Rangeland Ecology & Management
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- Library Collection RecordSusan Kent had been working on a project excavating an open-air archaeological site in the eastern Free State, South Africa, at the time of her death. She had commissioned geological studies, which…Publication Date 2006
- paleoenvironments
- Middle Stone Age
- pollen
- phytoliths
- optically stimulated luminescence dating
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary * 1Grasses using the C4 photosynthetic pathway dominate today's savanna ecosystems and account for ~20% of terrestrial carbon fixation. However, this dominant status was reached only…Publication Date 2008
- atmospheric CO2
- C4 plants
- climate change
- fire
- grasslands
- grazing
- Poaceae
- rainfall
- savanna
- seasonality
- carbon dioxide
- palaeoclimate
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper documents a continuous ~ 44,000-yr pollen record derived from the Mfabeni Peatland on the Maputaland Coastal Plain. A detailed fossil pollen analysis indicates the existence of extensive…Publication Date 2008
- climate change
- Forest history
- Maputaland
- Africa
- pollen
- human impacts
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary In this paper, we draw upon models from ecology and New Institutional Economics to examine the various mechanisms through which globalization can lead to loss in resilience of ecosystems and…Publication Date 2006
- Poverty
- Globalization
- environment
- ecosystem
- resilience
- institutions
- semi-arid savanna
- socio-economic aspects
- economics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordHistorically, agriculturally induced CO2 release from soils has contributed to rising levels in the atmosphere. However, by using appropriate management, soils can be turned into carbon sinks. Many…Publication Date 2007
- carbon sequestration
- drylands
- modelling
- soil carbon
- farming systems
- tropics
- global warming
- carbon dioxide
- management
- subsistence agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWorking for Water forms part of the Expanded Public Works Programme of the South African Government, aimed at the sustainable management of natural resources through the control and management of…Publication Date 2008
- Clearing unit reference values
- costs
- invasive alien plants
- net present value
- Person days
- riparian
- WIMS
- Workload
- Alien invasive species
- Economic Aspects
- management
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe palynology of two overlapping Holocene cores from Lake Sibaya in KwaZulu-Natal elucidates the relationship between climate, vegetation and human impact in the region. By means of twenty-one AMS…Publication Date 2008
- palynology
- Vegetation history
- Holocene
- South Africa
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavanna ecosystems of southern Africa are strongly influenced by water availability and fire intensity, and this study aimed to show whether these two specific environmental variables are reflected…Publication Date 2008
- calibration
- Kruger National Park
- fire history
- quantitative analysis
- Relevant Source Area of Charcoal
- fire ecology
- palaeobotany
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNew detailed biome reconstructions are proposed in East Africa from modern pollen data derived from 150 sites located in northern Kenya (40 sites), north-western Uganda (51 sites) and southern…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- biomisation
- East Africa
- modern pollen
- plant functional type
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordVegetation changes are documented from a well-dated pollen record from Lake Emakat, Empakaai Crater, northern Tanzania. This pollen record includes the time interval covering the Pleistocene/Holocene…Publication Date 2006
- East Africa
- pollen analysis
- Pleistocene/Holocene transition
- Vegetation Change
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe degree to which different lakes within a landscape respond coherently (in unison) to external drivers such as climate change and soil development is uncertain. Presentation of multi-proxy,…Publication Date 2007
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPollen analysis shed light on vegetation community structure over the last 23,000 year in the western Cape. The pollen from dated hyrax faecal accumulations (hyraceum) relates to the evolution of…Publication Date 2007
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this paper, we develop an original statistical method to infer palaeoenvironmental conditions from fossil taxonomical assemblages based on the present-day observed environmental characteristics of…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe distribution of pollen in marine sediments is used to record vegetation change on the continent. Generally, a good latitudinal correspondence exists between the distribution patterns of pollen in…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- pollen distribution
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAlluvial and braided fluvial deposits of the 3.2 Ga Moodies Group in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa, are analyzed petrographically and geochemically to identify their source rocks (…Publication Date 2006
- Archean sedimentary rocks
- Paleoweathering
- Paleoclimate
- provenance
- Barberton Greenstone Belt
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Millennium Development Goals' target to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger is extremely important in southern Africa, where food security has become increasingly…Publication Date 2006
- food security
- Millennium development goals
- soil fertility
- Soil-water conservation
- conservation
- Soil Condition
- Economic Aspects
- management
- irrigation
- socio-economic aspects
- rangeland condition
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordGovernance structures in Botswana are highly centralized and top-down in orientation. For water and related resources management in rural areas, this creates particular difficulties - from lack of…Publication Date 2006
- Okavango River Basin
- Ngamiland
- governance
- Sustainable resource use
- Integrated water resources management
- access
- Livelihoods
- socio-economic aspects
- policies
- degradation
- stakeholders
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordLong environmental proxy records are very scarce in semi-dry continental areas and often those available present conflicting interpretations. However, more in-depth investigation of apparent…Publication Date 2008
- pollen
- Lake sediments
- Stable isotope
- Speleothem
- climate change
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordEvidence suggests that C4 grasses, adapted to conditions of low CO2, high temperatures, and water-stressed environments, expanded relatively quickly, and in several geographically distinct regions,…Publication Date 2007
- Oligocene
- Climate modelling
- C4 grasses
- Miocene
- C3 grasses
- palaeobotany
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe lack of anoxic environments in arid lands makes well-preserved fossil pollen difficult to find. The scarcity of continental palaeobotanical data in tropical arid zones restricts the understanding…Publication Date 2007
- Namib Desert
- Holocene
- palynology
- Savanna dynamics
- Nama-Karoo
- Vegetation history
- Hyrax middens
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reports new multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental data on the late Glacial-Holocene transition (c. 14.8-9.3 ka) in equatorial East Africa, in the form of microfossil assemblages (chironomids,…Publication Date 2007
- climate change
- Crater lake
- Chironomids
- Diatoms
- East Africa
- Empakaai
- Multi-proxy reconstruction
- Ostracods
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordMajor morphological and behavioral innovations in early human evolution have traditionally been viewed as responses to conditions associated with increasing aridity and the development of extensive…Publication Date 2007
- Laetoli
- paleoecology
- isotopes
- Hominin evolution
- Paleodiet
- herbivore
- Pliocene
- Tanzania
- Africa
- palaeobotany
- palaeoecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe report five Oligocene-early Miocene pollen assemblages from the Loperot-1 exploration well drilled in the semi-desert Lokichar Basin (latitude 02 ° 21' 46.15'' N, longitude 35 °…Publication Date 2006
- palaeobotany
- Kenya Rift
- Turkana depression
- Lokichar Basin
- Oligo-Miocene
- palynology
- Palaeovegetation
- palaeoclimate
- Palaeogeography
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this study we employ the TRIFFID (Top-down Representation of Interactive Flora and Foliage Including Dynamics) Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) and the Hadley Centre Atmospheric General…Publication Date 2006
- Mid-Pliocene
- vegetation
- General Circulation Model
- Top-down Representation of Interactive Flora and Foliage Including Dynamics
- Hominid
- Bipedalism
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavannah (C4) grasses are first recorded at low latitudes in the mid-Miocene prior to their expansion towards mid-latitudes by approximately the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. In an attempt to determine…Publication Date 2006
- isotopes
- carbon
- Microwear
- Rodent
- South Africa
- Pliocene
- savanna
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSemi-arid climatic conditions were responsible for the evolution of the vast savanna that stretches across central Africa and for the evolution of placers in this area that carry gemstones, rare…Publication Date 2008
- Placer deposit
- savanna
- Gemstones
- Titanium
- Rare earth element minerals
- Zircon landform types
- Malawi
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis review discusses persistent tensions in efforts to secure land rights in Africa's drylands. Some researchers and practitioners advocate for formal, legal recognition of group rights as a…Publication Date 2008
- drylands
- Secure access
- land tenure
- Customary rights
- natural resources
- Multiple users
- Africa
- subsistence agriculture
- land use
- policies
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe multiple benefits from livestock production to rural households are evaluated in Thorndale, a communal area of the Limpopo Province South Africa. Monetary values of livestock products are…Publication Date 2006
- Communal areas
- Direct-use value
- households
- Livelihood
- Non-marketed outputs
- policy
- cattle
- socio-economic aspects
- rural areas
- goats
- household income studies
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary Ecological restoration is still perceived by many conservationists, and the majority of economists, as a diversion, a delusion, and - far worse - a waste of money. In this paper we point out…Publication Date 2006
- biodiversity
- ecological restoration
- ecosystem services
- Natural capital
- Social capital
- Sustainable development
- economics
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary The Okavango basin comprises the Cuito and Cubango active catchment areas in Angola, in addition to the Kavango-Okavango non-active catchment in northern Namibia and Botswana. The Okavango…Publication Date 2006
- Okavango River
- Livelihoods
- economic development
- Natural Environment
- Botswana
- Namibia
- Angola
- socio-economic aspects
- eco - tourism
- land use
- degradation
- ecosystem ecology
- ecosystem dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordEstablishing the habitat preferences of early hominin taxa is a necessary, though difficult, requirement for understanding the interaction between environmental change and hominin evolution. The…Publication Date 2008
- paleoecology
- Animal paleocommunity
- Correspondence analysis
- Swartkrans
- Sterkfontein
- Kromdraai
- Coopers
- Faunal analysis
- palaeobotany
- palaeoecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordReconstructing Plio-Pleistocene African paleoenvironments is important for models of early hominin evolution, but is often hampered by low-resolution or discontinuous climatic data. Here, we present…Publication Date 2007
- savanna
- Monsoon
- Walker Circulation
- Precession
- Hominin
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- palaeoenvironmental data
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordGladysvale Cave is one of the few Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing cave sites in South Africa that contains a well-stratified cave fill with clastic sediments interspersed with flowstones. The…Publication Date 2007
- Cave sediments
- Chronostratigraphy
- Flowstone bounded units
- Uranium-thorium dating
- South African caves
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPlio-Pleistocene East African grassland expansion and faunal macroevolution, including that of our own lineage, are attributed to global climate change. To further understand environmental factors of…Publication Date 2007
- Paleogeography
- savannas
- East Africa
- carbon isotopes
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe emergence of C4 grass biomes is believed to have first taken place in the upper Miocene, when a series of events modified global climate with long-lasting impacts on continental biotas. Changes…Publication Date 2007
- Miocene
- Pliocene
- Paleosols
- Tooth enamel
- Ratite eggshell
- grasslands
- palaeobotany
- palaeoclimate
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordGlobal climate change, linked to astronomical forcing factors, has been implicated in faunal evolutionary change in equatorial Africa, including the origin and diversification of hominin lineages.…Publication Date 2007
- Hominin evolution
- Pliocene
- East Africa
- Baringo
- Tugen Hills
- Precession
- Orbitally forced climate change
- Diatoms
- palaeobotany
- climate change
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe environmental contexts of the karstic hominin sites in South Africa have been established largely by means of faunal associations; taken together these data suggest a trend from relatively closed…Publication Date 2007
- Environmental change
- grasslands
- [delta]13C
- Fossil enamel
- Plio-Pleistocene
- South Africa
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSeveral stable carbon isotopic studies have shown that South African australopiths consumed significant quantities of C4 resources (tropical grasses, sedges, or animals that eat those foods), but…Publication Date 2006
- Carbon isotope
- Chimpanzee
- Baboon
- Hominin
- C4
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIt is probable that plants of the genus Sceletium (Mesembryanthemaceae) have been used as masticatories and for the relief of thirst and hunger, to combat fatigue, as medicines, and for social and…Publication Date 2008
- Alkaloid
- Ethnobotany
- Mesembryanthemaceae
- Sceletium
- medicinal plants
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe importance of wild edible herbaceous species to resource poor households in most rural economies within savannas has been little studied. This is because most of the herbs grow in impoverished…Publication Date 2007
- biodiversity
- cultivation
- food security
- Impoverished lands
- NTFPs
- savanna
- Poverty
- household income studies
- rural areas
- socio-economic aspects
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper analyses the role of institutions in the management of common pool resources (CPRs) in semi-arid Tanzania. Common property regimes have often been considered inadequate for the management…Publication Date 2007
- Common pool resources
- Common property regimes
- natural resource management
- institutions
- management
- communal farming
- socio-economic aspects
- degradation
- household income studies
- Sustainable development
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSemi-arid areas are often considered to be environmentally and economically marginal, a situation which has been exacerbated by economic change, shifts in agricultural production and land use, and…Publication Date 2008
- Dry land degradation
- Economic decline
- Livestock trends
- population change
- Small towns
- rangelands
- Economic Aspects
- livestock
- agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- politics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordA transdisciplinary synthesis, grouped into four main themes, of the key papers in this Special Issue on Namaqualand is provided. Perspectives on current environmental, economic and social issues in…Publication Date 2007
- climate
- conservation
- land reform
- Livelihoods
- Transdisciplinarity
- socio-economic aspects
- ecology
- biodiversity
- legislation
- Communal areas
- subsistence agriculture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordBiodiversity is a critical component of the natural environment and the protection of it often meant the displacement of local communities in developing countries. The Richtersveld National Park (…Publication Date 2007
- rangelands
- conservation
- Population crashes
- Herd recovery
- goats
- biodiversity
- socio-economic aspects
- national parks
- sheep
- pastoralism
- land use
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper introduces the Special Issue on Sustainable Land Use in Namaqualand which arose out of a conference held in the region in May 2005. It outlines the main themes and issues covered by 19…Publication Date 2007
- degradation
- Environmental history
- Karoo
- restoration
- semi-arid
- land reform
- sustainability
- land use
- restoration ecology
- socio-economic aspects
- politics
- subsistence agriculture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPastoral production around artificial watering points in semi-arid environments affects the density and composition of plant communities. In the Kalahari desert of southwestern Africa, bush…Publication Date 2007
- Rural livelihoods
- watering points
- land degradation
- Fodder trees
- Indigenous ecological knowledge
- Herero
- pastoralism
- traditional knowledge
- piosphere
- degradation
- cattle
- household income studies
- participatory rural appraisal
- livestock
- subsistence agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn South Africa, 'black ' and 'coloured ' farmers engaged in several occupational activities are often considered as being 'not interested in farming ' or 'not…Publication Date 2007
- Labour
- Commons
- Pluriactivity
- Occupational paths
- Farm settlement
- South Africa
- socio-economic aspects
- management
- houeshold income studies
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn South Africa, interventions in communal rangelands proposed by most agriculture-sector institutions are still dominated by the belief that communal herders have little technical skills and by the…Publication Date 2007
- Communal pastoral systems
- Herder practices
- Perceptions of rangeland condition
- Grazing management models
- Tragedy of the Commons
- agricultural development
- South Africa
- socio-economic aspects
- rangeland management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis study explored the impacts of sustained heavy grazing in six vegetation types across an altitudinal and rainfall gradient in the Kamiesberg mountain range in Namaqualand. The study was carried…Publication Date 2007
- grazing impacts
- plant composition
- Communal areas
- Succulent karoo
- Upland habitats
- biodiversity
- subsistence agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe use the concept of ecological revolutions to explain the environmental history of Namaqualand, from the advent of pastoralism 2000 years BP, to colonial settlement in the 18th century and finally…Publication Date 2007
- degradation
- Environmental history
- human impact
- population
- repeat photography
- socio-economic aspects
- agriculture
- grazing
- management
- land use
- Africa