Arid BioCredit Pilot

KEY DETAILS

Principal Investigator: Dr. Lucy Smyth
Date; 25 Septemebr 2024
Version; 0.1.1
Programme; Arid Biodiversity Programme
Study Site; Eendoorn-Keimas Remainder-Pelgrimsrust
Key partners; ORKCA
Contact email; lsmyth@naturalstate.org

1. PREAMBLE

Natural State’s objectives and activities are governed by a set of accepted Design Documents (DDs). These documents describe the context and purpose of all Natural State projects. Each DD documents key project details, the objective and background of the project, features of the study area, and the general methodological framework. Specific methodological details may be found in the project Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which is available in the Related Documents section below.

1.1 DD PURPOSE

To provide a clear understanding of the purpose of each Natural State project and its contribution to Natural State’s mission of facilitating nature restoration at scale by using the latest technology and methods to revolutionise impact monitoring for carbon, biodiversity and human well-being.

1.2 DD SCOPE

This document details how this project fits within Natural State’s Impact Monitoring strategy and the principal team members overseeing the project. It explains why the project was conceived and how it will be implemented. It further directs readers to where they can find additional information relevant to the project.

2. GLOSSARY

Acoustic monitor: a passive acoustic recording device.
Camera-trap: A remote camera with a defined automatic trigger (e.g., motion, time-lapse)
Camera-height: The height in cm from the ground to the motion detector. Standard NS protocols stipulate that cameras should be placed ~45 cm above the ground but rare exceptions can be made if the camera needs to be higher to avoid an object obstructing its field of view; in such cases that camera should be placed at a slight downward angle.
Deployment: The defined period of continuous time a single remote sensor is active within the environment at a single, defined station as part of a survey.
Fixed Detectors: Deployments of sampling devices that are placed at a specific, pre-defined sampling location.
Float Detectors: Deployments of sampling devices that are placed at locations largely at the discretion of the field team to maximize detection probabilities for animals that use the surrounding habitat.
Grid Cell: A geohash or other rectangular area within which one or more sensors may be deployed as semi-independent sampling units.
Project: A concerted, data-driven effort to robustly measure variation in Biodiversity, Carbon, or Human-wellbeing in response to one or more sources of heterogeneity in a designated landscape.
Remote Sensor: An electronic sensor with automated data collecting capabilities that operate independently of a human handler.
Sampling Design: The set of field methods employed in a survey and the manner of their use.
Sampling Features: Physical fine-scale characteristics of the landscape that correlate with animal movement and space use such that detection within a used habitat patch is assumed to be greater on or near such features than away from them.
Sampling Protocol: Explicit survey methodology that describes the design, effort, duration, configuration, and operation of a camera-trap survey.
Sampling Site: A distinct, discrete spatial unit defined in at least two dimensions where sampling occurs.
Sampling Station: A point location where sampling occurs in space.
Study Area: A defined geographic region of interest within which one or more surveys investigate ecological patterns at one or more sites.
Survey: A set of simultaneous deployments of remote sensors over a defined period of time at a coordinated set of stations for the purposes of collecting data on the environment and its communities.
Survey Design: The theoretical and practical methods for choosing the spatiotemporal distribution of sampling units in a survey.

3. PROJECT OVERVIEW

3.1 PROJECT AIMS

The Arid BioCredit Pilot Project project aims to:

Familiarise the ORKCA team with the data collection and processing protocols which will be used in monitoring change for the rewilding credit.
Refine survey design and data collection methods to the desert biome, ensuring that they are able to detect change with sufficient power.
Gain an increased understanding of how biodiversity varies across the landscape, and what changes can be expected with the proposed intervention.

3.2 PROJECT BACKGROUND

ORKCA (Orange River Karoo Conservation Area) is an organisation that describes themselves as a land management support organization, though they are landowners themselves as well. Their long term vision is to bring together a large number of private farms, conservation areas and community conservancies to create a 1 million hectare or larger continuous conservation area, through which wildlife will roam freely and in which ecological process will be re-established. ORKCA will be the management body overseeing the entire protected area. ORKCA is currently based on Kum Kum farm, in Southern Namibia. Together, ORKCA and Natural state have recieved a grant from Rolex to lay the foundations for a rewilding credit in the region. ORKCA will buy a new property with some of the funds from this grant, where sheep farming will be halted, fences will be dropped and wildlife will be allowed to return. The predicted uplift on this piece of land will form the basis of a rewilding credit to provide long term funding for these conservation efforts through easily and robustly verifiable positive change in biodiversity in the region. Natural State will provide technical support on survey design, monitoring methodologies, data processing and data analysis.

3.3 STUDY AREA

The ORKCA (Orange River Karoo Conservation Area) landscape is located at joining point of the Succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo and Desert biomes, just north of the Orange River. It is a harsh dry landscape, characterised by frequent drought and unreliable rainfall. Mean annual rainfall in the landscape is ~125mm, mostly falling betweeen February and April, though this number fluctuates substantially, with many years showing rainfall amounts well below this annual mean. Though anecdotal, it is worth mentioning that farmers and landowners in the area have remarked that mean annual rainfall seems to be decreasing.

The Orange River flows west through the region, with the high water mark on the Namibian side of the river delineating the boundary between South Africa and Namibia. The river provides an important water source for local communities in an otherwise arid landscape. Local herders bring cattle, sheep and goats to drink at the river, and the riverbed provides a route for relatively easy movement by locals from both sides of the border. Herders also often build huts just below the high water mark. Smuggling of abalone, drugs and other illegal products is common across the river, unfortunately meaning that the river poses a security threat to properties located along its edge. The land on the South African side of the river is predominantly community owned and open to the river while the land on the Namibian side is predominantly privately owned, with some properties fenced off from the river due to security concerns. The Orange River is severely infested by invasive prosopis trees, which dominant the riparian zone, though they are interspersed with some native tree species. The prosopis is thick and runs all the way up the Orange River to its source. Removing prosopis is challenging as it coppices when cut, meaning that stumps cannot be left once trees are chopped; they need to be removed entirely, or poisoned.

Vegetation in the area is sparse, and strongly dependant on the underlying geology. Rocky hillslopes are home to quiver trees and succulents, while flatter, sandier plains provide growing conditions for more grasses and forbs. Large mammals in the area include Cape Mountain Zebra, Oryx, Kudu, Springbok, Leopard, Caracal, Jackal and Black-footed Cat. Aardvarks have historically been seen in the area but there have been no sightings mentioned since a severe 6 year drought which ended in 2018. Unlike in Kenya, Namibian laws allow for the private ownership of wildlife, and when a piece of land is purchased the understanding is that it comes with whatever wildlife is present at the time. Sometimes the seller will request more money based on the amount of wildlife on the land. Farmers are allowed to hunt wildlife for consumption on their land. Oryx and Kudu easily jump farm fences and pass between properties, while Zebra and Springbok do not. Predators threaten livestock and thus are hunted prolifically by farmers in the area.

The most common form of land use in the area is sheep farming, as the naturally occurring vegetation is not sufficient for cattle rearing. Farmers divide their land with internal fences, and move sheep between large camps, based on grass availability. Sheep are left in camps at night and farmers attempt to remove as many predators as possible from their land to limit livestock losses. However, they still accept a lamb loss rate of approximately 30%, including both natural and predator inflicted mortality. Insufficient grass due to irregular rainfall is a big problem for farmers. Some farmers have goats as well as sheep. In the landscape it is generally assumed that 1 sheep requires 10-15 hectares of land. Lamb prices fluctuate, but lamb is currently sold for R81/kg, and 1 lamb weighs approximately 16-18kg. Farmers generally aim to earn R1million gross income per 1000 sheep. The land north of the Orange River is also of significant interest to prospectors and miners. Historically, the region has been known for diamonds, however mining interest now is predominantly centered around lithium and tantalite.

3.4 PROJECT TIMELINE

Sampling for the Arid BioCredit Pilot Project is planned to begin in September 2024 with the deployment of camera traps and acoustic sensors. These devices will be deployed for a minimum of three months, with the current plan being to collect them in January 2025. The vegetation plot component of the pilot study is planned to begin in January 2025.

4. SURVEY DESIGN

Survey design for this pilot project has been done manually, in order to maximize our use of roads in the area. This will help to make the fieldwork component doable with a team on only two personnel.

4.1 SPATIAL DESIGN

The pilot study will take place across three properties: Pelgrimsrust, Keimas Remainder and Eendoorn. The sandy plains in the north of Pelgrimsrust are representative of land that has not been farmed for the last 40 years. Keimas remainder is representative of land that was farmed until 7 years ago, and has been left to rest since then. Eendoorn is representative of an active sheep farm, managed using conventional farming methods.

4.2 TEMPORAL DESIGN

The ORKCA landscape is highly dependent on rainfall which is unpredictable and patchy in the region. It is therefore important that surveys looking for differences in space occur at the same time. The pilot survey will be set up in September 2024. Devices will be left in the field for a minimum of 3 months from the deployment of the last sensor, after which they will be collected. Devices will need to be checked every month. Devices could be taken down in December, but given that this timing clashes with holidays devices could alos be collected in January instead. After the camera trap and acoustic monitor survey is complete the vegetation survey will take place. The pilot survey will not be repeated, as its main goal is to build out monitoring capacity and methods. However, the BACI survey implemented for the rewilding credit will be repeated in the wet and dry season every year.

5. SAMPLING DESIGN

A total of 24 camera traps and 12 acoustic monitors will be placed on each farm. Sampling will occur in a grid-like pattern on each farm, with a randomized starting point and a ~2km inter-trap distance. At each sampling point, two camera traps and a single acoustic recorder will be deployed. The devices will be deployed as floating detectors, menaing that they can be located anywhere in a radius of up to 50m from the pre-defined sampling site, so as to maximize detections. One acoustic monitor will be deployed at each sampling site, at the same place as one of the camera traps. The camera trap station with the least acoustic interferance (wind, water, road noise) should be selected for the deployment of the acoustic sensor.

5.1 Camera Traps

Cameras should be set on a pole or tree. Cameras should be placed such that the motion detector is 45 cm above the ground. When placing float cameras, each camera should be placed along a distinct feature. Two cameras should not be placed along the same game trail, road, or drainage line. All cameras must be at least 50 m apart from each other. Vegetation can be trimmed in front of cameras, especially tufts of grass directly beneath the camera that could grow and obscure the motion detector or lens. Cameras should operate with a full complement of batteries and a clean sd card. See Standard Operating Procedures for camera settings.

Acoustic Sensors

One AudioMoth should be placed on the same pole as one of the camera-traps per sampling site (one Audiomoth per two cameras). Audio Moths should not be placed in depressions or against cliff faces, but on the edge at the top of a cliff is suitable. They should also not be placed near ambient noise. This means avoid placing them near running water, busy roads, or construction. AudioMoths should operate with a full complement of batteries and a clean sd card. See Standard Operating Procedures for AudioMoth settings.

5.3 Vegetation Survey

A vegetation survey will be conducted after the camera trap and acoustic monitor survey, and will consist of ten 50m X 50m plots per property in which plants will need to be identified. This survey will also involve bare ground and disk pasture meter measurements.

6. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

The primary goal of the pilot project described here is do develop the field methodologies for the region, and to produce training data for a camera trap image classifier and audio clips for the development of species-specific confidence thresholds for bird call identification. However if the data collected is of sufficient quality it will be used to look at species richness and diversity, and in single species single season occupancy models.

7. EXPECTED OUTPUTS

Camera trap training data
Audio data for manual validation

8.1 STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

8.2 OUTPUTS

None

8.3 DATA ELEMENTS

Data Collection

8.4 ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS

ORKCA Strategic Management Plan Draft February 2024

9. REVISION AND VERSION HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

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10. SIGNATURES OF CONFIRMATION

Principal Investigator: ______________ Date: ___________

Director of Impact Monitoring: ____________ Date: ___________

11. BIBLIOGRAPHY