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Determining the Wetland-Dryland Boundary of Depressions Using Littoral Gradient Analysis of Soil Edaphic Factors

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Abstract

Depressional wetlands are highly vulnerable to changes in land surface temperature and rainfall but little is known about their responses to future climate change. This study assessed the variation in edaphic factors between wetlands and along their littoral gradients to detect the boundary between the endorheic wetlands and upland zones. A sample of 202 paired measurements of three edaphic factors were collected (Soil Moisture Content – SMC-g/g, Bulk Density – BD-g/cm 3 and Salinity as Electrical Conductivity – EC-dS/m) in 10 m plots along 14 belt transects in eight representative wetlands in the Mpumalanga Lake District, South Africa. In general, there were significant differences between the eight wetlands for SMC and BD but not for EC.SMC and BD generally showed negative trends along the littoral gradients. The trends occurred over short distances, ranging from 30 to 70 m, reflecting the extent of the wetlands. Understanding of the spatial variation of edaphic factors helps in the management and monitoring of depressional wetlands under a changing climate. In addition, the study showed that the current wetland buffer zone stipulated in local legislation was too narrow and recommended that this be extended to 100 m.

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Data Availability

The primary data for this project are confidential, for the duration of the PhD study and for a duration determined by the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Council for Industrial Science and Research (the host institutions) after the PhD thesis has been submitted. Interested parties may obtain with data use agreements with “the host institutions”. Researchers interested in access to the data may contact Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi at BNondlazi@csir.co.za also see (csir.co.za/dr-moses-azong-cho) for second author details for assistance with obtaining the data agreements. It can take some months to negotiate data use agreements and gain access to the data.

Software Application and Code Availability

The author will assist with any reasonable replication attempts of the code for one years from the date of publication. R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS. To download R, please visit the R development website.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the South African Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for funding. We also thank Mr. Prince Malomane, the owner of Lake Banagher Farm for allowing access to the sites as well as his hospitality and that of his farm workers who also assisted with collecting some of the samples. We thank scientists who participated in different parts of the research; your company and conversations are appreciated. (Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture: Collen Rabothata, Norman Magoro and Oupa Kerumechwe University of Stellenbosch: Dr. Alanna Rebelo).

Funding

This work was funded by the South African Water Research Commission (WRC), under the project K5 / 2545 ‘Establishing remote-sensing tool-kits for monitoring freshwater ecosystems under global-change’, the National Research Foundation (NRF) PhD Professional Development Programme, as well as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Smart Places bursary 2020 and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKN) Postgraduate fees remission programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Precision Agriculture Platform, Advanced Agriculture and Food, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Meiring Naudé Road, Brummeria, PO Box 395, City of Tshwane, 0184, South Africa

    Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi, Moses Azong Cho & Heidi van Deventer

  2. School of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Carbis Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3201, South Africa

    Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi, Moses Azong Cho & Erwin Jacobus Sieben

  3. Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS), Department of Plant and Soil Science, Forest Science Postgraduate Programme, University of Pretoria (UP), cnr Lynnwood Road and Roper Street, City of Tshwane, 0002, South Africa

    Moses Azong Cho

  4. Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria (UP), cnr Lynnwood Road and Roper Street, City of Tshwane, 0002, South Africa

    Heidi van Deventer

  5. School of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), University Road, Westville, Private Bag X 54001, eThekwini, 4000, South Africa

    Erwin Jacobus Sieben

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  1. Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi
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  2. Moses Azong Cho
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  4. Erwin Jacobus Sieben
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Contributions

Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi - BN: PhD candidate - Prepared proposal, collected data, Analysed, Wrote the manuscript, data capture, Data quality and methods validation in field.

Moses Azong Cho - MC: Main supervisor - Supervised preparation of proposal, technical planning of fieldwork, data capture and quality, analysis, and writing the manuscript.

Heidi van Deventer - HD: Second supervisor - Supervised preparation of proposal, financial planning of fieldwork, analysis and writing the manuscript.

Erwin Jacobus Sieben - ES: University supervisor - Supervised preparation of proposal, fieldwork collection of data, analysis and writing the manuscript. Data quality and methods validation in field.

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Correspondence to Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi.

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Nondlazi, B.X., Cho, M.A., van Deventer, H. et al. Determining the Wetland-Dryland Boundary of Depressions Using Littoral Gradient Analysis of Soil Edaphic Factors. Wetlands 41, 81 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01430-9

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