1. Introduction.- Basic Vegetation Science Contributions.- 2. Plant synecology in the service of rangeland management.- 3. Ecophysiology of range plants.- 4. Rangeland plant taxonomy.- 5. New plant development in range management.- 6. Successional concepts in relation to range condition assessment.- 7. A role for nonvascular plants in management of arid and semiarid rangelands.- 8. Seedbeds as selective factors in the species composition of rangeland communities.- 9. Modelling rangeland ecosystems for monitoring and adaptive management.- Vegetation Distribution and Organization.- 10. Vegetation-soil relationships on arid and semiarid rangelands.- 11. Vegetation attributes and their applications to the management of Australian rangelands.- 12. The ecology of shrubland/woodland for range use.- 13. Tundra vegetation as a rangeland resource.- 14. Forest rangeland relationships.- 15. Ecological principles and their application to rangeland management practice in South Africa.- 16. Range management from grassland ecology.- 17. Riparian values as a focus for range management and vegetation science.- Vegetation Science Rangeland Applications.- 18. Rangeland vegetation productivity and biomass.- 19. Rangeland vegetation - hydrologic interactions.- 20. Grazing management and vegetation response.- 21. Understanding fire ecology for range management.- 22. Reclamation of drastically disturbed rangelands.- 23. Rangeland vegetation as wildlife habitat.- 24. Revegetation of arid and semiarid rangelands.

Vegetation science applications for rangeland analysis and management.

Human adaptation and response to drought is primarily through evasion or endurance. A review of historical agricultural practices in southern Africa demonstrates evidence of drought evasion response strategies in well-established transhumance routes, where herders move livestock on a seasonal basis in order to exploit resources subject to different climatic regimes. European settlers to the arid regions of South Africa quickly recognised the necessity of these evasion options to survive drought, and adopted the transhumance practices of indigenous farmers. Areas of geographically diverse resource bases became hotly contested by settlers and indigenous farmers. The success of evasion systems are shown to hinge on good social and institutional support structures. When movement is not an option, drought endurance is pursued by attempting to limit the damage to the natural resource base. This is through a number of means such as forage conservation, varying livestock types and numbers, water and soil conservation and taking up alternative livelihood options. State responses to drought over the last century reflect the general South African pattern of racially divided and unjust policies relating to resource access. Historically the state provided considerable support to white commercial farmers. This support was frequently contradictory in its aims and generally was inadequate to enable farmers to cope with drought. Since the advent of democracy in 1994, the state has intervened less, with some support extended to previously disadvantaged and poor communal farmers. Climate change predictions suggest an increase in drought, suggesting that the adoption of mitigating strategies should be a matter of urgency. To do this South Africa needs to build social and institutional capacity, strive for better economic and environmental sustainability, embed drought-coping mechanisms into land restitution policy to ensure the success of this programme, and acknowledge the diversity of the agricultural sector.

/pdf/human-response-and-adaptation-to-drought-in-the-arid-zone-1wqfa77tx2.pdf

Human response and adaptation to drought in the arid zone: lessons from southern Africa

The use of fire in the management of grassland is a common rangeland practice in South Africa. This portends ecological implication for the sustainability of the savannah rangelands as a system. A long term trial was established in August 1980 at the University of Fort Hare, to evaluate the effects of this practice and determine the frequency of burning that yield optimum benefits. The experimental treatments consisted of five different burning frequencies, viz., no burning (K), annual burning (B1), biennial burning (B2), triennial burning (B3), quadrennial burning (B4) and sexennial burning (B6). Surface soil chemical characteristics and macro fauna densities were assessed from each experimental unit after 25 years of treatments implementation. Burning significantly affect the surface soil concentration of total N, organic C, exchangeable K, Mg and Na, but soil pH increased slightly in the short run. The macro fauna density was significantly higher in the annual, biennial and triennial burned plots compared with the unburnt plots. The soil macro fauna density increased by 31.4% in the B1 plots, while longer burning frequencies (B2- B6) ranged between 15.1 ‐ 51.4% which increases with reduced frequency of burning until a peak at B3 and thereafter a reduction. A significant inverse correlation (r= -0.56*) was observed between the grass biomass and fauna density. There was also a relative reduction of 23% in grass biomass in the frequently burnt plots (B1). The B3 plots had the highest suitability index of 44, which indicated the frequency of burning at which optimum benefit could be derived based on the measured variables. Frequent burning of savannah grassland led to reduction of surface grass biomass and increase in the soil organic carbon content which we speculated to be due to increase in underground carbon pool from dead roots.

Long-term effects of different burning frequencies on the dry savannah grassland in South Africa

Selected life-history characteristics of Mesembryanthema species occurring on and off mima-like mounds (heuweltjies) were compared at Tierberg in the southern Succulent Karoo, South Africa. Seed production, the number of seeds retained in seed capsules and germination behaviour were measured in fourteen species of Mesembryanthema which were representatives of two sub-families: the Ruschioideae and the Mesembryanthemoideae. Species occurring onheuweltjies had low overall germination and high seed retention compared with those species occurring offheuweltjies. A strong negative correlation was found between the degree of seed retention and maximum germination. It was proposed that rapid germination and low seed dormancy in species occurring on the flats would be a viable strategy where competition for safe recruitment sites is strong. Species occurring on the flats are long-lived woody shrubs, thus the resulting high levels of seedling mortality probably do not have a major impact on population dynamics.Heuweltjies are sites of intense disturbance. Plant species that occur onheuweltjies can also occur offheuweltjies in disturbed vegetation. Opportunistic life-history characteristics allow these species to colonise disturbed areas.Heuweltjie species thus act as pioneers in a successional process which results ultimately in the re-colonisation of the long-lived flats species. Phylogenetic factors may also determine the species distributions. Members of the Mesembryanthemoideae did not occur offheuweltjies in undisturbed areas. Most Ruschioideae were found on the flats but the few species that occurred onheuweltjies shared similar characteristics with the Mesembryanthemoideae. The primitive life-history characteristics exhibited by the Mesembryanthemoideae enable them to exploit disturbed conditions.

The comparison of selected life-history characteristics of Mesembryanthema species occurring on and off Mima-like mounds (heuweltjies) in semi arid southern Africa

3yr –1 . Groundwater recharge in the three Klein Karoo catchments is ±257 Mm 3 yr –1 , but only a portion of this reaches the rivers. The very variable flows result in low 1:50 year yield of 161 Mm 3 (30% of MAR). The current demand for water in these catchments is 182 Mm 3 yr –1 , which exceeds the yield, and demand is projected to increase between 23% and 150% by 2025. Changes in the approach to water management are required, including improving the efficiency of irrigation and land restoration to improve water infiltration and reduce soil erosion. We believe that it is time to change to a water management approach that is designed to anticipate and manage the inherent variability in water resources in the Klein Karoo, thereby placing the region on a path to sustainable development. : water resource management, surface water, groundwater, variability, water demand, land management, sustainable development

/pdf/water-resources-in-the-klein-karoo-the-challenge-of-3p74ad5uxn.pdf

Water resources in the Klein Karoo: the challenge of sustainable development in a water-scarce area

Drought is a natural and characteristic phenomenon in the Karoo Region and an event which occurs frequently. This paper describes an objective method of analysing the drought problem. Most current methods are subjective and difficulties have been experienced in applying them in practice. The problem of defining drought is investigated. The Palmer drought analysis was adapted for this research and its results for the Karoo Region are discussed and compared with those of the Orange Free State, Highveld, Transvaal, Natal and Eastern Cape Regions. Some considerations are given to bridging practices for the drought problems in the Karoo.

The drought problem in the karoo areas

Long-term, reliable, continuous and real-time weather and climatic data are essential for efficient management and sustainable use of natural resources. This paper describes the weather station network (WSN) of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, including information on instrumentation, data retrieval and processing protocols, calibration and maintenance protocols, as well as applications of the collected data. To this end, the WSN of the ARC consists of over 600 automatic weather stations that are distributed across the country to cover a wide range of agro-climatic zones. At each weather station, air temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, solar irradiance, wind speed and direction are monitored and archived on an hourly basis. The main objective of this WSN is to archive climate information for South Africa as well as supply the agricultural community with weather data to support decision-making.

https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/7/8/117/pdf?version=1660736767

Climate Dataset for South Africa by the Agricultural Research Council

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The drought problem in the karoo areas

Climate Dataset for South Africa by the Agricultural Research Council