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How economic are the farming units of Leliefontein, Namaqualand?
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: Journal of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa • Authors: FionaM. Archer --- Department of Botany, Republic of South Africa M.T. Hoffman --- Department of Botany, Republic of South Africa J.E. Danckwerts --- Department of Agriculture (Eastern Cape Region), Republic of South AfricaNomadic pastoralism has been practised in Leliefontein for centuries. In 1984, the area was formally divided into 47 so‐called ‘economic units’ on the assumption that this agricultural approach would (a) promote development in the region and (b) introduce conservation management... -
How could herd mobility be used to manage resources and livestock grazing in semi-arid rangeland commons?
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Range & Forage Science • Authors: Igshaan Samuels --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, c/o Botany and Conservation Biology Department, South Africa Nicky Allsopp --- , South Africa M Timm Hoffman --- Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, South AfricaPastoralists in Namaqualand, South Africa, use herd mobility to manage livestock and rangeland resources. However, their socioeconomic conditions and ecological landscapes are changing and we explore the options that are available for pastoralists to respond to these changes. This paper... -
Climate and the evolution of group-living behaviour in the armadillo lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus)
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Zoology • Authors: Cindy Shuttleworth --- Department of Botany and Zoology, South Africa P. le Fras N. Mouton --- Department of Botany and Zoology, South Africa Adriaan van Niekerk --- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, South AfricaWe evaluated the hypothesis that the regular use of the southern harvester termite, Microhodotermes viator, as food source by the armadillo lizard, Ouroborus cataphractus, originated as an adaptation to survive the summer dry season in a climatic regime where rainfall... -
Assessing the threat of avian predation on a small viperid snake
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Zoology • Authors: Bryan Maritz --- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, South Africa Samantha Scott --- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, South AfricaPredators are important because they influence survival rates, population density and behaviour of prey species. However, assessing the predation pressure facing a particular species is difficult when that species faces a suite of predators. We aimed to characterize the suite... -
Feeding ecology of four livestock species under different management in a semi-arid pastoral system in South Africa
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Range & Forage Science • Authors: Igshaan Samuels --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Clement Cupido --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Melvin B Swarts --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Anthony R Palmer --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, South Africa Jamie W Paulse --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production Institute, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South AfricaThe Leliefontein communal area in Namaqualand is grazed by mixed species herds that have multiple benefits for pastoralists. This study assessed how the management (herding and free-ranging) of different livestock herds affects their feeding ecology during the wet and dry... -
Wide variation in carapacial scute patterns in a natural population of speckled tortoises, Homopus signatus
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Herpetology • Authors: Victor J.T. Loehr --- , NetherlandsThe arrangement of scutes on the carapaces of extant chelonians is very similar among species, but intraspecific deviations from typical scute patterns are common. Because intraspecific variation may relate to inbreeding depression, unfavourable egg incubation conditions and the presence of... -
Through the lens of a herder: insights into landscape ethno-ecological knowledge on rangelands in Namaqualand
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: Anthropology Southern Africa • Authors: Mogamat Igshaan Samuels --- Agricultural Research Council, South Africa Melvin Swarts --- Agricultural Research Council, South Africa Amy Schroeder --- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Khululiwe Ntombela --- Agricultural Research Council, South Africa Clement Cupido --- Agricultural Research Council, South AfricaPastoral areas around the world, including South Africa, are resource poor and external development interventions to improve conditions have largely been unsuccessful. It has been advocated that the focus should shift from external stakeholders to local pastoralists by incorporating the... -
Vegetation responses to seasonal weather conditions and decreasing grazing pressure in the arid Succulent Karoo of South Africa
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Range & Forage Science • Authors: Ute Schmiedel --- Institute for Plant Science and Microbiology, Germany Jens Oldeland --- Institute for Plant Science and Microbiology, GermanyThe Succulent Karoo biome is a renowned centre of biodiversity and endemism in the arid winter rainfall region of South Africa that is threatened by climate change. On 20 permanently marked plots within a biodiversity observatory, species richness and cover... -
The impacts of season and livestock management strategy on the quality of diets selected by goats and sheep in the semi-arid rangelands of Namaqualand, South Africa
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Range & Forage Science • Authors: Francuois L Müller --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production, South Africa M Igshaan Samuels --- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Clement F Cupido --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production, South Africa Melvin BV Swarts --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production, South Africa Nefza M Amary --- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa Dawood Hattas --- Department of Biological Sciences, South Africa Craig Morris --- Agricultural Research Council–Animal Production, South Africa Lilburne F Cyster --- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South Africa J Stephen Boatwright --- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, South AfricaAccess to good-quality forages is one of the major limitations to livestock production in semi-arid pastoral systems. This study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the nutritional quality of diets selected by herded and free-ranging goat and sheep... -
Contrasting effects of soil pH on seed germination and early seedling growth of Calobota sericea and Lessertia frutescens subs. frutescens
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: South African Journal of Plant and Soil • Authors: Francuois L Müller --- ,This study evaluated the impacts of pH on the germination and early seedling growth of Calobota sericea and Lessertia frutescens subsp. frutescens, two perennial legume species found in the semi-arid rangelands of South Africa. The results of this study revealed... -
Small and sensitive to drought: consequences of aridifiation to the conservation of Homopus signatus signatus
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Herpetology • Authors: Victor J. T. Loehr --- University of the Western Cape, South Africa MargarethaD. Hofmeyr --- University of the Western Cape, South Africa BrianT. Henen --- University of the Western Cape, South AfricaSeveral climate models predict that the western Succulent Karoo in South Africa will aridi-fy. This region includes the range of the smallest tortoise, Homopus signatus signatus. Although the effects of rainfall on the physiology and ecology of H. s. signatus... -
Distribution and conservation status of the desert rain frog Breviceps macrops
Item type: Journal Article • Journal: African Journal of Herpetology • Authors: Alan Channing --- University of the Western Cape, South Africa Kirsty Wahlberg --- University of the Western Cape, South AfricaThe desert rain frog, Breviceps macrops, is found along the greater Namaqualand coast, an area of acute conservation concern. We reconstruct the distribution of this species from museum specimens to the north and quantitative surveys in the south. In addition,...