Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Spatial variation in school performance, a local analysis of socio-economic factors in Cape Town

Naidoo, Arulsivanathan Ganas Varadappa; Van Eeden, Amanda; Munch, Zahn (CONSAS Conference, 2014)

Poor pass rates of matric learners at secondary schools in South Africa has been a concern for quite some time. Despite large government spending on education, research has shown that the South African schooling system ...

Exploring hemp farming as a sustainable agriculture in South Africa, using a social-ecological systems approach

Rightford, Brett Warwick Bevan (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Smallholder communities in the rural regions of South Africa are becoming increasingly vulnerable to challenges associated with climate change and socio-economic conditions. This study includes an exploration ...

Determining spatial and temporal change in household solid waste composition within Stellenbosch local municipality

Nell, Charlotte Maria (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The quantities in which solid waste is generated are continuously increasing throughout the world. If waste is not treated or disposed of in an appropriate manner, the consequences for societies and ...

Do social grants contribute to the jobless population growth in the former South African homelands?

Geyer, Herman; Ngidi, Mawande; Mans, Gerbrand (University of the Free State, 2018)

The former homelands and tribal authorities have large populations and high densities with low levels of economic activity and low employment. Population growth in these settlements is in contrast to expectations of ...

An integrated approach to grassland productivity modelling using spectral mixture analysis, primary production and Google Earth Engine

Vermeulen, Liezl Mari (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Grassland degradation can have a severe impact on condition, productivity and consequently grazing potential. Current conventional methods for monitoring and managing grasslands are time-consuming, ...

Regional mapping of spekboom canopy cover using very high resolution aerial imagery

Harris, Dugal Jeremy (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Widespread degradation of subtropical thicket (South Africa) by poorly managed pastoralism has led to substantial decreases in ecological functioning and biodiversity. Once degraded, thicket does not ...

Measuring and modelling evapotranspiration in a South African grassland : comparison of two improved Penman-Monteith formulations

Gwate, Onalenna; Mantel, Sukhmani K.; Palmer, Anthony R.; Gibson, Lesley A.; Munch, Zahn (South African Water Research Commission, 2018)

Accurately measuring evapotranspiration (ET) is important in the context of global atmospheric changes and for use with climate models. Direct ET measurement is costly to apply widely and local calibration and validation ...

The application of an Urban Sprawl Index : comparing towns and cities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

Horn, Anele; Van Eeden, Amanda (CONSAS, 2018)

The incidence and effects of urban sprawl have been the subject of a great many academic research mainly as a result of the challenges posed by continued urbanisation, especially in developing countries (see inter alia ...

Towards land change management using ecosystem dynamics and land cover change in rural Eastern Cape

Munch, Zahn (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Land cover change, triggered by natural and anthropogenic land use change, affects ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Woody encroachment into the grasslands is a threat to function and productivity ...

Efficacy of machine learning and lidar data for crop type mapping

Prins, Adriaan (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Accurate crop type maps are important for obtaining agricultural statistics such as water use or harvest estimations. The traditional approach to obtaining maps of cultivated fields is by manually digitising ...

Agricultural field boundary delineation using earth observation methods and multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery

Watkins, Barry (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Accurate and up-to-date agricultural monitoring systems are critical for forecasting crop yield, planning resources and assessing the impact of threats to production (such as droughts or floods). The ...

Using LiDAR derivatives to estimate sediment grain size on beaches in False Bay

Burns, James Joubert (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The coastal zone is a dynamic environment that is regulated and influenced by natural ocean processes and anthropogenic phenomena. Beaches are important elements within the coastal zone and are highly ...

Thesium nautimontanum, a new species of Thesiaceae (Santalales) from South Africa

Garcia, Miguel Angel; Nickrent, Daniel L.; Mucina, Ladislav (Pensoft Publishers, 2018)

Thesium nautimontanum, a new species of Thesiaceae (Santalales) from South Africa

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 ...

Understanding the societal impact of research through productive interactions and realist theory-based evaluation: Select cases of agricultural research in South Africa

Esterhuyse, Harrie Willie (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study explored the concept of societal impact of research (SoIR) in four agricultural research projects in South Africa, as well as in a survey of the two commodity companies that funded those projects. ...