Research across environment and society

MaS-LTSER hosts and connects research projects operating at different spatial and temporal scales. The projects below illustrate the platform’s interdisciplinary scope.

Alpine wetlands, hydrology and restoration
Research maps alpine wetlands, examines their hydrological functioning and investigates the causes and consequences of degradation. Long-term monitoring provides a basis for identifying change and prioritising restoration.

Climate monitoring across elevation gradients
Weather stations and related sensors provide observations across the mountain gradient. The records support climate-change research, environmental planning, hydrological studies and improved understanding of extreme events.

Soil carbon mapping
Field observations, laboratory analyses, terrain information and remote sensing are combined to quantify and map soil organic carbon at fine resolution. This work identifies carbon-rich areas and improves the evidence available for conservation and rehabilitation.

Biodiversity, BioBlitz and rewilding
Multi-taxon surveys document plants, invertebrates and vertebrates across the Witsieshoek landscape and adjacent protected areas. The work supports long-term ecosystem-health monitoring and collaborative conservation planning.

RangeX and ecological responses to warming
RangeX investigates why plants expand their distributions under climate warming and how new above- and below-ground interactions affect mountain ecosystems. The South African experiments form part of a comparative international network.

Pollination and plant-animal interactions
Research examines how elevation, warming and dispersal influence plants and their pollinators. These interactions are important for understanding biodiversity persistence, biological invasions and ecological change.

Human-mountain relationships
Social research explores conservation governance, spatial conflict, traditional authority, livelihoods and environmental justice in the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area.

Floristics and biogeography
Botanical surveys improve knowledge of the poorly documented Qwaqwa Malotis, with particular attention to endemic species, species of conservation concern and the region’s contribution to the wider Maloti-Drakensberg flora.

Landscape evolution
Geomorphological research investigates the development of the Drakensberg Escarpment, rates of landscape change and the processes that continue to shape this exceptional passive-margin landscape.