Patterns of resource use by livestock during and after drought on the commons of Namaqualand, South Africa

Sustainable land use in Namaqualand, South Africa: Key issues in an interdisciplinary debate

“…This suggests there is no obvious incentive to reduce herd size, although Debeaudoin (2001) found that livestock keepers in Leliefontein were unwilling to increase their herds above a size they deemed manageable. Samuels et al (2007) also discuss the complex strategies that herders employ to prevent losses during drought and suggest that the upland areas of Paulshoek act as key resource areas. Because they are grazed less frequently during average rainfall years they support a more diverse set of perennial plants that can be exploited during drought periods.…”

A synthesis of sociological and biological perspectives on sustainable land use in Namaqualand

“…In other words, the pattern of transhumance had all but been destroyed. Samuels et al (2007) describe this later condition for one village in the Leliefontein communal area. Here, the outcomes of various herding practices based on degrees of mobility and intensity of management within the village commons are analysed.…”

Analysis and evaluation of ecological restoration experiments in the Succulent Karoo (South Africa)

“…The closer situation of Quaggasfontein to the nearest stock post presumably creates a higher concentration of animals (Samuels et al 2007) with the associated effects of trampling, defecation and defoliation (Hendricks et al 2005) at this site. Therefore one could expected to find a decrease in abundance of (palatable) perennials, increase in the abundance of ephemeral and alien species and a decrease in species richness and canopy cover of palatable perennials at the Quaggasfontein site, as this are reported effects of high grazing pressure for the vicinity of stockposts in the Karoo (Todd 2006, Hendricks et al 2005.…”

“…With the arrival of European settlers the former pastoralists' (i.e., Khoekhoen of Namaqualand) practices to move with their stocks around to take advantage of summer and winter rainfall areas changed and they were forced to move into smaller communal areas and had to stop their transhumant strategies (Boonzair et al 1996In: Samuels et al 2007). …”