Managing the hydrological impacts of South African plantation forests: An overview

Dye, P. J.; Versfeld, Dirk

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.06.013

Cited by 89 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Paired catchment experiments demonstrated that conversion of the grasslands to plantation forests causes a large reduction in stream flow as a result of an increase in evapotranspiration of approximately 400 mm yr -1 from the grassland baseline of 700-900 mm [30]. Thus, in this water-scarce country, stringent regulations restrict afforestation of grasslands because of competing downstream water demand [31]. Studies on the biodiversity of the grassy biomes have been comparatively neglected, especially relative to forests, in common with most forestgrassland mosaics in the tropics ( [15,32] but see e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforestation or conservation? The attributes of old growth grasslands in South Africa

Zaloumis

Bond

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Deforestation as a result of burning and land conversion in the tropics and subtropics has been widely studied and active restoration of forests has been widely promoted. Besides other benefits, reforestation can sequester carbon thereby reducing CO 2 emissions to the atmosphere. However, before grasslands are targeted for 'reforestation', it is necessary to distinguish whether they are ancient natural grasslands or secondary vegetation colonizing deforested areas. Here we report the results of a study comparing primary grasslands in South Africa with 4-40 year old secondary grasslands recovering from afforestation with Pinus species. Primary grasslands had significantly higher plant species richness overall, especially of forb species. Ground cover of primary grasslands was more evenly distributed among species than secondary grasslands which tended to mono-dominance. Forbs with underground storage organs (USOs) were common in primary grasslands but conspicuously absent in the recovering systems. Comparison of secondary grasslands of different ages (up to 40 years) showed negligible recovery of the original species composition. Three key features distinguish old growth primary from secondary grasslands: total and forb species numbers, evenness of species contributions to cover and the presence of USOs. Old growth grasslands also differed in their fire response, showing significant post-burn resprouting and fire-stimulated flowering in contrast to secondary grasslands. Though similar contrasting attributes of ancient and secondary grasslands have been reported in South America, more studies are needed to explore their generality in other geographical regions.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation'.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforestation or conservation? The attributes of old growth grasslands in South Africa

Zaloumis

Bond

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…The scope of our article is limited to the governance of a few restoration activities that are assumed by stakeholders to provide water services; it does not include a discussion of the impacts of forest cover on water. We only observe that forest restoration activities are undertaken based on their assumed capacity to increase the availability of groundwater in the dry season, which is an assumption that runs counter to some evidence in the literature [29,31,32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…While being justified by their positive contribution to water services, their actual effect on ground water is complex and controversial. The -more trees more water‖ myth is discussed and challenged in the literature [28][29][30][31][32], yet some recognize that forest cover might have positive impacts on infiltration in smaller scale catchments [33] with steep [34] and degraded soils [31,33]. Examples of improved groundwater storage are indeed documented in tropical forests [31,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do PES Improve the Governance of Forest Restoration?

Pirard

Buren

Lapeyre

2014

Forests

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Payments for Environmental Services (PES) are praised as innovative policy instruments and they influence the governance of forest restoration efforts in two major ways. The first is the establishment of multi-stakeholder agencies as intermediary bodies between funders and planters to manage the funds and to distribute incentives to planters. The second implication is that specific contracts assign objectives to land users in the form of conditions for payments that are believed to increase the chances for sustained impacts on the ground. These implications are important in the assessment of the potential of PES to operate as new and effective funding schemes for forest restoration. They are analyzed by looking at two prominent payments for watershed service programs in IndonesiaCidanau (Banten province in Java) and West Lombok (Eastern Indonesia)-with combined economic and political science approaches. We derive lessons for the governance of funding efforts (e.g., multi-stakeholder agencies are not a guarantee of success; mixed results are obtained from a reliance on mandatory funding with ad hoc regulations, as opposed to voluntary contributions by the service beneficiary) and for the governance of financial expenditure (e.g., absolute need for evaluation procedures for the internal governance of farmer groups). Furthermore, we observe that these governance features provide no guarantee that restoration plots with the highest relevance for ecosystem services are targeted by the PES. OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 405

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“…During the course of the 1900s, the area under forestry grew to 1.5 million hectares, approximately 1.5 % of the country's land cover, as the demand for wood increased. It was realised that forestry posed a threat to the availability of blue water, and since 1968 there have been recommendations and legal requirements associated with forestry as a result of its water use (Dye and Versfeld, 2007). Water-use licenses and monthly water costs associated with forestry (DWAF, 2004) and strict environmental legislation associated with riparian zones have been implemented (FIEC, 1995).…”

Section: A D Clulow Et Al: Water-use Dynamics Of a Peat Swamp Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-use dynamics of a peat swamp forest and a dune forest in Maputaland, South Africa

Clulow

Everson

Price

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Peat swamp forests are the second rarest forest type found in South Africa while dune forests have been under severe threat through mining and agriculture. Both forest types exist in the conservation area, and World Heritage site, known as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park on the East coast of South Africa. The area is prone to severe droughts (Taylor et al., 2006) and recent attempts to understand the local water balance revealed that there was insufficient information on the water use of the indigenous forests of the area. The peat swamp forest and dune forest sites studied in this research were located within close proximity to each other, yet, are characterised by different landscape positions in terms of water availability. The coastal dune forest soil profile was generally dry and sandy and the tree roots did not have access to the water table. In contrast the peat swamp forest is located in an interdunal wetland where the trees have permanent access to water. The climate at both sites is subtropical with a mean annual precipitation of 1200 mm yr −1 . However, over 20 months of measurement, the first summer (October 2009 to March 2010) was drier (424 versus 735 mm) than the second summer (October 2010 to March 2011) emphasising the variability of the rainfall in the area and providing a wide range of conditions measured.The sap flow of an evergreen, overstory Syzygium cordatum and a semi-deciduous, understory Shirakiopsis elliptica were measured in the peat swamp forest using the heat ratio method. The Syzygium cordatum water use was not highly seasonal and the daily maximum water use ranged from approximately 30 L d −1 in winter to 45 L d −1 in summer whereas the Shirakiopsis elliptica water use was more seasonal at 2 L d −1 in winter and 12 L d −1 in summer. The water use of the Syzygium cordatum was not influenced by seasonal rainfall variations and was actually higher in the drier summer (October 2009 to March 2010). Three trees of different heights were monitored in the same way in the dune forest and the water use found to be highly seasonal. Over the entire measurement period, the water use was highest for an emergent Mimusops caffra (5 to 45 L d −1 ), whereas the water use of the Eugenia natalitia (2 to 28 L d −1 ) and Drypetes natalensis (1 to 4 L d −1 ) was lower. At the dune forest, the water use was highest in the wetter summer due to the reliance of the trees on rainfall to recharge the soil water. A split-line regression showed that on average, soil water limited tree water use 64 % of the time over the measurement period at the dune forest. For modelling tree water use at the dune forest, it was concluded that a two-stage model, taking soil water content into account (from multiple sampling points), would be necessary.

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Managing the hydrological impacts of South African plantation forests: An overview

Cited by 89 publications

References 7 publications

Reforestation or conservation? The attributes of old growth grasslands in South Africa

Reforestation or conservation? The attributes of old growth grasslands in South Africa

Do PES Improve the Governance of Forest Restoration?

Water-use dynamics of a peat swamp forest and a dune forest in Maputaland, South Africa

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