A synthesis of three decades of socio-ecological change in False Bay, South Africa: setting the scene for multidisciplinary research and management

Over the past three decades, marine resource management has shifted conceptually from top-down sectoral approaches towards the more systems-oriented multi-stakeholder frameworks of integrated coastal management and ecosystem-based conservation. However, the successful implementation of such frameworks is commonly hindered by a lack of cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer, especially between natural and social sciences. This review represents a holistic synthesis of three decades of change in the oceanography, biology and human dimension of False Bay, South Africa. The productivity of marine life in this bay and its close vicinity to the steadily growing metropolis of Cape Town have led to its socio-economic significance throughout history. Considerable research has highlighted shifts driven by climate change, human population growth, serial overfishing, and coastal development. Upwelling-inducing winds have increased in the region, leading to cooling and likely to nutrient enrichment of the bay. Subsequently the distributions of key components of the marine ecosystem have shifted eastward, including kelp, rock lobsters, seabirds, pelagic fish, and several alien invasive species. Increasing sea level and exposure to storm surges contribute to coastal erosion of the sandy shorelines in the bay, causing losses in coastal infrastructure and posing risk to coastal developments. Since the 1980s, the human population of Cape Town has doubled, and with it pollution has amplified. Overfishing has led to drastic declines in the catches of numerous commercially and recreationally targeted fish, and illegal fishing is widespread. The tourism value of the bay contributes substantially to the country’s economy, and whale watching, shark-cage diving and water sports have become important sources of revenue. Compliance with fisheries and environmental regulations would benefit from a systems- oriented approach whereby coastal systems are managed holistically, embracing both social and ecological goals. In this context, we synthesize knowledge and provide recommendations for multidisciplinary research and monitoring to achieve a better balance between developmental and environmental agendas

Governing coastal risk and vulnerability:New pathways within developing city-scale contexts, Cape Town, South Africa

This dissertation is about the governance of coastal risk and vulnerability in developing city-scale contexts, South Africa. While this research focuses on the geographic area constituting Cape Town, one of Africa’s most important coastal economic hubs and rapidly growing coastal cities, understanding the causality of coastal risk and vulnerability at the local level necessitates enquiries into the coastal governance landscape at broader provincial, national and international scales. The configuration of this multi-scalar governance landscape and the dynamic interplay between government tiers, public-private sector interactions, prevalent discourses and knowledge regimes, power differentials, the political contestation of cities, developmental status, organisational form as well as South Africa’s spatial legacy of apartheid planning, all play a role in the production, amplification and transfer of coastal risk at the local level. Through the application of theoretical frameworks such as Interactive Governance, Bureaucracy, Risk Society, Procedural Justice, Integrated Coastal Management and Adaptive Governance, this research identifies both impediments, and enablers, towards transformative, responsive and inclusive governance approaches as required for the mitigation of coastal risk and vulnerability at the local level. Main methodological frameworks applied in this research include an organisational ethnography, participatory action research as well as an argumentative discourse analysis

Comportamento ingestivo de ovinos alimentados com dietas compostas de silagem de capim-elefante amonizada ou não e subprodutos agroindustriais Ingestive behaviour of sheep fed with ammoniated or non-ammoniated elephantgrass silage and agro industrial by-products

Foram estudados os efeitos do uso de silagem de capim-elefante amonizada ou não com uréia (5% na base da MS) e da substituição do concentrado (milho e farelo de soja) por farelo de cacau (FC) ou torta de dendê (TD) na dieta sobre o comportamento ingestivo de ovinos Santa Inês. Dezoito ovinos machos não-castrados (peso médio inicial de 22,62 kg), alojados em baias individuais, foram distribuídos em delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com seis tratamentos, dois volumosos (silagem de capim-elefante amonizada ou não com uréia) e três níveis de substituição do concentrado (milho + farelo de soja) por farelo de cacau ou torta de dendê (0% FC e TD, 40% FC e 40% TD) na dieta, fornecida na proporção de 60:40 volumoso:concentrado. O período experimental foi de 78 dias, sendo 15 dias destinados à adaptação dos animais às dietas. Os animais foram observados a cada cinco minutos, durante dois períodos de 24 horas/dia, no final do período experimental. Foram registrados o tempo despendido em alimentação, ruminação e ócio e o número e o tempo de mastigações merícicas por bolo ruminado. Não houve diferença entre os tempos de alimentação, ruminação e ócio. A amonização do capim-elefente e a inclusão do farelo de cacau no concentrado aumentaram a eficiência de ruminação, mas a maioria dos parâmetros do comportamento ingestivo avaliados não sofreu alterações.<br>The effects of feeding elephantgrass silage ammoniated or not with urea (5% DM basis) and the concentrate replacement (corn and soybean meal) by cocoa meal (CM) or palm cake (PC) on the ingestive behaviour of 18 Santa Inês non-castrated male sheep averaging 22.62 kg of initial body weight were studied. The animals were allotted to individual pensas a completely randomized design with six treatments, two roughages (elephantgrass silage ammoniated with urea or not) and three concentrate replacement level with by cocoa meal or palm cake (0% CM and PC, 40% CM and 40% PC), with 60:40 roughage:concentrate proportion. The experimental period lasted 78 days (15 days for diet adaptation). The animals were observed every five minutes, during two- 24 hour/day periods, at the end of the experimental period. In each observation period, the following variables were measured: time spent eating, time spent ruminating, time spent in idle, and number and time of ruminating chews per ruminated bolus. There was no significant difference between eating, ruminating and idle times. The elephantgrass ammoniated and the inclusion of cocoa meal in the concentrate increased the rumination efficiency, however, the majority of the evaluated ingestive behaviour parameters were not influenced by the treatments

Behavior patterns of cows with Charolais or Nellore breed predominance fed diets with plant extract or monensin sodium

The objective of this research was to study the ingestive behavior of feedlot cows fed additives based on plant extracts or monensin sodium. Twenty-four Charolais and Nellore crossbred cows with age and average initial weight of 7 years and 423 kg, respectively, were used. The experimental diets were plant extracts: basal diet + 5 g/animal/day of a natural additive composed of 750 mg of essential oil of thyme (Thymus vulgaris), 150 mg of garlic (Allium sativum), 250 mg of rosemary extract (Rosmarimus officinalis), 250 mg of canola oil (Brassica napus), 250 mg extract of quillaja (Quillaja saponaria), and 3350 mg of corn starch; sodium monensin: basal diet + 300 mg/monensin/animal/day; and control: basal diet without additive. The basal diet contained sorghum silage and concentrate in a 62:38 ratio. The experimental design was completely randomized with a 3 × 2 (3 diets and 2 breed predominances) factorial arrangement, and means were compared using DMS test at 5% of significance. The type of additive consumed did not alter animal feeding behavior. Cows with Charolais predominance consumed more dry matter (13.78 vs. 12.38 kg/day) and neutral detergent fiber (7.81 vs. 6.89 kg/day), ruminated for longer (8.47 vs. 7.82 h), spent more time chewing (13.05 vs 12.01 h), had a greater number of chews per minute (58.88 vs 53.21) and a greater number of ruminal bolus (541.43 vs. 464.09 boluses/day); however, cows with Nellore predominance had greater idling time (11.82 vs. 10.74 h)