We document changes in rangeland during a prolonged drought in the arid Karoo. Rangeland in this arid region is species-rich and dominated by a mixture of long-lived succulent and non-succulent shr...

Changes in land use and land cover over space and time are an indication of biophysical, socio-economic, and political dynamics. In rural communities, land-based livelihood strategies such as agriculture are crucial for sustaining livelihoods in terms of food provision and as a source of local employment and income. In recent years, African studies have documented an overall decline in the extent of small-scale crop farming, with many crop fields left abandoned. This study uses rural areas in three former apartheid homelands in South Africa as a case study to quantify patterns and trends in the overall land cover change and small-scale agricultural lands related to changes in climate over a 38-year period. Random forest classification was applied on the Landsat imagery to detect land use and land cover change, achieving an overall accuracy of above 80%. Rainfall and temperature anomalies, as well as the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) were used as climate proxies to assess the influence of climate variability on crop farming, as the systems investigated rely completely on rainfall. Agricultural land declined from 107.5 km² to 49.5 km² in Umhlabuyalingana; 54 km² to 1.6 km² in Joe Morolong; and 254.6 km² to 7.4 km² in Mangaung between 1984 and 2022. Declines in cropland cover, precipitation, and the SPEI were highly correlated. We argue that climatic variability influences crop farming activities; however, this could be one factor in a suite of drivers that interact together to influence the cropping practices in rural areas.

Because vegetation change in arid ecosystems is slow, long-term data are essential to gain an understanding of how the vegetation responds to short-term, inter-annual variation in rainfall; long-te...

Tierberg-LTER is a research site established in 1987 in the semi-arid Succulent Karoo near Prince Albert in the Western Cape province, South Africa. The original purpose for its establishment was to study ecosystem dynamics and the drivers of vegetation in the context of historical land use. The large body of work that has materialised from Tierberg-LTER is grounded on extensive baseline data and has greatly influenced the broader Karoo literature. It stands as the only long-term ecological research facility for the semi-arid region of South Africa. The Karoo environment faces several new developments centred largely on the expanding energy sector. Under a changing climate, ecosystems will have to further adapt to the impacts of such developments. The future research programme for Tierberg-LTER will accordingly continue to focus on understanding Karoo ecosystem dynamics and drivers of climate and anthropogenic change at local scales, thereby informing management and mitigation of future development impact...