to a unified and global biodiversity monitoring strategy, a definitive and agreed list of these variables still remains elusive. The growth ...

    • Free satellite data key to conservation 

      Buchanan, G. M.; Beresford, A. E.; Hebblewhite, M.; Escobedo, F. J.; De Klerk, H. M.; Donald, P. F.; Escribano, P.; Koh, L. P.; Martínez-Lopez, J.; Pettorelli, N.; Skidmore, A. K.; Szantoi, Z.; Tabor, K.; Wegmann, M.; Wich, S. (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2018-07)
      INTRODUCTION: Biodiversity is in crisis, with extinction rates orders of magnitude higher than background levels (1). Underfunded conservationists need to target their limited resources effectively. Over the past ...

    • Future land cover change scenarios in South African grasslands - implications of altered biophysical drivers on land management 

      Gibson, Lesley; Meunch, Zahn; Palmer, Anthony; Mantel, Sukhmani (Elsevier, 2018)
      Future land cover changes may result in adjustments to biophysical drivers impacting on net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE), catchment water use through evapotranspiration (ET), and the surface energy balance through a ...

    • Game, fences and motor vehicle accidents : spatial patterns in the Eastern Cape 

      Eloff, P. J.; Van Niekerk, Adriaan (South African Wildlife Management Association, 2005-10)
      In South Africa, very little research on motor vehicle accidents involving animals has been done. Transport networks expand while traffic volumes and speed increases. Animals entering the road reserve pose dangers to ...

    • Gaps in the protected area network for threatened Afrotropical birds 

      De Klerk, Helen Margaret; Fjeldsa, J.; Blyth, S.; Burgess, N. D. (Elsevier, 2004)
      Protected areas established for wildlife conservation (IUCN category I–VI protected areas) or for forest and watershed conservation (forest reserves) across mainland sub-Saharan Africa have high biodiversity values. However, ...

    • Gated developments : international experiences and the South African context 

      Spocter, Manfred (SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein, 2012)
      Gated developments, more commonly known as gated communities, have become a feature of urban living throughout the world. Gated developments in South African cities are an ubiquitous feature of the contemporary urban ...

    • Geo-information pyramids for up-to-date and flexible conservation plans : a case study for Transfrontier Conservation Areas 

      Smith, Nadia; De Klerk, Helen Margaret (OpenJournals Publishing, 2007)
      The initiative to link habitat and parks across political borders, to form large Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), has gained momentum in Africa and the world. TFCAs hold many advantages, one of them being the ...

    • The geographical distribution of diagnostic medical and dental X-ray services in South Africa 

      Walters, N. M.; Zietsman, H. L.; Bhagwandin, N. (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1998)
      Aim. The aim of this study was threefold, viz.: (/) to evaluate the availability and accessiblity of medical and dental X-ray services in South Africa; (//) to evaluate geographical information systems (GIS) as a tool for ...

    • A geographical profile of the South African population as a basis for epidemiological cancer research 

      Van der Merwe, I. J. (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1988)
      Because people do not necessarily become ill proportionally, particular subgroups of the population are more susceptible to certain types of disease than others. It is also essential to take spatial distribution and ...

    • Die groot avontuur – wondere van lewe op aarde 

      Barnard, Barnie (AOSIS OpenJournal, 2007)
      Leon Rousseau se Die groot avontuur is ’n populêre wetenskap oor die geskiedenis van lewe op aarde. Populêr-wetenskaplike tekste stel hoë eise aan die skrywer: aktualiteit, toeganklikheid van aanbieding, ’n getroue ...