Range monitoring in South Africa: a broad perspective.

Abstract

Defines range monitoring as regular surveillance to establish whether properties of the range are changing. The object of such monitoring is therefore to establish whether temporal changes are taking place in response to conditions being imposed on a system. Where these conditions involve management, monitoring allows an evaluation of the management practices being imposed and an objective means of changing them when they are unsuccessful; Range monitoring is defined, in the context of this paper, as regular surveillance to establish whether properties of the range are changing. The objective of such monitoring is therefore to establish whether temporal changes are taking place in response to conditions being imposed on a system. Where these conditions involve management, monitoring allows an evaluation of the management practices being imposed and an objective means of changing them when they are unsuccessful. The procedure adopted for monitoring range will vary according to the interest group concerned. We conclude that whatever the objective of the particular interest group, monitoring is essential to evaluate successes or failures of any management strategy adopted. It also provides an objective means of adapting such strategies should they fail.Language: English

Keywords: Monitoring goals; Range condition assessments; Resource conservation; range condition assessment; range monitoring; monitoring; context; temporal changes; change; response; management strategy; south africa; botany