An Assessment of Vegetation Condition of Small, Ephemeral Wetland Ecosystems in a Conserved and Non-Conserved Area of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole

Wetlands in South Africa are increasingly coming under threat from agriculture and urban development and rapidly disappearing, especially small, ephemeral wetlands. In response to the many threats to wetlands, South Africa has seen an increased interest in wetland research, which has introduced many methods to help standardize the approach to research, management and conservation of wetlands. Remote sensing can be a powerful tool to monitor changes in wetland vegetation and degradation leading to losses in wetlands. However, research into wetland ecosystems has focused on large systems (> 8 ha). Small wetlands (< 2 ha), by contrast, are often overlooked and unprotected due to the lack of detailed inventories at a scale that is appropriate for their inclusion. The main aim of this study was to determine if remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques could detect changes in small, ephemeral wetlands within areas under different management regimes in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole (NMBM) at different time intervals. Further, to explore the potential of hyperspectral remote sensing for the discrimination between plant species and to see if differences could be detected in the same species within two areas different management regimes.

An Assessment of Vegetation Condition of Small Ephemeral Wetlands

Authors: Mandla E. Dlamini

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