Browsing by Author "Livingstone, Tamsyn"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Advancing coastal cross-realm integration for planning and assessment
    (NMU; Stellenbosch University; SANBI; DEA; Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife; CSIR, 2018-06-20) Harris, Linda; Bessinger, Mariel; Holness, Stephen; Kirkman, Stephen; Livingstone, Tamsyn; Amanda, Lombard; Luck-Vogel, Melanie; van Niekerk, Lara
    The coast is one of South Africa’s most valuable national assets but has been poorly included in biodiversity plans because the realm has been split into its “land” and “sea” components. Even if planners intended to include the coast meaningfully, this has been impossible because the terrestrial and marine ecosystem type maps don’t align along the shore. Thus, a key step in progressing cross-realm integration for both planning and assessment is to generate a fine-scale coastal ecosystem-type map that is seamless among realms. We explicitly avoided controversial boundaries, rather choosing the most stable boundaries available that divide the ecotone into ecologically meaningful zones. We defined and mapped (at <1:3000) the “seashore” as the land-sea interface between the dune scrub/thicket break and the back of the surf zone. The seashore is divided at the dune base into a landward “backshore” (which replaces the seashore vegetation type) and seaward “shore”. Given the dynamic nature of the coast, temporal aspects were included in the boundary delineation and ecosystem type classification, where appropriate. The estuary delineation from the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 was also embedded in the map. South Africa is now the first country with a wall-to-wall ecosystem type map for its territory and Exclusive Economic Zone.
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    Integrated systematic planning and adaptive stakeholder process support a 10-fold increase in South Africa’s Marine Protected Area estate
    (2023-04-01) Lombard, Amanda T.; Attwood, Colin G.; Livingstone, Tamsyn; Grantham, Hedley; Holness, Stephen D.
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    Iterative mapping of marine ecosystems for spatial status assessment, prioritization, and decision support
    (2023-03-31) Harris, Linda R.; Karenyi, Natasha; Porter, Sean; Kirkman, Stephen; Pfaff, Maya; van Niekerk, Lara; Atkinson, Lara J.; Bernard, Anthony; Cawthra, Hayley; de Wet, Willem; Filander, Zoleka; Green, Andrew; Herbert, David; Holness, Stephen; Lamberth, Stephen; Livingstone, Tamsyn; Lück-Vogel, Melanie; Mackay, Fiona; Makwela, Mapula; Palmer, Ryan; van Zyl, Wilhem
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    Pelagic bioregionalisation using open-access data for better planning of marine protected area networks
    (2017) Leslie, Roberson; Lagabrielle, Erwann; Lombard, Amanda; Livingstone, Tamsyn; Grantham, Hedley; Harris, Jean
    Systematic conservation planning (SCP) to design marine protected areas (MPAs) has traditionally focused on species distributions or benthic habitat features that drive the determination of conservation priorities. Pelagic ecosystem protection is usually incidental because these ecosystems are often data poor and are difficult to visualize in a planning context. Pelagic ecosystems, however, face increasing and cumulative impacts from threats such as overfishing and climate change, and a precautionary approach is required to protect both known and unknown biodiversity patterns and ecosystem processes. Data-driven pelagic habitat classifications are important when planning for habitat protection in the absence of sufficient in-situ data. In this study, we describe a method for creating a bioregional map of the upper-mixed layer of South Africa's pelagic realm. We selected relevant variables and parameters that best reflect key ecosystem properties at broad, meso, and local scales. We conducted a hierarchal cluster analysis using open-access sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a (chl-a), net primary productivity (NPP), mean sea level anomalies (MSLA), and seabed slope and depth data. The resulting map delineates three bioregions subdivided into seven biozones and sixteen pelagic habitats within South Africa's continental Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This habitat map was incorporated into SCP of a proposed expanded MPA network that includes offshore protected areas and meets National objectives. The proposed network will increase protection of the pelagic realm (>30 m depth) of the EEZ from 0.002% to 6.0%. We contend that bioregional analyses based on publicly available remote-sensing data are useful for identification of offshore habitats, especially when robust biological data are unavailable, as a framework for ecosystem reporting, and for inclusion in a systematic design for a representative offshore MPA network. Further research should focus on modelling and mapping the permanence of pelagic habitats and different spatio-temporal scales of variability, validating habitat boundaries with biological data, and understanding the threats and efficacy of achieving pelagic protection through management mechanisms like MPAs.
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    Progress in marine ecosystem classification, mapping and targets: Testing the boundaries
    (SANBI, 2015-06-25) Livingstone, Tamsyn
    This presentation summarises the approach taken in the mapping and classification of marine ecosystems in South Africa and the first work in setting quantitative biodiversity targets for unconsolidated marine ecosystem types. The inaccessible, three dimensional, dynamic ocean environment poses many challenges which have been addressed through a range of approaches including biophysical seascape and biotope classifications, research to understand marine biodiversity surrogates, citizen science to map reefs and the use of species area curves to develop the first local biodiversity targets. The data-informed, expert-derived classification and map used in 2011 was reasonably well supported since fish, macrofauna and eipfauna data showed support for the divisions 29 involved and yielded better results than a purely physical data based approach. Progress since 2012 is reviewed and proposed methods, data sources and research opportunities to advance this work are identified. These include new approaches in habitat mapping, testing surrogacy through collaborative research cruises, co-operative work with offshore industries, and inclusion of data from the fisheries and petroleum government agencies. Priority habitat types for further work are discussed.