Contamination of sediments in the floodplain wetlands of the lower uMngeni River, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

Naidoo, S.; Pillay, Srinivasan S.; Bissessur, Ajay; Ballabh, Hari; Naicker, Delon

doi:10.1007/s12040-018-0943-2

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…When the system has a full coverage of water, it has a surface area of 350 km 2 and has a mean depth of 0.9 m (Tweedley et al 2019, Whitfield et al 2013. The estuary contains a variety of habitats, accommodating a diverse range of fauna as well as flora that include endemic, rare and threatened taxa (Begg 1978, Naidoo 2015. When open to the sea, the estuarine system is an important nursery site for both juveniles of marine fish and penaeid prawns (Cyrus et al 2010, Whitfield et al 2013.…”

Section: Study Site: the St Lucia Estuarine Lakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lake St Lucia experiences periodic dry and wet phases that can last up to ten years (Begg 1978, Carrasco et al 2010). The Mfolozi River was historically the main freshwater supply for the St Lucia Estuary (Begg 1978, Taylor 2013, Naidoo 2015, however, the canalisation of the Mfolozi swamplands for agricultural activities during the 1930's (Taylor 2013, Tweedley et al 2019) led to high silt loads accumulating in the mouth area of the St Lucia Estuary (Begg 1978, Carrasco et al 2010, Taylor 2013, Tweedley et al 2019. Increased siltation in the estuary resulted in the smothering of fauna and flora (Thrush et al 2004), and elevated turbidity levels (Tweedley et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The St Lucia Estuary historically relied on the Mfolozi River as the main freshwater source during dry spells (Whitfield et al 2013). However, the Mfolozi River was artificially diverted away from the mouth of St Lucia estuarine lake in 1952 to prevent excessive silt input as a result of the Mfolozi swamplands being canalized for agricultural purposes (Begg 1978, Whitfield and Taylor 2009, Naidoo 2015. The estuarine lake is already shallow (Carrasco et al 2010, Carrasco and, so further sediment deposition could reduce habitat for planktonic biota (Kirk 1991, Shields et al 1998, Levine et al 2005, Lawson et al 2007, Thrush et al 2004) and a number of negative effects have been associated with increased turbidity e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Zooplankton dynamics during a regime shift in the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa.

Govender

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Section: Study Site: the St Lucia Estuarine Lakementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Zooplankton dynamics during a regime shift in the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa.

Govender

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“…Limited studies are available on the ichthyofauna of permanently open estuaries in KwaZulu-Natal. Research on the degraded uMgeni Estuary has mostly been limited to the effects of the Inanda dam (Diab and Scott, 1989;Glennie, 2001;Tinmouth, 2009), sediment contamination (Naidoo et al, 2018), heavy metal presence (Olaniran et al, 2014), mangrove communities (Rajkaran et al, 2009), sediment dynamics (Badenhorst et al, 1989) and water quality (Mbambo et al, 2019;Ngubane et al, 2019). The earliest published study on the uMgeni , macrobenthic communities , mangrove ecosystems (Rajkaran et al, 2009;Peer et al, 2018;Taylor, 2020), single species ecology (Weerts et al, 1997;Davis et al, 2004), estuarine flora (Zungu et al, 2018) and zooplankton communities (Ortega-Cisneros and Scharler, 2014;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decadal changes in land-use, water quality and fish assemblages in a KwaZulu-Natal urban and non-urban estuary.

Van Schoor

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Globally, estuaries are recognised as highly dynamic environments which support diverse and productive flora and fauna, and provide numerous goods and services for human wellbeing.These systems are under threat from growing coastal populations that demand the transformation of natural land to accommodate urbanisation, agriculture, harbour, and infrastructure developments. Direct and indirect land-use/land-cover (LULC) changes adversely affect estuarine water quality, directly impacting estuarine biota such as fishes.While the short links between these components are known, few studies have attempted to integrate these links, particularly within the South African context. Therefore, this study aimed to integrate different levels of assessment (LULC and estuarine water quality) to describe changes in estuarine fish ecology over space and time. The study compared two permanently open estuaries in KwaZulu-Natal with distinct land-cover types, namely the uMgeni and uMlalazi estuaries. The uMgeni Estuary is surrounded by urban features and is situated in a highly developed catchment, whereas the uMlalazi is near-natural, with some surrounding agricultural areas.Historical land-cover imagery from the estuary to the 20 m topographical contour (inclusive of the Estuary Functional Zone), the estuary catchment land-cover, water quality and ichthyofauna data were collected. Land-cover types were grouped into eight categories and 42 feature classes based on modifications to the South African National Land Cover system, the United States Geological Survey and the Coastal Change Analysis Program. Multivariate statistical analysis identified two distinct groupings of land-cover types, Period 1 (before 1989) and Period 2 (during and after 1989). This period factor was then further used throughout the study to determine associated (temporal) responses in water quality and fish assemblages. Strong negative correlations were observed between dissolved oxygen and artificial land-cover types in the uMgeni Estuary. The results suggested that the uMgeni Estuary receives nutrient inputs from various urban activities, which reduce oxygen levels within the water column. Alterations to the hierarchical ichthyofauna structure in the uMgeni occurred on a year to year basis, relative to these anthropogenic impacts. In contrast, good water quality likely associated with fewer developments within the Estuarine Functional Zone has allowed the hierarchical fish structure in the uMlalazi Estuary to remain the same over time, although minor species level differences have occurred.

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Contextualising sediment trapping and phosphorus removal regulating services: a critical review of the influence of spatial and temporal variability in geomorphic processes in alluvial wetlands in drylands

Wiener

Schlegel

Grenfell

et al. 2022

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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Contamination of sediments in the floodplain wetlands of the lower uMngeni River, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

Zooplankton dynamics during a regime shift in the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa.

Zooplankton dynamics during a regime shift in the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa.

Decadal changes in land-use, water quality and fish assemblages in a KwaZulu-Natal urban and non-urban estuary.

Contextualising sediment trapping and phosphorus removal regulating services: a critical review of the influence of spatial and temporal variability in geomorphic processes in alluvial wetlands in drylands

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