Table of Contents
Coastal Living of the Future: Garden Route 2050
We have entered the Anthropocene and coastal communities in particular will face increasing environmental impacts ranging from climate change to biodiversity loss. Are coastal communities prepared to stand by and watch the deterioration of their environment, or will human ingenuity triumph? Coastal Living of the Future will develop a multi-disciplinary, community-based approach to investigate what the future holds, and what can and should be done now to achieve a sustainable future. Knysna, South Africa, will be used as a complex social-ecological coastal system where different futures will be envisioned by combining both scenario research and ecological modelling. Water will be used as an overarching theme linking all social, economic and environmental aspects common to coastal communities globally. The development of this approach in utilising the future to inform the present, will provide an actionable conservation roadmap for coastal communities across the globe.
Coastal Diversity Research
GOAL: Develop applied research and tools to determine the status, threats and conservations needs of coastal ecosystems to guide future biodiversity conservation, education and management.
(Meta)barcoding of seagrass communities: comparative approaches for biodiversity planning
Description
Seagrass meadows are vital components of healthy estuarine and coastal environments and support aΒ complex array of associated biodiversity. Much of this biodiversity is small-bodied, cryptic andΒ undescribed, but supports ecosystem services such as sediment turn-over, maintaining water qualityΒ and exploitation of resources through fishing. Often such communities of small-bodied species areΒ poorly characterised and as such it is difficult to disentangle the drivers shaping natural communities,Β their distribution and also their conservation relevance and inclusion into spatial planning.Β This project aims to contribute towards ongoing efforts of characterising the spatial ecology of seagrassΒ beds in Knysna, an important estuary experiencing high anthropogenic impacts. Our project will utiliseΒ barcoding of epi-and infaunal species of sediments associated with seagrass meadows across anΒ environmental gradient. We aim to sample, identify, photograph and provide barcodes for between 50 toΒ 80 species from three different size categories (ranging from 100ΞΌm to 10mm), thus providing insightsΒ into the under-sampled diversity of impacted estuarine sediments. In parallel, we will trial aΒ metabarcoding approach to test whether this technique is a suitable alternative for more resourceΒ intensive and time-consuming traditional approaches, that also heavily rely on taxonomic expertise.Β With our two-pronged approach of building a barcoding database and metabarcoding, we will contributeΒ towards extending the tools available to not only South African, but researchers globally interested inΒ the monitoring of biodiversity at smaller spatio-temporal scales focussed on the hidden and unseenΒ biodiversity of strategically important environments. This project is funded through the National Research Foundation Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme.
Period
2019-2021
Contact
Sophie von der Heyden at svdh@sun.ac.za
Project SeaStore: integrated research to support seagrass restoration and to build estuarine resilience in South Africa
Description
Seagrasses are important keystone engineers in South African coastal environments, where theyΒ provide a range of critical services to both natural and human systems. However, seagrass ecosystemsΒ are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic impacts such as climate change and habitat loss andΒ globally, as well as in South Africa seagrass cover is declining, seriously undermining ecosystemΒ services. There have been repeated calls to investigate seagrass restoration to increase cover, biomass and ecosystem functions of seagrass populations.
Previous research showed that success ofΒ restoration depends on a number of factors, including genomic and functional similarity between donorΒ and transplant populations. In South Africa, there is a strong focus on ecological aspects andΒ physiological performance of specific meadows, but the phenotypic and genomic responses toΒ anthropogenic stressors are poorly understood.Β Project SeaStore aims to provide critical information within the context of potentially restoring seagrassΒ meadows in South Africa. Using ecological transcriptomics to quantify gene expression within andΒ between populations sampled along an environmental gradient and measuring functional responses, weΒ will be able to better understand the genomic and functional diversity in the region. In addition, underΒ laboratory conditions we will experimentally manipulate anthropogenic stressors, including temperature,Β turbidity and nutrient loading to assess intra-and inter-population responses of seagrasses, which willΒ provide insights into resilience and persistence.
Our data will contribute towards developing an index ofΒ resilience of estuaries that is based on functional response data and allows us to evaluate how differentΒ seagrass populations might respond to change. Project SeaStore brings together a multidisciplinaryΒ team grounded in seagrass and climate change research, to provide maximum impact for restorationΒ and conservation of this valuable resource.Β This project is funded through the National Research Foundation Marine and Coastal funding research instrument.
Period
2019-2021
Contact
Sophie von der Heyden at svdh@sun.ac.za
The economic value of Zostera capensis in South Africa: desktop methods investigation
Description
Marine seagrass, Zostera capensis ecosystems are one of the most diverse and widespread ecosystems in South Africa that provide ecological, socio-cultural and economic ecosystem services. Z. capensis is a highly productive flowering marine seagrass found on the coast of South Africa and has a variety of indirect ecosystem services. Such ecosystem services include reducing the effects of erosion near coastal settlements, trapping nutrients and organic material, creating a nursery habitat for juvenile commercial fish species and reducing sedimentation. Despite their formal protection status, Z. capensis meadows are regressing, often due to anthropogenic influence, although there is evidence of the decline of seagrass meadows through environmental and climatic changes. Anthropogenic influences can damage seagrass meadows through boating, trampling, eutrophication, bait collection and development of infrastructure.
Globally, multiple studies have been documented on the ecological importance of seagrass services, both to humans and nature, but economic valuations of these services have not been as extensive. The economics of ecosystem services are important, as economically valuating ecosystem services can place a monetary value on non-market goods and services, such as the services Z. capensis provide. The valuing of ecosystem services can be used for decision-making, policymaking, land-use planning, raise awareness of natural resource use and assist with the provisioning of natural resources and ecosystem services. Numerous valuation methodologies has been used in literature and in practice to value ecosystem services that have indirect use values, such as the stated preference method through the use of choice modelling and contingent valuation to derive a willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to accept (WTA) values for an ecosystem service or an environmental good. Valuation methods such as the stated preference method have been used in numerous studies where the results vary. However, the stated preference method has shown to have considerable deficiencies.
Deliberation has been suggested as an improved method of valuing ecosystem services and environmental goods and services. Deliberative Monetary Valuation (DMV) is a sub-set of deliberation, which allows participants to deliberate between themselves and the researcher before stating a WTP or WTA value for the environmental good or service in consideration. This study will use DMV as the main methodology to value the indirect use ecosystem services Z. capensis provide to society. In this research project, the ecosystem services Z. capensis provide will be reviewed and develop a site-specific valuation model through DMV to determine the value of the ecosystem services of Z. capensis in the Knysna estuary, South Africa.
Period
2019-2021
Contact
Dr Gavin Frazer at g.fraser@ru.ac.za
Polychaete species used as bait: taxonomy, population structure, ecology and management
Description
Polychaetes are frequently used as bait by recreational and subsistence fishers. However, effective management of this resource is hampered by inadequate information related to actual identities of all species used, their distribution, biology, and population structure. Furthermore, Diopatra cf. aciculate that occurs in Knysna Estuary is an alien. Thus, more detailed information concerning the ecological impact that it may be having, its reproductive strategies, timing of recruitment and dispersal throughout the estuary (all information that can inform effective management) is not known.
This study will therefore:
- Address the taxonomy and phylogeography of five widely distributed species in the genera Gunnarea and Marphysa, to increase our understanding of the population structures of the different species and consequently the vulnerability of individual populations to overexploitation;
- Investigate the ecological impact of D. cf. aciculata as an ecological engineer, a resource and consumer, to determine how indigenous species in the estuary may be affected by the activity of the alien; and
- Investigate the reproductive strategies and dispersal of D. cf. aciculata to identify times when the species might be most vulnerable to management, and possibly source and or sink subpopulations that may be targeted for management. This project proposes to use a combination of standard morphological, Sanger sequencing and histological techniques, and stable isotope and microsatellite analyses.
Period
2015-2022
Contact
Carol Simon at CSIMON@sun.ac.za
Past research outputs
Simon, C., du Toit, A.N., Smith, M.K.S., Claassens, L., Smith, F., Smith, P. 2019. Bait collecting by subsistence and recreational fishers in Knysna Estuary may impact management and conservation. African Zoology. 54(2): 91-103Β https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2019.1608862
The animal ecology of seagrass beds at Knysna
- The spatial ecology of seagrass biodiversity
- The ecology of seagrass / bare-sediment ecotones
- The ecology of seagrass microgastropods
Description
The Knysna estuarine bay supports the largest seagrass bed in South Africa and at least 25% of the total area of its Cape eelgrass,Β ZosteraΒ (Zosterella)Β capensis.Β Since 2009, Prof. Richard Barnes has been studying the biodiversity of the animal community that this seagrass supports and the way in which it varies across space.Β In general, it is clear that, as might be expected, biodiversity decreases upstream and from the main estuarine channel into the fringing backwaters, i.e. the numerous saltmarsh creeks and channels; whilst the total number of individual animals often shows the converse distribution.
Some findings, however, have been more unexpected.Β At many other localities around the world and indeed within South Africa, seagrass beds support more biodiversity and greater animal abundance than adjacent areas of unvegetated sediment.Β This is not the case at Knysna β where bare sediment may even support significantly greater animal numbers β and it seems likely that this is because the Knysna sediments suffer relatively little bioturbation from species like sandprawns.Β The reason that seagrass often supports a richer animal community than unvegetated sediment may not be because seagrass is somehow a more favourable habitat (by virtue of more food, more shelter or more protection from predators, for example), but because when present bioturbators can render sand much less favourable than otherwise.
A second unexpected finding has been that within any given seagrass bed the number of species present per unit area is effectively constant, irrespective of the size of the unit-sample concerned.Β Further, these observed values of species density are those that would be expected on a null hypothesis that community composition at any given point is simply a random subset of those species in the locally available pool, granted their overall frequencies of occurrence.Β Such stochastic composition will only be found where no species is in a position to affect the distribution of any other, i.e. when populations are held below carrying capacity and competitive interactions do not occur, even if niche overlap is almost total.Β In turn, this is likely to be brought about by all the juvenile fish that use the Knysna seagrass beds as nursery areas, feeding indiscriminately on anything small in the surface layers of the sediment.
Period
Ongoing
Contact
Richard Barnes at rsb1001@cam.ac.uk
Past research outputs
Barnes, R. S. K., 2013. Spatial stability of macrobenthic seagrass biodiversity. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 493, 127-139.Β https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10546
Barnes, R. S. K., 2013. Distribution patterns of macrobenthic biodiversity in the intertidal seagrass beds of an estuarine system, and their conservation significance.Β Biodiversity and Conservation. 22, 357 β 372.
Barnes, R.S.K., 2014. The nature and location of spatial change in species assemblages: a new approach illustrated by the seagrass macrofauna of the Knysna estuarine bay, South Africa. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 69, 75-80.Β http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0035919X.2014.899277
Barnes, R. S. K., Barnes, M. K. S., 2014a. Biodiversity differentials between the numerically-dominant macrobenthos of seagrass and adjacent unvegetated sand in the absence of sandflat bioturbation. Marine Environmental Research. 99, 34-43.Β http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2014.05.013
Barnes, R. S. K., Barnes, M. K. S., 2014b. Spatial uniformity of biodiversity is inevitable if the available species are distributed independently of each other. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 516: 263-266.
Barnes, R.S.K., Hendy, I.W.,Β 2015a.Β Functional uniformity underlies the common spatial structure of macrofaunal assemblages in intertidal seagrass beds.Β Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.Β 115, 114-126.
Barnes, R. S. K., Hendy, I. W.,Β 2015b.Β Seagrass-associated macrobenthic functional diversity and functional structure along an estuarine gradient. Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science. 164, 233-243.Β http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.07.050
Barnes, R.S.K., 2016. Spatial homogeneity of benthic macrofaunal biodiversity across small spatial scales. Marine Environmental Research. 122, 148-157.Β https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.10.006
Barnes, R.S.K., 2017. Little-known and phylogenetically obscure South African estuarine microgastropods (Mollusca: Truncatelloidea) as living animals. Journal of Natural History. 52: 87-113.Β http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2017.1408867
Barnes, R.S.K. 2018.Β Context dependency in the effect ofΒ Ulva-induced loss of seagrass cover on estuarine macrobenthic abundance and biodiversity. Aquatic Conservation. In Press.Β https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2977
Barnes, R.S.K. 2019. Local patchiness of macrobenthic faunal abundance displays homogeneity across the disparate seagrass systems of an estuarine bay. Marine Environmental Research. 148: 99-107.Β https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.05.001
Survey of the Knysna Dwarf chameleon Bradypodion damaranum
Description
According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Bradypodion damaranum is of least concern. There are two main reasons for this, first is that the Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of this species is large enough to be stable and second is that although their indigenous forest habitat was declining it is no longer, so there is no concern. However, due to previous habitat decline, suitable habitat for this species remains patchy(Tolley 2018a).Β However, it was found that the chameleon populations on the Tsitsikamma mountains comprise of a morphologically and genetically distinct species (B. sp1) that was previously thought to be B. damaranum (Tolley et al. 2006). Therefore, when the new species, B. sp1, is described the EOO for B. damaranum will become even smaller than it is currently. This is concerning because B. pumilum which has an EOO of 11518km2 (twice that of B. damaranumsβ current range) is listed as near threatened due to a restricted distribution.
Additionally, there has been no research done on B. damaranum, so their population sizes and structures are unknown. Therefore, we do not actually know if their populations are indeed stable or if they are in decline. At the very least B. damaranum should be classified as βdata deficientβ instead of βLeast concernβ. Due to this situation, we believe that it is vitally important to obtain a rough estimate of the population size and dynamics of this range-restricted endemic species as well as determining how habitat specific they are. From this information, a conservation management plan can be developed.
Period
2019-2020
Contact
Shelley Edwards at s.edwards@ru.ac.za
Marine Debris Research
GOAL: Develop applied research and tools to determine the nature, extent and implications of the growing impact from marine debris on coastal ecosystems to guide future conservation, education and management.
Microplastics in the Knysna estuary
Description
The aim of this project is to assess the sources, sinks and ecological status of micro-plastic pollution within the Knysna estuary. Through this research we will establish research methods/protocols for estuarine based plastic research to be used in catchment-based waste management actions.
In the first instance, focus was placed on establishing which catchments are significant sources of micro-plastics into the Knysna estuary. Focus was then placed on the determination of significant sinks of micro-plastics within different habitat types found in the Knysna estuary, as well as the occurrence of plastic ingestion in juvenile fish and pipefish.
Period
2018-2020
Contact
Louw Claassens at kyss.louw@gmail.com
Ghost fishing impacts from shore-based angling
Description
Negative environmental impacts that result from discarded or lost fishing gear such as the entanglement of animals, are known as ghost fishing and has become a problem of increasing concern. Ghost fishing is, however, not only an βindustryβ problem, but lost and/or discarded fishing gear that originate from shore-based angling can contribute significantly to ghost fishing. Even though ghost fishing and its impacts are well studied internationally, a dearth of information on this topic exists in South Africa. This project will conduct a baseline assessment of the occurrence and extent of ghost fishing gear within the Knysna estuaryβ focusing on popular shore-based angling sites. An attempt will be made to differentiate between types of angling gear (subsistence vs recreational) and which is the greatest source of ghost gear in the estuary.
As part of this project, we are working with the Strandloper Project (www.strandloperproject.org) to investigate the occurrence and impact from ghost fishing gear along the South African coast. The Knysna Basin Project participated in a 210 km coastal hike in May 2019 to document all ghost fishing gear found along the route and to help raise awareness of the threat from ghost fishing gear and marine debris. The Strandloper Project collaboration continues with regular diving surveys at selected sites along the Garden Route.
Period
Ongoing
Contact
Louw Claassens at kyss.louw@gmail.com
Coastal Development Research
GOAL: Develop applied research and tools to determine the nature, extent and implications of development on coastal ecosystems to guide future conservation, education and management.
Coastal sprawl in the Keurbooms estuary
Description
Coastal development can lead to the loss and alteration of habitat. This project aims to investigate the biotic differences between natural seagrass habitat and hard, artificial erosion control structures. Specific focused is placed on the differences in fish and invertebrate diversity and abundances between the two different habitat types to ascertain the ecological impact from coastal development, and specifically erosion control approaches.
Period
2018-2020
Contact
Louw Claassens at kyss.louw@gmail.com
Mapping of coastal infrastructure
Description
Ocean sprawl refers to increasing development of our coastal and estuarine systems. There are vast ecological consequences from increasing modifications of these systems. Especially the construction of hard, artificial structures, seeing that these structures tend to replace natural habitats and alter natural species compositions. This project will identify, quantify and map all coastal and estuarine developments/structures within the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve. This project will form part of a larger coastal development mapping project which is a collaborative project between the Knysna Basin Project and Dr Nathan Waltham from Tropwater (www.tropwater.com).
Period
2018-2020
Contact
Louw Claassens at kyss.louw@gmail.com
Stormwater management using hydrological modelling and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
Description
Impacts that originate within upstream catchments can have a significant negative impact on downstream environments. Specifically, pollution from localised catchments surrounding the Knysna estuary have been found to result in nutrient enrichment and increased bacteriological contamination. This project was developed in 2017 and the first phase focused on the identification and quantification of significant pollution sources from localised catchments surrounding the Knysna estuary. The next phase of the project will develop a detailed hydrological model of the most problematic catchments and develop proposed remediation actions using Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS). This project aims to develop an approach to effectively monitor and manage stormwater within a coastal catchment. This project is a collaboration between the Knysna Basin Project and Future Water (http://www.futurewater.uct.ac.za/).
Period
2017-2020
Contact
Neil Armitage at neil.armitage@uct.ac.za
