South African Environmental Observation Network

Last updated
South African Environmental Observation Network
South African Environmental Observation Network logo.png
Formation2002;20 years ago (2002)
Headquarters56 Florence Street, Colbyn, Pretoria
Managing Director
JC Pauw
Parent organisation
 National Research Foundation
Budget (2020)
 R132 million [1]
Staff (2020)
95
Website https://www.saeon.ac.za/

The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is a science network of people, organisations and, most importantly observation platforms, that perform Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) in South Africa and its surrounding oceans. The SAEON is of global importance as an innovative approach in ecology to understand environmental change and to determine the impact of anthropogenic forces at multiple scales but it is a remarkably complex challenge to statistically discern between ubiquitous natural variability and exogenous forcing. [2] The SAEON constitutes a national government response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2002) and is a component of the GEO (Group on Earth Observations). The SAEON has become the leader in environmental science and observation in South Africa, [3] but has been criticised for taking a long time to establish, a situation which was inevitable in view of SAEON's multiple stakeholder corps. [4] It has also been raised that the cost of replicated experimental treatments across SAEON sites will be high. [5]

Contents

Honckenii is SAEON's rigid hulled inflatable for estuarine and inshore observations Honckenii - rubber duck for estuarine and inshore research.jpg#filelinks
Honckenii is SAEON's rigid hulled inflatable for estuarine and inshore observations

Vision

SAEON is a comprehensive, sustained, coordinated and responsive South African environmental observation network that delivers long-term reliable data for scientific research and informs decision-making; for a knowledge society and improved quality of life. [4]

Development path

The SAEON's development was stimulated by the International Long-Term Ecological Research in 1996 and promoted further by South Africa's Foundation for Research Development. [6] This initiative led to a study tour of the USLTER [7] and a landmark national science meeting, held together with an ILTER meeting in 1999, [8] during which a large number of stakeholders supported the notion of a South African LTER. [9]

South African government departments met with the proponents of a South African LTER in 2001 and approved the establishment of the SAEON under the management of the National Research Foundation. The Department of Science and Technology (South Africa) funded the SAEON as of 2002. [4] In 2004, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism recognised the potential role of the SAEON in climate change research in the national Climate Change Response Strategy.

Nodes and governance

The SAEON performs environmental monitoring and research via strategically located nodes. The nodes also provide research support to collaborators. [10] Nodes are geographically distributed across South Africa to provide good coverage of biomes or subsets thereof. At the start of 2011 the respective nodes were:

The SAEON is coordinated by a National Office located in Pretoria.

Observation and research

The SAEON focuses on question-driven in situ monitoring to gather time-series data at multiple scales with a view to understanding environmental change guided by a Core Science Framework. [11]

An example of the role that the SAEON plays in the wider field of Earth observation is its assumption of custodianship of the Jonkershoek hydrological observation system in 2009 and the long-term preservation of the data set that spans more than seven decades. [12]

Data and information

The SAEON developed an online information management system with spatial analytical capability to connect the distributed data holdings of nodes and external data sources. [13] The system, which uses open-source software and supports the visualisation of data, deals with multiple metadata standards and is being integrated with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. [14] The SAEON offers open access to its own data, [13] an essential strategy for its success. [2]

Education and outreach

Schools and universities are beneficiaries of a programme designed to produce potential future Earth observation scientists. [13] Monitoring projects, winter schools, training workshops, teacher support, science events and a graduate student network are some of the activities of the SAEON. [13]

Related Research Articles

Fynbos Shrubland and heathland ecoregion of southwestern South Africa

Fynbos is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting about 80% species of the Cape floral kingdom where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it.

Diversitas was an international research programme aiming at integrating biodiversity science for human well-being. In December 2014 its work was transferred to the programme called Future Earth, which was sponsored by the Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, comprising the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Belmont Forum of funding agencies, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations University (UNU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) was built by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) on the basis of a 10-Year Implementation Plan running from 2005 to 2015. GEOSS seeks to connect the producers of environmental data and decision-support tools with the end users of these products, with the aim of enhancing the relevance of Earth observations to global issues. GEOSS aims to produce a global public infrastructure that generates comprehensive, near-real-time environmental data, information and analyses for a wide range of users. The Secretariat Director of Geoss is Barbara Ryan.

The Long Term Ecological Research Network(LTER) consists of a group of over 1800 scientists and students studying ecological processes over extended temporal and spatial scales. Twenty-eight LTER sites cover a diverse set of ecosystems. It is part of the International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER). The project was established in 1980 and is funded by the National Science Foundation. Data from LTER sites is publicly available in the Environmental Data Initiative repository and findable through DataONE search.

University of Georgia Marine Institute

The University of Georgia Marine Institute (UGAMI) is a nearshore ecological and geological research station located on Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia in the United States. This island lies between the Atlantic Ocean and a pristine salt marsh. A ferry takes passengers from Meridian to Sapelo Island. The Island has fewer than 100 full-time residents. The Institute was created in 1953 and is currently a unit of the University of Georgia's Office of Research. The Institute is 280 miles southeast of the University of Georgia's main campus in Athens. UGAMI is world-renowned for its research on coastal marine and estuarine ecosystems.

Digital Earth is the name given to a concept by former US vice president Al Gore in 1998, describing a virtual representation of the Earth that is georeferenced and connected to the world's digital knowledge archives.

The Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER) project is funded by the National Science Foundation. The VCR/LTER project's research activities focus on the mosaic of transitions and steady-state systems that comprise the barrier-island/lagoon/mainland landscape of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Research is conducted in mainland marshes, the lagoon system behind the barrier islands, and on the islands themselves, particularly Hog Island. The VCR/LTER began operation in 1987. It initially focused on geophysical controls on coastal ecosystems. In 1992-1994 it broadened that focus to address the concept of ecological state change, which was linked in 1994-2000 to relationships between free surfaces. More recent work (2000-2006), added a hypsometric perspective, which provides an alternate way of examining ecological patterns on the coastal landscape. It makes extensive use of the Virginia Coast Reserve of The Nature Conservancy.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) coordinates international efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). It links existing and planned Earth observation systems and supports the development of new ones in cases of perceived gaps in the supply of environment-related information. It aims to construct a global public infrastructure for Earth observations consisting in a flexible and distributed network of systems and content providers.

Harvard Forest

Harvard Forest is an ecological research area of 3,000 acres (12 km2) owned and managed by Harvard University and located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, in operation since 1907, includes one of North America's oldest managed forests, educational and research facilities, a museum, and recreation trails. Harvard Forest is open to the public.

Trout Lake (Wisconsin) Lake in Wisconsin, USA

Trout Lake is in Vilas County, Wisconsin, near the towns of Boulder Junction and Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin. With a surface area of 6.208 sq mi (16.079 km2) and a volume of 0.058 cu mi (0.240 km3), Trout Lake is one of the largest lakes in Vilas County. It has 16.1 mi (25.9 km) of shoreline, a large portion of which is undeveloped. There are also seven islands within the lake: Miller Island, Zimmerman Island, Haunted Island, Easter Island, Fisk Island, Chocolate Drop Island, and an unnamed island. It is a dimictic eutrophic lake that is highly productive and supports a large number of sport fish, which has made it a popular angling destination.

Environmental informatics is the science of information applied to environmental science. As such, it provides the information processing and communication infrastructure to the interdisciplinary field of environmental sciences aiming at data, information and knowledge integration, the application of computational intelligence to environmental data as well as the identification of environmental impacts of information technology. The UK Natural Environment Research Council defines environmental informatics as the "research and system development focusing on the environmental sciences relating to the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation, display and dissemination of data and information." Kostas Karatzas defined environmental informatics as the "creation of a new 'knowledge-paradigm' towards serving environmental management needs." Karatzas argued further that environmental informatics "is an integrator of science, methods and techniques and not just the result of using information and software technology methods and tools for serving environmental engineering needs."

South African National Space Agency Space agency of the South African government

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is South Africa's government agency responsible for the promotion and development of aeronautics and aerospace space research. It fosters cooperation in space-related activities and research in space science, seeks to advance scientific engineering through human capital, as well as the peaceful use of outer space, and supports the creation of an environment conducive to the industrial development of space technologies within the framework of national government.

DataONE is a network of interoperable data repositories facilitating data sharing, data discovery, and open science. Originally supported by $21.2 million in funding from the US National Science Foundation as one of the initial DataNet programs in 2009, funding was renewed in 2014 through 2020 with an additional $15 million. DataONE helps preserve, access, use, and reuse of multi-discipline scientific data through the construction of primary cyberinfrastructure and an education and outreach program. DataONE provides scientific data archiving for ecological and environmental data produced by scientists. DataONE's goal is to preserve and provide access to multi-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-national data. Users include scientists, ecosystem managers, policy makers, students, educators, librarians, and the public.

Andrews Forest

The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, commonly referred to as Andrews Forest, is located near Blue River, Oregon, United States, and is managed cooperatively by the United States Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station, Oregon State University, and the Willamette National Forest. It was one of only 610 UNESCO International Biosphere Reserves, until being withdrawn from the program as of June 14, 2017, and a Long Term Ecological Research site. It is situated in the middle of the Western Cascades.

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is an organisation established in 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004, under the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country’s biodiversity resources.

Deborah K. Steinberg is an American Antarctic biological oceanographer who works on interdisciplinary oceanographic research programs. Steinberg's research focuses on the role that zooplankton play in marine food webs and the global carbon cycle, and how these small drifting animals are affected by changes in climate.

Sally Archibald is a South African scientist and Associate Professor at the University of Witwatersrand. Her research primarily focuses on savanna ecosystems within the context of global climate change as well as the exploration of fire ecology and earth-system feedbacks. Archibald was the recipient of the 2012 Mercer Award for her co-authorship of the paper "Tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa: Rainfall and fire constrain forest and savanna as alternative stable states".

SeaKeys Collaborative marine biodiversity project in South Africa

SeaKeys is a large collaborative marine biodiversity project funded through the Foundational Biodiversity Information Program in South Africa. The purpose of the project is to collect and distribute genetic, species and ecosystem information relating to marine biodiversity in southern Africa, which may be used to support informed decision-making about the marine environment.

Anne E. Giblin is a marine biologist who researches the cycling of elements nitrogen, sulfur, iron and phosphorus. She is a Senior Scientist and Acting Director of the Ecosystem Center at the Marine Biological Lab.

The Biodiversity of South Africa is the variety of living organisms within the boundaries of South Africa and its exclusive economic zone. South Africa is a region of high biodiversity in the terrestrial and marine realms. The country is ranked sixth out of the world's seventeen megadiverse countries, and is rated among the top 10 for plant species diversity and third for marine endemism.

References

  1. ↑ "SAEON STRATEGY 2030" (PDF).
  2. 1 2 Andelman SJ & Willig MR, 2004. "Networks by Design: A Revolution in Ecology". Science 305(5690):1565-1567
  3. ↑ http://www.earthobservations.org/documents/sbas/ec/93_TheestablishmentoftheSouthAfricanEnvironmental.pd%5B%5D
  4. 1 2 3 Van Jaarsveld AS, Pauw JC, Mundree S, Mecenero S, Coetzee BWT & Alard GF, 2007. "South African Environmental Observation Network: vision, design and status". South African Journal of Science 103:289-294
  5. ↑ Midgley GF, Chown SL & Kgope BS, 2007. "Monitoring effects of anthropogenic climate change on ecosystems: A role for systematic ecological observation?" South African Journal of Science 103:282-286.
  6. ↑ Pauw, J.C., 1997. "Long-term Ecological Research: FRD’s networking initiative". Bulletin of the Southern African Institute of Ecologists and Environmental Scientists 16(1): 7-8.
  7. ↑ Biggs HC, Kerley GIH & Tshiguvho T 1999. "A South African long-term ecological research network: a first for Africa?" South African Journal of Science 95:244-246
  8. ↑ Henschel JR & Pauw JC, 2002. Environmental Observatories: LTER a-la-Africa. In : Rebirth of Science in Africa. A Shared Vision for Life and Environmental Sciences. Baijnath H & Singh Y (eds). pp 149-159. Umdaus Press, Hatfield. ISBN   1-919766-23-5
  9. ↑ Van Jaarsveld AS & Biggs HC 2000. "Broad participation enhances initial steps towards a South African ecosystem observatory system (LTER)." South African Journal of Science 96:63-66
  10. ↑ http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/matthew_dicken
  11. ↑ O'Connor TG 2010. Understanding Environmental Change in Complex Systems: SAEON's Core Science Framework. SAEON, Pretoria. ISBN   978-0-620-46599-1
  12. ↑ http://www.codata.org/10Conf/abstracts-presentations/SessionsC/C4/C4-Goodall.pdf%5B%5D. Retrieved on 2011-02-19
  13. 1 2 3 4 Pauw JC, 2007. Reliable Earth observation systems for science and sustainable development in Southern Africa. In: The Full Picture, pp 271-273. GEO Secretariat (eds). Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Geneva. ISBN   978-92-990047-0-8.
  14. ↑ "Creamer Media Login". www.engineeringnews.co.za. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.