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South Africa: Project Quick-scan

Quick-scan Landscape Ecological Analyses (LESA’s) in Southern Africa

In the period 2004-2015 ERA has worked with many South-African scientists and National Park managers and has contributed to the knowledge of peatlands and wetlands in Southern Africa. 

Most projects are financed by the South-African Water Research Commission (WRC), some by private companies, but most are not financed by third parties. The results of this long-term involvement are used to develop a typology of peatland systems in Southern Africa. Examples of simple ‘quick-scan’ landscape analyses are those of Mahlalapanga, Mfayeni (both hot springs in Kruger National Park), calcareous spring systems in Mapungupwe (Limpopo Province). Such peatland systems are extremely rare in South Africa and are in need of protection.

  • Literature list

    Grootjans, A.P., Grundling, P.L., Grundling, A., Linström, A., Engelbrecht, J. & Price, J.S. 2010. Spring mires fed by hot artesian water in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Mires and Peat, volume 6, article 7: 1-10.
    Grundling, P.L., Grootjans, A.P. & Daemane, E. 2012. Erosion control in Mokala National Park. Short Report on the Working on Land Rehabilitation Measures of 2011/12, following a site visit on 5 & 7 May 2012. 
    Grundling, A.T. 2014. Remote sensing and biophysical monitoring of vegetation, terrain attributes and hydrology to map, characterise and classify wetlands of the Maputaland Coastal Plain, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. PhD thesis University of Waterloo, Canada, 156pp. 
    Grundling, P.L. . Marneweck, G., A.Linström, A., Fokkema, W. & Grootjans, A.P. 2015. Mires in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. Mires and Peat volume 15, article 9: 11-21.
    Grootjans, A.P., Jansen, A.J.M., de Hullu, P.C., Joosten H., Bootsma, A. & Grundling, P.L. 2015. In search of spring mires in Namibia: the Waterberg area revisited. Mires and Peat, volume 15, article 10, 1-11.
    Grundling, P.L., Linström, A., Van der Waal, B., Scott, L., Pretorius, L., Grootjans, A.P., & Hailstones, M. 2014. The characterisation of artesian springs at the Vele Colliery, Limpopo Province. Centre for Wetland Research and Training (WETREST); Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, 84 pp.
    Grundling, P.L. & Grootjans, A.P. 2016. Peatlands of Africa. In: Finlayson, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Wetlands: Wetlands of the World (Vol. 4). Accepted 
    Grundling, P.L. Grootjans, A.P., & Linström, A. 2016. The Rugezi Mire, a high altitude tropical peatland in Rwanda. In: Finlayson, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Wetlands: Wetlands of the World (Vol. 4). Accepted 
    Grundling, A.T., Grootjans, A.P. , Grundling, P-L. & Price, J.S. 2016. Peatland types and tropical swamp forests on the Maputaland Coastal Plain, South Africa. In: Finlayson, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Wetlands: Wetlands of the World (Vol. 4). Accepted  


    SA-project 4- Quick-scan landscape analyses (LESA)-def.pdf