Search
Close this search box.
World-class environmental research platforms for a sustainable society

SAEON

South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is a long-term environmental observation and research facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF). SAEON’s three focus areas are environmental observation, data management and education outreach. The Department of Science and Innovation provides core funding for these activities. 

SAEON has a distributed network of seven nodes, two research infrastructures and a national office. The research network covers the major terrestrial and marine ecosystems in South  Africa and supports well over 100 researchers and students a year.

Reflecting on 21 years of NRF-SAEON

Latest Seminar

Title: Soil carbon dynamic in Afromontane grasslands: reaping the benefits of carefully designed 1940s Cathedral Peak Research Catchments

Presenter: Dr Lindokuhle Dlamini (SAEON Grasslands-Wetlands-Forests Node)

Despite the importance of South Africa’s Afromontane grasslands for ecosystem services (water supply and biodiversity), soil organic carbon (SOC) research remains limited. Afromontane grasslands are ancient grasslands and fire has been an integral evolutionary force, driving ecological functions and maintaining plant diversity. While most soils in South Africa have low SOC stocks, Afromontane grasslands in temperate high-rainfall regions are huge reservoirs of SOC. It is crucial to understand terrestrial ecosystems that act as C sinks and their sensitivity to land-use change and climate change, especially with the urgent threat posed by climate change and the need to develop nature-based solutions to C mitigation. It is also important to quantify soil respiration (Rs), a crucial biogeochemical process that is a major pathway for CO2 emission from ecosystems. Due to its temperature dependence, Rs is expected to increase with global warming, particularly in high-altitude mountainous regions. This study sought to investigate the impact of fire-exclusion-driven afforestation, aspect, post-afforestation grassland degradation, and climate variability on SOC dynamics at a catchment scale in Afromontane grasslands. To accomplish this, the Cathedral Peak Research Catchments, initiated in the 1940s, were utilised. The study focused on three catchments: the degraded north-facing Catchment III which was planted with Pinus patula in 1958 but burned down by wildfires in 1981, the natural north-facing Catchment VI maintained through prescribed biennial burns, and the south-facing Catchment IX with a fire exclusion treatment. Accidental fires still occurred every 2 to 5 years, maintaining periodically burnt grassland and an afforested patch in Catchment IX. Soil samples were collected at set increments down to 1 m depth across a slope gradient (top, middle, bottom) to determine soil bulk density, SOC stocks, δ13C signature, active C, total microbial activity, and water-stable aggregates. Measurements of Rs were performed using an 8-chamber LI-8100A automated system (C-VI) and a monthly static chamber-based manual technique (all sites, approximately 3 years dataset).These carefully designed catchments provided a unique opportunity to study the impact of fire-exclusion-driven afforestation, aspect, and degradation on SOC dynamics, as well as providing insight into the impact of afforestation programs, which are being promoted as nature-based solutions for climate change. This study addressed three questions 1) Does fire-exclusion-driven afforestation result in greater SOC storage and reduced soil CO2 emissions, 2) How does slope aspect influence SOC dynamics in these grasslands? and 3) What are the consequences of planting trees in Afromontane grassland on SOC storage and soil CO2 emissions? This presentation will answer these questions and highlight future research needs.

Latest Training Workshop

GIS for Educators and Learners: free online learning programme aligned to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements.

Presenters: Kogie Govender, Caitlin Ransom, Keneilwe Hlahane, and Rion Lerm

Our Research Nodes

SAEON encompasses seven Research Nodes throughout South Africa and a National Office that is located in the country’s political capital of Pretoria. 

Research Infrastructures​

SAEON manages three research infrastructures developed by the Department of Science and Innovation as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR).

EFTEON aims to provide and operate a network of instrumented landscape-level platforms for the South African environmental research community, focused on socially relevant terrestrial landscapes and their coupled hydrological systems. 

The SMCRI provides an array of instruments and physical research platforms around the coast of South Africa and its sub-antarctic islands to collect long-term reliable data for scientific research to help decision makers formulate appropriate environmental policies to lessen the risk and vulnerability of the coastal zone to climate and global change.

The SAPRI is designed as a consortium hosted at the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). The ultimate objective of SAPRI is to enable balanced research growth across the polar disciplines, and to maintain and further expand the world-class long-term observational datasets already established.

SAEON facilitates and conducts research through platforms and these have grown into a diverse array of sites, instruments, infrastructure, datasets, models and staff, widely distributed across both marine and terrestrial environments. 

News

Professor Juliet Hermes Earns B1 NRF Rating

Professor Juliet Hermes, Manager at NRF-SAEON’s Egagasini Node and the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI), was recently awarded the NRF B1 Rating, a well-deserved recognition that highlights her exceptional research contributions and commitment to the advancement of knowledge in marine sciences.

Read More »