An introduction to South Africa’s emerging national...

An introduction to South Africa’s emerging

national ecosystem classification system

10th Biodiversity Planning Forum

9 May 2013

Golden Gate National Park

Overview

• What is ecosystem classification?

• Progress to date

• Applications for policy, monitoring and management

• Different approaches to ecosystem classification

• Purpose of classifying ecosystems

• Key requirements for NECS

• Way forward

What is ecosystem classification?

• Grouping habitats or natural features into

categories with similar characteristics, properties,

or functions

• The ecosystem equivalent of identifying and

classifying species

• A way of simplifying the complexity of biodiversity

• Ecosystems of the same type are expected to

share broadly similar ecological characteristics and

functioning

Progress to date

• Long history in terrestrial environment

vegetation mapping, going back to 1930s

• More recent progress in aquatic

environments, especially in last 10 years

Vegetation map of

South Africa 2006

~440 vegetation

types

Marine ecosystem types

• From 34 biozones in NSBA 2004…

16 offshore pelagic

habitat types (water

column)

2011: 136 coastal, inshore & offshore habitat types

58 coastal & inshore habitat types

62 offshore benthic (seabed) habitat types

223 river ecosystem

types (NFEPA & NBA 2011)

– 31 Level 1 Ecoregions

– 2 flow regime categories

– 4 longitudinal zones

Wetlands (~300 000) 792 types (National Wetland Inventory, NFEPA)

46 estuary ecosystem types (not easy to show on a national map)

New (NBA 2011): 1st ever map of estuarine functional zone for all 291 estuaries

!( Estuaries

Rivers

Coastline

Amatole District Municipality

Floodplain

Open water

Now: actual mapping of open water

area and floodplain Previously: dots along the coastline

National ecosystem classification system

Vegetation

types

River

ecosystem

types

Wetland

ecosystem

types

Estuary

ecosystem

types

Coastal &

inshore habitat

types

Offshore

benthic habitat

types

Offshore

pelagic

habitat types

terrestrial freshwater estuarine marine & coastal

So what? … Many applications

• National ecosystem types = powerful unit of

reference

• Direct links to policy, management,

monitoring and decision-making

Some examples…

Examples of applications

• Assessing threat status of ecosystems basis for

listing threatened ecosystems links to EIA regs

and land-use planning

Critically endangeredEndangered

Least threatened

Vulnerable

Critically endangered

Endangered

Least threatened

Vulnerable

Terrestrial Rivers

Wetlands

Marine &

coastal

NB: Further development of the

national ecosystem classification system

is an essential prerequisite in order to move

forward with listing threatened rivers, wetlands,

estuaries, coastal or marine ecosystems





• Assessing protection levels of ecosystems

informs protected area expansion

Poorly protected

Moderately protected

Well protected

Not protected

Not protected

Poorly protected


Well protected

Terrestrial Rivers

Wetlands

Marine &

coastal

Focus areas for

land-based

protected area

expansion

(NPAES 2008)

Focus areas for

marine protection







• Monitoring and reporting on status and trends in

biodiversity

Powerful indicators

that can be simply

displayed

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Offshore

Coastal & inshore

Estuaries

Wetlands

Rivers

Terrestrial

% of ecosystem types

CR

EN

VU

LT

Ecosystem threat status

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Offshore

Coastal & inshore

Estuaries

Wetlands

Rivers

Terrestrial

% of ecosystem types

Not protected

Poorly protected


Well protected

Ecosystem protection level







• Monitoring and reporting on status and trends in

biodiversity

• Key spatial input for systematic biodiversity plans

informs land-use planning and environmental

assessment, expansion of protected areas

Biodiversity priority areas in South Africa

Many applications

• Ecosystem units that link to ecological

infrastructure and/or ecosystem services – actual

and potential

Initial map of ecological infrastructure for

the uMngeni catchment in KZN,

developed by Stephen Holness

Many applications

• Ecosystem units that link to ecological

infrastructure and/or ecosystem services – actual

and potential

• Basis for national ecosystem accounting

• Analysis of climate change distribution shifts

• Foundation for implementing biodiversity offsets

• Strategic informant for survey efforts and a range of

research

• Probably more…

Types of classification systems:

top-down vs bottom-up

• Top-down: environmental variables (e.g. climate,

topography and geology) are used as initial

characteristics to group ecosystems

– Biotic data can be used to verify or provide secondary

stratifications of the environmental classifications

• Bottom-up: site-specific data (e.g. species or

chemistry) are used for initial grouping of ecosystems

through numerical procedures such multivariate

clustering or ordination

• Freshwater ecoregion map is top-down; no verification

• Veg map is a combination of top-down and bottom-up


structural vs functional

• Structural: Based on physical attributes that usually

develop as responses to the underlying variables

driving the functioning of the ecosystem

– KZN wetland classification is a structural approach according

to characteristic flora

• Functional: Based on the drivers of functioning such

as hydrology and landscape position

– Ecoregions and the national wetland classification system

are functional approaches based on the two main drivers of

freshwater ecosystems – hydrology and landscape position

(geomorphology)


single-level vs hierarchical

• Single-level: ecosystems are simply divided into a

series of many ecosystem types

• Hierarchical: consists of a number of levels, with

each successive level requiring more detailed

information

• Advantages of a hierarchical approach:

– Each level can suit a range of different purposes therefore

allows for multiple objectives

– Provides more flexibility for scientists and natural resource

managers

– Hierarchical systems potentially marry top-down and bottom-

up approaches (e.g. the national wetland classification

system)

Purpose of classifying ecosystems

3 main possible objectives of classifying

ecosystems:

• To provide a coarse-filter surrogate that

represents biodiversity pattern,

• To provide ecosystem management units,

• To provide ecosystem units that link to

ecological infrastructure and/or ecosystem

services

Key requirements for a national

ecosystem classification system

• Set of guiding principles, ideally agreed on across

all environments

• Set of national ecosystem types – relatively stable

over time, agreed and endorsed by the relevant

community of scientists and practitioners

• Data and information on national ecosystem types

available to the public, including

– Spatial data and maps

– Unique code and name for each ecosystem type

– Description of each ecosystem type

– List of species associated with each ecosystem type

Key requirements for a national

ecosystem classification system

• Systems for dealing with updates and refinements

as knowledge improves (e.g. veg map committee)

• Publication that summarises and presents

information on national ecosystem types, along the

lines of Mucina & Rutherford 2006 (veg book)

• Explicit, clear research programme – priorities for

improving and refining the classification, map and

related data – strategic guidance for orgs and

individuals whose work could contribute to building

this science foundation

Proposed way forward

• Establish a National Ecosystem Classification Committee,

convened by SANBI

• Establish ecosystem classification committees for

freshwater, estuarine, and marine and coastal

environments, along the lines of the Vegetation Map

Committee

• Development of a five-year workplan for ecosystem

classification in each environment, with a view to feeding

into the next NBA and supporting listing of threatened

ecosystems

NB: Needs further discussion with partners, including DEA,

DWA, DAFF, provincial conservation authorities, CSIR,

SAEON, SANParks, WRC, SAIAB, universities

An introduction to South Africa’s emerging national...

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