Abstract
Southern Africa is an exceptionally diverse region with an ancient geologic and climatic history. Its mountains are located in the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes at a tropical–temperate interface, offering a rare opportunity to contextualise and frame our research from an austral perspective to balance the global narrative around sustainable mountain futures for people and biodiversity. Limited Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) was initiated more than a century ago in South Africa to optimise catchment management through sound water policy. The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) has resurrected many government LTER programmes and added observatories representative of the country’s heterogeneous zonobiomes, including its mountain regions. LTER in other Southern African mountains is largely absent. The current rollout of the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network (EFTEON) and the Southern African chapters of international programmes such as the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), RangeX, and the Global Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (Soil BON), as well as the expansion of the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN), is ushering in a renaissance period of global change research in the region, which takes greater cognisance of its social context. This diversity of initiatives will generate a more robust knowledge base from which to draw conclusions about how to better safeguard the well-being of people and biodiversity in the region and help balance livelihoods and environmental sustainability in our complex, third-world socio-ecological mountain systems.
Highlights
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa
We present the first synthesis of the mountain observatories in Southern Africa and the collective value of long-term research from the region
(4) The socioecological and socio-economic dimensions involving sustainable livelihoods, resource use, ethnic diversity, and culture linked to mountains need to be urgently incorporated in to Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) initiatives (LTSER)
Summary
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. This region is located in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere at a tropical–temperate interface, resulting in a heterogeneous landscape and a dynamic climate characterised by strongly seasonal precipitation zones [1]. The primary aim of this novel synthesis was to demonstrate the value of a diverse suite of process-orientated LT(S)ER initiatives in Southern Africa’s mountain regions, framed by making reference to their contribution to human well-being, appropriate management of biodiversity, and environmental sustainability. (3) reference to above- and below-ground ecological processes; (4) research representing time frames ranging from earlier pioneering initiatives with significant historical value and long-term data sets to newer initiatives that address contemporary challenges not evident in the past (post-2000); (5) programmes championed by government and academic institutions; (6) inclusion of both montane and alpine elevations; and (7) the need to provide both scientific and practical demonstrative value to ensure a sustainable mountain future. Despite the difficultly in defining and delineating mountains leading to different approaches [38], we followed the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment definition of mountains based on ruggedness criteria [39]
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