Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology
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Browsing Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology by browse.metadata.advisor "Brown, Cate"
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- ItemChanges in the Berg River Basin over time(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Magoba, Rozwivhona Faith; Esler, Karen J.; Brown, Cate; Mazvimavi, Dominic; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Conservation Ecology and Entomology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The nature of river ecosystems is influenced by the history of activities in their basins. This dissertation investigated historic changes in the Berg River Basin and their influence on river ecosystem structure. The central assumption was that all activities in a river basin landscape contribute either directly or indirectly to the condition (physical, biological, chemical) of rivers that run through them. It was first necessary to establish what changes had taken place in the river basin over time and this was done in different ways at different spatial scales. Changes in land-use were collated and mapped across the basin since these were considered to influence the river’s flow regime and river channel structure. Predictions were made about how changes in flow and river channel habitat would influence the distribution and abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates. A history of land-use changes over the Berg River Basin was explored between four periods, 1955-1965, 1976-1985, 1996-2005 and 2006-2015. The bulk of the dryland crop production was in the lower foothills and lowlands while the upper foothills comprised orchards, vineyards and forestry. From 1955-2015 the extent of agricultural land in the basin declined by half as dryland crops were changed to orchards and vineyards and large tracts of land were left fallow. Over the same period the area under forest declined by 73% and urban areas doubled in size as did the number of farm dams in response to the increased need for irrigation to supply the more water hungry crops. The effects of the changes in land-use, the increase in farm dams and the construction of large dams on the river’s flow regime was investigated next. Changes in flow were explored at four river gauges along the length of the Berg River up- and down-stream of the two main in channel dams; the Berg River Dam in the Upper Foothills and Misverstand Dam in the Lowlands. In general the changes were more marked at the downstream gauges and the trends were towards increased dry season flows and slightly decreased wet season flows due to release of water from, and capturing of floods by the in-channel dams to meet irrigation demand in the dry season. Flow pattern from early records was better correlated with rainfall than that from the recent record indicating that flow changes were likely to be attributable to anthropogenic effects such as land-use and water resource developments. Both land-use and water resource developments were predicted to have consequences on river channel shape and habitat that was investigated next. Changes in river channel shape, the extent and composition of the floodplain and riparian area was mapped from aerial photographs at five sites along the Berg River and at five adjacent tributaries. Each site responded differently, which was not unexpected, and reductions in the extent of the channel and riparian area were more severe along the Berg River main stem when compared to the tributaries. Along tributaries no floodplains were discernible at the scale measured, however a decreased in extent over time along the main river except downstream of the Berg River Dam where the floodplain area had increased due to the previously braided channel of 1938 changing to a single thread channel with floodplain and a greater area of sandbanks. Changes in river habitat, such as these, were predicted to effect change in the abundance and community structure of aquatic macroinvertebrates, which was investigated next. The abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates was studied from the 1950s to 2015 and showed a reduction in simulids and baetids with an increase in the abundance of chironomids, indicating a decline in water quality. Changes in other groups indicated a decline in quality of habitat, for instance a loss of plecopterans that prefer clean gravel beds being replaced by caenids that prefer a sandy channel bottom. In 2015 there were also more groups of invertebrates that are associated with slow-flowing areas and marginal vegetation, which was presumed to have occurred in response to the clearing of woody alien trees from the river banks and the subsequent proliferation of aquatic and marginal plants along the water’s edge. Data collected for land-use, hydrology, channel and riparian changes, macroinvertebrates were synthesized using BEST (BIOENV and BVSTEP) multivariate statistics in PRIMER to search for high rank correlations between environmental and biological variables. When the environmental variables were tested against the biological variables showed that changes in macroinvertebrates were strongly related to area of plantations, area of undeveloped land, the extent of braiding, maximum 5-day average discharge in the wet season and the daily average volume in the dry season. Environmental variables were most influenced/driven by location (separated into sub-basins) while time was the driving factor for the macroinvertebrates data.
- ItemLinks between lateral riparian vegetation zones and flow(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Reinecke, Michiel Karl; Esler, Karen J.; Brown, Cate; King, Jackie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Conservation Ecology and Entomology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Riparian vegetation communities that occur along perennial rivers are structured in lateral zones that run parallel to river flow. This dissertation investigated the structure of South African riparian vegetation communities along perennial, single-thread headwater streams. The central assumption was that lateral zones result from differential species’ responses to changing abiotic factors along a lateral gradient up the river bank. It was first necessary to establish the pattern of zones and whether this pattern occurs repetitively and predictably on different rivers in different biomes. Since the flow regime is considered to be the master variable that controls the occurrence of lateral zones, the link between flow as the major abiotic driver and the distribution of plants in zones was determined. Predictions were made with respect to how variable flow may influence phenological traits, particularly with respect to seed dispersal, and physiological tolerances to drying out and were tested. The existence of lateral zones at reference sites in the Western Cape of South Africa was explored and their vegetation characteristics were described. Plant distribution was related to bank slope, as defined by elevation and distance from the wetted channel edge during summer (dry season) low flow, indicating a direct link to river bank hydraulics. Whether or not the same zonation patterns occur in riparian communities in other parts of South Africa was explored next. The four zones described for Fynbos Riparian Vegetation were evident at all of the other rivers tested, despite major differences in geographic location, vegetation community type, climate and patterns of seasonal flow. The four lateral zones could be separated from each other using a combination of flood recurrence and inundation duration. Functional differences were investigated between three tree species that occur in Fynbos Riparian Vegetation. Functional differences were apparent with respect to timing of seed dispersal, growth in branch length versus girth and three physiological measures of tolerance to drying out; specific leaf area (cm2.g-1), wood density (g.cm-3) and levels of carbon isotopes (δ13C). In order to determine the impact of invasive alien plants and to monitor recovery after clearing, the physical rules devised to help delineate zones were used to locate lateral zones that had been obliterated after invasion and subsequent clearing. At the sites invaded by A. mearnsii plants, the zone delineations showed that invasion started in the lower dynamic zone, where adult and sapling A. mearnsii were most abundant. In un-invaded systems, this zone was the least densely vegetated of the four zones, the most varied in terms of inundation duration and the frequency of inter- and intra-annual floods, and was an area of active recruitment comprised mainly of recruiting seedlings and saplings. An understanding of the functional differences between lateral zones was a common thread at each riparian community that was linked to the annual frequency of inundation and the period, when inundated.
- ItemSpatial and temporal changes in Fynbos riparian vegetation on selected upland rivers in the Western Cape(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Otto, Mia; Jacobs, Shayne Martin; Brown, Cate; Reinecke, Karl; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Conservation Ecology and Entomology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Restoration practices commonly make use of a reference condition in order to restore a site to a better ecological state than it is currently in. The selection process and relevance of the reference condition has not yet been tested in upland Western Cape rivers especially with relation to spatial and temporal scales. This thesis sought to evaluate whether space (longitudinal) and time (temporal) influence riparian plant community composition (laterally), how it influences the community composition and whether these differences impacts the selection of a reference condition used in restoration practices. In order to investigate the role longitudinal position, sites were selected across three longitudinal zones: mountain stream, transitional and upper foothills. Historic sites used in a previous study on riparian vegetation of upland rivers were resampled and datasets used for temporal comparisons between undisturbed sites, sites recovering after clearing of invasive alien plants and sites affected by fire. Riparian vegetation communities showed differences between longitudinal zones, basins and rivers. The species responsible for marginal zone identity (plants in close proximity to the active channel), determined using relative cover abundance varied, with Isolepis prolifera responsible for the group identity in the mountain stream and transitional sites but in the foothills Calopsis paniculata, Drosera capensis and Metrosideros angustifolia saplings were responsible for lateral zone identity. The lower dynamic (transitional between wet and drybank) had no similarities between different longitudinal zones across rivers. In the lower zone Pteridium aqualinum was mostly responsible for the identity. The upper bank had no single species responsible for group identity. The species described to be typical for the reference condition on these particular rivers by other studies were mostly present in the comparable lateral zone but it was however not always responsible for the identity of the specific lateral zone. By comparing selected environmental variables such as horizontal distance from active channel, elevation and substrate calibre with different longitudinal zones’ riparian vegetation species distribution, different combinations were produced. The mountain streams showed the strongest relationship with horizontal distance and elevation in combination to one another and the upper foothills horizontal distance from the active channel was linked most strongly to vegetation positioning. These results confirm the importance of space when attempting to assess, study or restore riparian communities. Temporally, sites had stronger similarity to data collected during the same sampling period than with historic data. Also, the overall relative species abundance did not show significant change to be present at a site scale. The changes in community composition were found to be due to a lateral zone scale variation in species abundance. As expected the undisturbed rivers showed less variation in species responsible for temporal changes than the recovering and fire-exposed rivers. Species responsible for changes in relative abundance at a lateral zone scale were Metrosideros angustifolia, Morella serrata, Brabejum stellatifolium, Isolepis prolifera, Elegia capensis, Prionium serratum and Calopsis paniculata. Due to the species diversity not changing much temporally but the relative abundance of specific species showing much variation over time it can be concluded that the changes are not diversity based but instead driven by changes in relative abundances of species typical for a lateral zone. The spatial and temporal variation in riparian vegetation community composition was found to be significant enough to suggest that the use of a fixed reference condition for all Western Cape rivers would not be feasible due to clear differences between basins. Secondly when selecting a reference site the spatial location of this site should be within the same longitudinal zone since bank shape does influence riparian plant species distribution. Finally the temporal comparison between sites showed high diversity in species abundances but small differences in diversity overall. This would suggest that a general community description specific to 1) where the site is situated and 2) based on the present riparian vegetation community composition within a specific basin may be more realistic and achievable for restoration and environmental management purposes as opposed to using site descriptions from the past and reference sites too far upstream or downstream from the restoration site.