Derivation of quantitative management objectives for annual instream water temperatures in the Sabie River using a biological index
- Authors: Rivers-Moore, N A , Jewitt, G P W , Weeks, D C
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7093 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012426
- Description: Adaptive management of river systems assumes uncertainty and makes provision for system variability. Inherent within this management approach is that perceived limits of 'acceptable' system variability are regarded not only as testable hypotheses, but also as playing a central role in maintaining biodiversity. While the Kruger National Park currently functions as a flagship conservation area in South Africa, projected increases in air temperatures as a consequence of global climate change present challenges in conserving this biodiversity inside the established land boundaries. Within the rivers of the Kruger National Park, a management goal of maintaining biodiversity requires a clearer understanding of system variability. One component of this is water temperature, an important water quality parameter defining the distribution patterns of aquatic organisms. In this study, Chiloglanis anoterus Crass (1960) (Pisces: Mochokidae) was selected as a biological indicator of changes in annual water temperatures within the Sabie River in the southern Kruger National Park. Relative abundances of C. anoterus were determined using standard electro-fishing surveys. The presence or absence of C. anoterus was linked to cumulative annual heat units using a logistic regression model, and a critical annual cumulative water temperature threshold estimated. A correlative relationship between this temperature threshold and a biological index using a C. anoterus condition factor provides river ecologists with a tool to assess ecologically significant warming trends in Sabie River water temperatures. A similar approach could be applied with relative ease to other Southern African river systems. Further testing of this hypothesis is suggested, as part of the adaptive management cycle.
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- Date Issued: 2005
The great arch of unimagined bridges: integrative play therapy with an abused child
- Authors: McDermott, R
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6272 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008272
- Description: This case study describes the early phases of integrative, long-term psychotherapy undertaken with a child subjected to chronic domestic trauma including violence, alcohol abuse, neglect, abandonment, and bereavement resulting from HIV/AIDS. Recent statistics on the prevalence of violent trauma, domestic abuse and HIV/AIDS in South Africa are reviewed, as are principles of trauma intervention that have been established across a range of psychotherapeutic modalities. Following from integrative trauma work undertaken locally, this therapeutic process acknowledges both indigenous and western frameworks of meaning, the latter most heavily informed by principles of analytical psychology. Selected aspects of the therapy are discussed in light of both perspectives, with reference to the child’s process of recovery. This paper seeks to add support to practised and published local work in which a range of possible healing practices, meanings, and experience are taken into account. It is proposed that such integrative efforts contribute towards an evolving African psychotherapy.
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- Date Issued: 2005