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  1. Article ; Online: Understanding Household Connectivity and Resilience in Marginal Rural Communities through Social Network Analysis in the Village of Habu, Botswana

    Lin Cassidy / Grenville D. Barnes

    Ecology and Society, Vol 17, Iss 4, p

    2012  Volume 11

    Abstract: Adaptability is emerging as a key issue not only in the climate change debate but in the general area of sustainable development. In this context, we examine the link between household resilience and connectivity in a rural community in Botswana. We see ... ...

    Abstract Adaptability is emerging as a key issue not only in the climate change debate but in the general area of sustainable development. In this context, we examine the link between household resilience and connectivity in a rural community in Botswana. We see resilience and vulnerability as the positive and negative dimensions of adaptability. Poor, marginal rural communities confronted with the vagaries of climate change, will need to become more resilient if they are to survive and thrive. We define resilience as the capacity of a social-ecological system to cope with shocks such as droughts or economic crises without changing its fundamental identity. We make use of three different indices of household resilience: livelihood diversity, wealth, and a comprehensive resilience index based on a combination of human, financial, physical, social, and natural capital. Then, we measure the social connectivity of households through a whole network approach in social network analysis, using two measures of network centrality (degree centrality and betweenness). We hypothesize that households with greater social connectivity have greater resilience, and analyze a community in rural Botswana to uncover how different households make use of social networks to deal with shocks such as human illness and death, crop damage, and livestock disease. We surveyed the entire community of Habu using a structured questionnaire that focused on livelihood strategies and social networks. We found that gender, age of household head, and household size were positively correlated with social connectivity. Our analysis indicates that those households that are more socially networked are likely to have a wider range of livelihood strategies, greater levels of other forms of social capital, and greater overall capital. Therefore, they are more resilient.
    Keywords adaptive capacity ; capital ; household connectivity ; household resilience ; social networks ; Biology (General) ; QH301-705.5 ; Ecology ; QH540-549.5
    Subject code 338
    Language English
    Publishing date 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Resilience Alliance
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  2. Article ; Online: Using Very-High-Resolution Multispectral Classification to Estimate Savanna Fractional Vegetation Components

    Andrea E. Gaughan / Nicholas E. Kolarik / Forrest R. Stevens / Narcisa G. Pricope / Lin Cassidy / Jonathan Salerno / Karen M. Bailey / Michael Drake / Kyle Woodward / Joel Hartter

    Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 551, p

    2022  Volume 551

    Abstract: Characterizing compositional and structural aspects of vegetation is critical to effectively assessing land function. When priorities are placed on ecological integrity, remotely sensed estimates of fractional vegetation components (FVCs) are useful for ... ...

    Abstract Characterizing compositional and structural aspects of vegetation is critical to effectively assessing land function. When priorities are placed on ecological integrity, remotely sensed estimates of fractional vegetation components (FVCs) are useful for measuring landscape-level habitat structure and function. In this study, we address whether FVC estimates, stratified by dominant vegetation type, vary with different classification approaches applied to very-high-resolution small unoccupied aerial system (UAS)-derived imagery. Using Parrot Sequoia imagery, flown on a DJI Mavic Pro micro-quadcopter, we compare pixel- and segment-based random forest classifiers alongside a vegetation height-threshold model for characterizing the FVC in a southern African dryland savanna. Results show differences in agreement between each classification method, with the most disagreement in shrub-dominated sites. When compared to vegetation classes chosen by visual identification, the pixel-based random forest classifier had the highest overall agreement and was the only classifier not to differ significantly from the hand-delineated FVC estimation. However, when separating out woody biomass components of tree and shrub, the vegetation height-threshold performed better than both random-forest approaches. These findings underscore the utility and challenges represented by very-high-resolution multispectral UAS-derived data (~10 cm ground resolution) and their uses to estimate FVC. Semi-automated approaches statistically differ from by-hand estimation in most cases; however, we present insights for approaches that are applicable across varying vegetation types and structural conditions. Importantly, characterization of savanna land function cannot rely only on a “greenness” measure but also requires a structural vegetation component. Underscoring these insights is that the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation structure on the landscape broadly informs land management, from land allocation, wildlife habitat use, natural resource ...
    Keywords savannas ; vegetation composition ; Africa ; random forest classifier ; vegetation structure ; unoccupied aerial systems ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 710
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  3. Article: Linking ecosystem services to livelihoods in southern Africa

    Wisely, Samantha M / Kathleen Alexander / Themb'a Mahlaba / Lin Cassidy

    Ecosystem services. 2018 Apr., v. 30

    2018  

    Abstract: While there is agreement that ecosystem services provide critical life support, local communities can be disengaged from the process of conservation, allocation and decision-making. How do we move from concepts, which are often seen as hand waving by ... ...

    Abstract While there is agreement that ecosystem services provide critical life support, local communities can be disengaged from the process of conservation, allocation and decision-making. How do we move from concepts, which are often seen as hand waving by natural resource users and policymakers, to concrete valuation appreciated at the level of the household, community and policy maker? In this special issue, we explore examples from southern Africa where ecosystem services are engaged and identified by users as important and critical to improved livelihoods as well as advancing business outcomes. Two papers focus on how small, disenfranchised communities can be empowered to build a common vision of natural resource priority and identify a voice in the planning process. The second two papers in this issue investigate the role of two functional mammal guilds, bats and mesocarnivores, in reducing crop depredation. The final paper investigates how ecovolunteerism can fulfill conservation and community development gaps that occur when governments and NGO’s do not avail themselves to local communities. Together these research papers provide a holistic and synthetic view about the links between humans and ecosystems, help to assess community level capacity for sustainability and stewardship, and define what the metrics of success look like.
    Keywords Chiroptera ; carnivores ; community development ; decision making ; ecosystem services ; ecosystems ; humans ; issues and policy ; livelihood ; nongovernmental organizations ; planning ; Southern Africa
    Language English
    Dates of publication 2018-04
    Size p. 339-341.
    Publishing place Elsevier B.V.
    Document type Article
    ZDB-ID 2681542-4
    ISSN 2212-0416
    ISSN 2212-0416
    DOI 10.1016/j.ecoser.2018.03.008
    Database NAL-Catalogue (AGRICOLA)

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  4. Article ; Online: Operationalizing Vulnerability

    Andrea Elizabeth Gaughan / Forrest Robert Stevens / Narcisa Gabriela Pricope / Joel Hartter / Lin Cassidy / Jonathan Salerno

    Land, Vol 8, Iss 7, p

    Land System Dynamics in a Transfrontier Conservation Area

    2019  Volume 111

    Abstract: Understanding how individuals, communities, and populations vary in their vulnerability requires defining and identifying vulnerability with respect to a condition, and then developing robust methods to reliably measure vulnerability. In this study, we ... ...

    Abstract Understanding how individuals, communities, and populations vary in their vulnerability requires defining and identifying vulnerability with respect to a condition, and then developing robust methods to reliably measure vulnerability. In this study, we illustrate how a conceptual model translated via simulation can guide the real-world implementation of data collection and measurement of a model system. We present a generalizable statistical framework that specifies linkages among interacting social and biophysical components in complex landscapes to examine vulnerability. We use the simulated data to present a case study in which households are vulnerable to conditions of land function, which we define as the provision of goods and services from the surrounding environment. We use an example of a transboundary region of Southern Africa and apply a set of hypothesized, simulated data to illustrate how one might use the framework to assess vulnerability based on empirical data. We define vulnerability as the predisposition of being adversely affected by environmental variation and its impacts on land uses and their outcomes as exposure (E), mediated by sensitivity (S), and mitigated by adaptive capacity (AC). We argue that these are latent, or hidden, characteristics that can be measured through a set of observable indicators. Those indicators and the linkages between latent variables require model specification prior to data collection, critical for applying the type of modeling framework presented. We discuss the strength and directional pathways between land function and vulnerability components, and assess their implications for identifying potential leverage points within the system for the benefit of future policy and management decisions.
    Keywords adaptive capacity ; drylands ; land use ; livelihoods ; Southern Africa ; structural equation model ; Agriculture ; S
    Subject code 333
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-07-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  5. Article ; Online: Modeling Community-Scale Natural Resource Use in a Transboundary Southern African Landscape

    Kyle D. Woodward / Narcisa G. Pricope / Forrest R. Stevens / Andrea E. Gaughan / Nicholas E. Kolarik / Michael D. Drake / Jonathan Salerno / Lin Cassidy / Joel Hartter / Karen M. Bailey / Henry Maseka Luwaya

    Remote Sensing, Vol 13, Iss 4, p

    Integrating Remote Sensing and Participatory Mapping

    2021  Volume 631

    Abstract: Remote sensing analyses focused on non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection and grazing are current research priorities of land systems science. However, mapping these particular land use patterns in rural heterogeneous landscapes is challenging ... ...

    Abstract Remote sensing analyses focused on non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection and grazing are current research priorities of land systems science. However, mapping these particular land use patterns in rural heterogeneous landscapes is challenging because their potential signatures on the landscape cannot be positively identified without fine-scale land use data for validation. Using field-mapped resource areas and household survey data from participatory mapping research, we combined various Landsat-derived indices with ancillary data associated with human habitation to model the intensity of grazing and NTFP collection activities at 100-m spatial resolution. The study area is situated centrally within a transboundary southern African landscape that encompasses community-based organization (CBO) areas across three countries. We conducted four iterations of pixel-based random forest models, modifying the variable set to determine which of the covariates are most informative, using the best fit predictions to summarize and compare resource use intensity by resource type and across communities. Pixels within georeferenced, field-mapped resource areas were used as training data. All models had overall accuracies above 60% but those using proxies for human habitation were more robust, with overall accuracies above 90%. The contribution of Landsat data as utilized in our modeling framework was negligible, and further research must be conducted to extract greater value from Landsat or other optical remote sensing platforms to map these land use patterns at moderate resolution. We conclude that similar population proxy covariates should be included in future studies attempting to characterize communal resource use when traditional spectral signatures do not adequately capture resource use intensity alone. This study provides insights into modeling resource use activity when leveraging both remotely sensed data and proxies for human habitation in heterogeneous, spectrally mixed rural land areas.
    Keywords remote sensing ; participatory mapping ; NTFP ; grazing ; random forest ; natural resources ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 333
    Language English
    Publishing date 2021-02-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  6. Article ; Online: Integrating Dendrochronology, Climate and Satellite Remote Sensing to Better Understand Savanna Landscape Dynamics in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

    Jane Southworth / Lesley Rigg / Cerian Gibbes / Peter Waylen / Likai Zhu / Shannon McCarragher / Lin Cassidy

    Land, Vol 2, Iss 4, Pp 637-

    2013  Volume 655

    Abstract: This research examines the integration and potential uses of linkages between climate dynamics, savanna vegetation and landscape level processes within a highly vulnerable region, both in terms of climate variability and social systems. We explore the ... ...

    Abstract This research examines the integration and potential uses of linkages between climate dynamics, savanna vegetation and landscape level processes within a highly vulnerable region, both in terms of climate variability and social systems. We explore the combined applications of two time-series methodologies: (1) climate signals detected in tree ring growth, from published literature, chronologies from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank, and minimal preliminary field data; and (2) new primary production (NPP) data of vegetation cover over time derived from remotely sensed analyses. Both time-series are related to the regional patterns of precipitation, the principle driver of plant growth in the area. The approach is temporally and spatially multiscalar and examines the relationships between vegetation cover, type and amount, and precipitation shifts. We review literature linking dendrochronology, climate, and remotely sensed imagery, and, in addition, provide unique preliminary analyses from a dry study site located on the outer limit of the Okavango Delta. The work demonstrates integration across the different data sources, to provide a more holistic view of landscape level processes occurring in the last 30-50 years. These results corroborate the water-limited nature of the region and the dominance of precipitation in controlling vegetation growth. We present this integrative analysis of vegetation and climate change, as a prospective approach to facilitate the development of long-term climate/vegetation change records across multiple scales.
    Keywords dendrochronology ; time-series analysis ; NPP ; precipitation ; savanna ; Agriculture ; S
    Subject code 550
    Language English
    Publishing date 2013-11-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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