NEWS
A fledgling environmental observation platform in the arid lands at the Square Kilometre Array
Helga van der Merwe , Sue Milton , Richard Dean , Tim O ’ Connor and Joh Henschel
Current Address : SAEON Reprinted from : https :// bit . ly / 3OoAjW3
The establishment of the Square Kilometre Array ( SKA ) presents an opportunity to promote and expand long-term environmental research in the drylands of the Karoo . The National Research Foundation ( NRF ) now owns about 135 000 ha of land where the highest concentration of the SKA radio astronomy infrastructure will be placed ( Figure 1 ).
This land is located within an area declared as the Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area ( KCAAA – Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act ). Furthermore , the SKA property was declared as the Meerkat National Park in March 2020 , managed by the South African National Parks ( SANParks ).
Figure 1 . The location of the Square Kilometre Array ( SKA ) area , Northern Cape , South Africa . National Research Foundation property boundaries are indicated in black . ( KCAAA , Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area 25 )
Livestock , predominantly sheep , were removed from the NRF property , resulting in a marked reduction in stocking pressure . The SKA infrastructure development will be accompanied by the removal of internal fencing , artificial water points and extensive stands of alien mesquite ( Prosopis spp .) trees , and a gradual increase in wildlife numbers over time under the management of SANParks . Thus , the SKA property and neighbouring farmland can serve as a large-scale , long-term landscape-level experiment manipulating stocking rate , animal type , animal distribution and direct vegetation management .
This development is an excellent opportunity to investigate gradual natural or assisted rehabilitation of areas disturbed in the past or due to current developments . The reduction of the stocking rate and a switch from rotational
Figure 2 . The conceptual model of future land-use scenarios predicted trajectories of change and factors that could influence the predicted trajectories . ( Source : Van der Merwe et al ., 2021 )
19 Grassroots Vol 22 No 2 July 2022