Conservation and Wildlife Management in South African National Parks 1930s–1960s

In recent decades conservation biology has achieved a high position among the sciences. This is certainly true of South Africa, a small country, but the third most biodiverse in the world. This article traces some aspects of the transformation of South African wildlife management during the 1930s to the 1960s from game reserves based on custodianship and the “balance of nature” into scientifically managed national parks with a philosophy of “command and control” or “management by intervention.” In 1910 the four British colonies had formed the Union of South Africa, and by the 1920s there was wide acceptance of national parks, a development influenced by their success in the United States. It was not, however, until after the Second World War, that management of the expanding conservation estate altered from a rather unsystematic laissez faire variety, into more scientifically informed management practices with an efficient bureaucracy in charge. This was achieved by modifications in organizational structures and institutional cultures initiated by a change of government in 1948 which, this article argues, impacted in turn on wildlife management and shaped and professionalized many aspects of that field science. “Management by intervention” was the hallmark of South African wildlife and conservation biology from the 1960s until recently, when there have been shifts towards “adaptive resource management” in a period of further change in the country’s politics.     

Estimated Ultraviolet Radiation Doses in Wetlands in Six National Parks

Ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280–320-nm wavelengths) doses were estimated for 1024 wetlands in six national parks: Acadia (Acadia), Glacier (Glacier), Great Smoky Mountains (Smoky), Olympic (Olympic), Rocky Mountain (Rocky), and Sequoia/Kings Canyon (Sequoia). Estimates were made using ground-based UV-B data (Brewer spectrophotometers), solar radiation models, GIS tools, field characterization of vegetative features, and quantification of DOC concentration and spectral absorbance. UV-B dose estimates were made for the summer solstice, at a depth of 1 cm in each wetland. The mean dose across all wetlands and parks was 19.3 W-h m⁻² (range of 3.4–32.1 W-h m⁻²). The mean dose was lowest in Acadia (13.7 W-h m⁻²) and highest in Rocky (24.4 W-h m⁻²). Doses were significantly different among all parks. These wetland doses correspond to UV-B flux of 125.0 μW cm⁻² (range 21.4–194.7 μW cm⁻²) based on a day length, averaged among all parks, of 15.5 h. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a key determinant of water-column UV-B flux, ranged from 0.6 (analytical detection limit) to 36.7 mg C L⁻¹ over all wetlands and parks, and reduced potential maximal UV-B doses at 1-cm depth by 1%–87 %. DOC concentration, as well as its effect on dose, was lowest in Sequoia and highest in Acadia (DOC was equivalent in Acadia, Glacier, and Rocky). Landscape reduction of potential maximal UV-B doses ranged from zero to 77% and was lowest in Sequoia. These regional differences in UV-B wetland dose illustrate the importance of considering all aspects of exposure in evaluating the potential impact of UV-B on aquatic organisms.     

South African Museums and the Creation of a New National Identity

Museums are important sites of national cultural production, collective memory making, and the construction of national narratives. Contemporary South Africa is a particularly interesting place to study these processes. With the demise of apartheid, South Africa faces the difficult challenge of creating a new national identity that incorporates an examination of past oppression yet leaves the way open for building a national identity that incorporates all its diverse groups. The museums reviewed below, the Robben Island Prison Museum, the District Six Museum in Capetown, and the Kwa Muhle local history museum in Durban all make important contributions to this process.     

Local responses to conservation in the Richtersveld National Park, South Africa

Local notions of conservation deserve closer scrutiny. We cannot assume that they naturally coincide with those of the tourist core; nor that they are automatically given higher priority when local populations are induced to participate in practices which conserve flora and fauna. A case study of the establishment of the Richtersveld National Park in Namaqualand, a remote arid region of South Africa, is used to argue that local attitudes to conservation and development (associated with tourism) can become increasingly cynical and ambivalent in the context of ecotourism. Furthermore, such attitudes are shaped less by economic inducements than by the often contradictory messages about conservation that are being communicated daily.     

Grasshopper assemblage response to a restored national park (Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa)

Twelve grassland sites were sampled inside and outside the Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP), South Africa to assess changes in grasshopper assemblages to grazing by indigenous mammals inside the park compared to grazing by domestic cattle outside. The MZNP has been restored from cattle-grazed farmland to indigenous mammal parkland for 62 years. The number of grasshopper species and families inside the park was not significantly different from outside the park, but the number of individuals inside the park was significantly higher. Multivariate statistics did not reveal any strong site groupings based on simple inside/outside comparisons, but there were clear groupings of sites based on vegetation characteristics and other environmental variables. The park boundary, therefore, does not significantly determine grasshopper assemblages, although intensity of grazing does. The indigenous mammals inside the park had the same effect on grasshoppers as the domestic cattle outside, and it was the level of defoliation and trampling that was important rather than the type of mammal. Intensive livestock grazing and trampling leads to bush encroachment and reduction in grass cover and/or disappearance of several grass species. In response to this pressure, grasshopper populations dropped, with localized extirpation of some species. Vegetation composition and structure, particularly grass height and percentage cover, had a significant effect on grasshopper assemblages. The MZNP is thus an area of localized, elevated grasshopper abundance in comparison with the surrounding farms, and presumably represents a situation prior to the current, intensive farming activities. Such elevated grasshopper abundances are important for maintaining soil quality and hence ecological integrity of this landscape which is poor in organics and nitrogen. The MZNP could be viewed as a centre where species with high mobility may seek refuge from anthropogenic pressures. The MZNP also serves as a reference illustrating the differences between restored-through-natural-succession and anthropogenically disturbed habitats, and compares desirable with undesirable ecosystem changes for herbivorous invertebrates such as grasshoppers.     

八大公山自然保护区绞股蓝伴生群落特征研究

对八大公山国家级自然保护区的绞股蓝伴生群落特征进行了研究.结果表明,异叶榕、尾叶山茶和水马桑等是常见的对绞股蓝具有遮荫作用的乔灌层植物.绞股蓝伴生群落计有47科86属102种维管植物,以蓼科、伞形科、菊科和百合科种类较多,绵毛金腰是伴生群落的优势种,它与冷水花、吉祥草、楼梯草和箬竹等是绞股蓝的重要伴生种.伴生群落的物种多样性指数表明整个环境适于绞股蓝的生长.     

Monitoring options for visitor numbers in national parks and natural areas

Identifying the physical behaviours of visitors is an essential component of visitor impact management in protected areas. The fundamental baseline information required is visitor numbers, and particularly how these are distributed in time and space across the protected areas. However, obtaining such counts in a reliable and cost-effective manner has proven to be more difficult than commonly expected. Reasons for this difficulty are reviewed, the range of visitor monitoring options available to park managers are described, and the features that park managers want in their visitor counting tools are summarised. The management requirements for implementing and operating an effective monitoring system are also presented.     

Water quality of streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Water samples from streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were analyzed for 16 physical, chemical, and bacteriological water quality parameters. Bacterial densities, pH, alkalinity, turbidity, and concentrations of Na, K, and Si were found to be higher in the low elevations than in the high. Nitrate concentrations increased with increasing elevation. Watersheds which had been logged prior to the establishment of the park had significantly lower stream water nitrate concentrations than unlogged watersheds at similar elevations. Bedrock geology was found to influence pH, alkalinity, conductivity, hardness, and concentrations of Na, K, Ca, Mg, and Si. The seasonal pattern for most water quality parameters was for higher concentrations or values in the summer and lower in the winter. Discharge was highest in the winter and spring and lowest in the summer and fall. Nitrate concentrations were highest in the late winter and early spring and lowest in the fall. Storm events often caused large changes in water quality.     

粤北车八岭小红栲群落的植物区系成分分析

对粤北车八岭国家级自然保护区小红栲群落植物区系进行了分析,样地调查结果表明,该群落种类丰富,维管束植物共计有５４科,８７属１３２种。该区系的主要表征科为壳斗科Ｆａａｃｅａｅ、樟科Ｌａｕｒａｃｅａｅ、茶科Ｔｈｅａｃｅａｅ冬青科Ａｑｕｉｆｏｌｉａｃｅａｅ、木兰科Ｍａｇｎｏｌｉａｃｅａｅ杜英科Ｅｌａｅｏｃａｒｐａｃｅａｅ等。区系成分观热带亚热带成分为主。车八岭小红栲群落位于中亚热带向南亚热带过滤地。该区     

Geographical patterns for relict and young species of birds in Africa and South America and implications for conservation priorities

By comparing geographical patterns of old and new species with historical and ecological processes, interpretations can be made about time patterns of diversification. Such interpretations can form a basis for developing rationales for ranking biodiversity conservation priorities. The results of the comprehensive study of avian DNA were used to compare geographical distributions in Africa and South America of species of strong Plio-Pleistocene radiations and species representing older monophyletic branches. Striking patterns, some of them overlooked so far, were found. Most old species are widespread across a physiognomic and climatic domain, such as lowland rainforests, and therefore, are not specific conservation targets. In contrast, new species have evolved in well defined places with a special local environment, in particular in ecologically equable places inside geologically complex ecotonal regions. High species richness and taxonomic diversity, where maintained over wide areas by steady habitat alteration through patch dynamics, may be easiest to protect by general reforms that integrate regional development and protection of ecosystem services, rather than by strictly site-oriented projects. Areas of active speciation, although small, may have important regulatory functions and a critical role for maintaining evolutionary fronts'. The Tropical Andes Region includes a dozen such places. There is a congruence between the occurrence of old species which have relictual distributions and aggregates of limited-range component species of recent vicariance patterns, indicating that vicariance events take place mainly by isolation in extremely ecologically stable areas. Although these places do not necessarily have the highest taxic diversity, they should be top priorities for rapid and concentrated conservation action.     

Picking up the pieces: a biosphere reserve framework for a fragmented landscape – The Coastal Lowlands of the Western Cape, South Africa

The coastal lowlands of the Western Cape (CLWC) form part of the fynbos biome, an area renowned for its high levels of plant diversity and endemism. The vegetation of the CLWC has been severely reduced and fragmented, and is currently impacted on by agricultural, pastoral, coastal resort and urban development, as well as alien plant spread. Furthermore, most of the vegetation communities are under-represented within existing protected areas. In response to this urgent need for increased conservation efforts, an initiative to establish a UNESCO-MAB biosphere reserve in the area has been launched. The aim of this project was to use biological criteria to identify areas that could potentially contain the core areas and buffer zones of a biosphere reserve. A reserve selection algorithm was chosen which provides a flexible tool for selecting representative areas for protection. The algorithm is a step-wise heuristic, which has rules for including mandatory polygons, forcing adjacency, including desirable (e.g. Red Data Book plant species) and excluding undesirable features (e.g. bisection by major roads). Farm boundaries (cadastral units) were used as selection units, resulting in a total of 1717 parcels. The selection process was conducted three times with target areas set at 10%, 25% and 50% of the original extent of each vegetation type within the study area. Areas of 62834 ha, 121199 ha and 242397 ha, respectively, or 36% 49% and 76% of the available land in the study area being selected. It is recommended that the area identified as the 50% target area be considered the future site of core areas and buffer zones for the proposed biosphere reserve. The algorithm successfully maintained a high degree of connectivity between selected areas. This is important considering the high levels of plant beta diversity associated with edaphic gradients. Rather than presenting a definitive reserve system, this study provides a tool allowing biological criteria to be included explicitly within the negotiation process. As the biosphere reserve is assembled, priorities can be re-assessed.     

Conservation of Bolivian flora: representation of phytogeographic zones in the national system of protected areas

The protected areas of Bolivia cover 10.2% of its territory, but only 60% of this surface is considered to be of conservation value. Protected areas are unevenly distributed over the eight phyto-geographic regions of Bolivia. The Pantanal is not represented in any conservation unit. Inventories and basic information are usually lacking as plant surveys have been carried out mostly outside protected areas.     

Crop raiding around Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda

In areas around Lake Mburo National Park, large wild animals wander in close proximity to human settlements. This poses serious conflict in terms of crop damage. The integration of conservation with other land uses is difficult where densely settled agricultural land surrounds a protected area potentially containing problem animals, as is the case for several parks in Africa and Asia. The intensity of crop raiding was quantified through the use of random crop quadrants/plots and area estimation techniques in a portion of raided fields. The animal species concerned were documented from observations, footprints and any other marks left behind. Three variables were tested as predictors of damage: human population density, distance from the park boundary and season. In this study, data is presented regarding crop loss in the different seasons of the year, analysis of crop damage variation and animal species involved in crop loss. A diverse assemblage of animals foraged on subsistence crops and analysis of crop damage revealed significant crop depreciation by wildlife.     

以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系立法思考

实现十九大报告提出的建立以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系的改革目标需要法治保障。建设自然保护地体系涉及的不同生态系统和多个管理部门、多方利益主体, 是一个巨大的复杂系统, 需要进行整体性、系统性的立法研究。目前, 国家正在推进国家公园体制改革并已将《国家公园法》列入十三届全国人大常委会立法计划。更需要我们从自然保护地立法体系建设的高度, 正确处理《国家公园法》与未来可能制定的《自然保护地法》的关系, 在《国家公园法》制定过程中为今后出台《自然保护地法》预留空间, 并建立相应的衔接机制, 统筹谋划并协同推进国家公园法与自然保护地立法。     

Tools and Materials for the Crafts

A brief examination of early childhood music education in South Africa, through an investigation of government documents and academic literature, leads to an impression that music is embraced in a broad framework of meeting young children's cultural and artistic needs. There is an overriding consciousness of the value of providing children with connections to their cultural heritage and instilling in them appreciation for one another's cultures and respect for diversity. More specific policy for each age level of early childhood in several governmental departments is needed to protect children's voices and to ensure not only that their musical heritage and artistic creativity are nourished and fostered but also that we listen to what they say through their music.     

甘肃太统一崆峒山国家自然保护区的蝶类群落特征

2006--2010年期间,对太统一崆峒山国家级自然保护区的蝶类进行了研究。采集到蝶类标本共计4800余号,经过整理鉴定出蝶类230种及亚种,隶属10科24亚科126属。其中36属71种为优势类群,占总种数的30．87％;眼蝶科有46种,占20．0％;灰蝶科有37种,占16．1％,为次优势类群;喙蝶科、蚬蝶科为单属单种,属于罕见类群;其他各科为常见类群。在230种蝶类中,属于古北界的种类占总种数的26．5％,属于东洋界的种类占总种数的5．7％,两界兼有种类和广布种类占总种数的67．8％,即广布种类成分最多,东洋界成分最少。230种蝶类隶属126属,其中单种属有75个,占总属的59．5％,包含的种类占总种数的32．6％;多种属有51个,占总属的40．5％,包含的种类数有155种,占总种数的67．4％;属种比值系数为0．548。结果表明,该地区蝶类区系以单种属为主。     

社区为主体的保护: 对三江源国家公园生态管护公益岗位的思考

社区参与是实现生物多样性保护目标的重要途径, 也是我国国家公园建设的重要组成部分。青海省三江源国家公园在前期试点中设置了16621个生态管理公益岗位, 当地牧民因此成为三江源保护的主要力量。本文通过对三江源地区已进行的生态管理公益岗位的调研发现, 由于传统文化和环保宣传的影响, 三江源当地藏族牧民具有较高的保护环境意识和参与保护行动的强烈愿望, 生态公益岗位是对这种愿望的良好回应。但在实践中, 因为需要兼顾提升生态保护成效、提升牧民收入、扶贫等多重目标, 生态管护员的选拔、管理、考核等并未按照最大化保护成效的方式进行。国家公园试点村中, 生态管护员全部由贫困户担任的方式, 实质上是将完成扶贫目标摆在了完成自然保护目标之前。这样的选择方式有着深刻的制度根源。为了进一步提升国家公园内生态公益岗位的保护成效, 我们认为应当明确生态管理公益岗位的定位, 明确提升保护成效是第一位的任务; 应当改进现有体制, 使基层政府有更多资源和空间组织管护工作, 并增加社区的参与程度。在这一过程中, 有民间机构参与的广阔空间。     

Linking Human and Ecosystem Health: The Benefits of Community Involvement in Conservation Groups

This study explored the health, well-being, and social capital benefits gained by community members who are involved in the management of land for conservation in six rural communities across Victoria. A total of 102 people participated in the study (64 males; 38 females) comprising 51 members of a community-based land management group and 51 controls matched by age and gender. Mixed methods were employed, including the use of an adapted version of Buckner’s (1988) Community Cohesion Scale. The results indicate that involvement in the management of land for conservation may contribute to both the health and well-being of members, and to the social capital of the local community. The members of the land management groups rated their general health higher, reported visiting the doctor less often, felt safer in the local community, and utilized the skills that they have acquired in their lifetime more frequently than the control participants. Male members reported the highest level of general health, and the greatest satisfaction with daily activities. Members also reported a greater sense of belonging to the local community and a greater willingness to work toward improving their community than their control counterparts. Of equal importance is evidence that involvement in voluntary conservation work constitutes a means of building social capital in rural communities which may help reduce some of the negative aspects of rural life.