The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is a science network of people, organisations and, most importantly observation platforms, that perform Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) in South Africa and its surrounding oceans. The SAEON is of global importance as an innovative approach in ecology to understand environmental change and to determine the impact of anthropogenic forces at multiple scales but it is a remarkably complex challenge to statistically discern between ubiquitous natural variability and exogenous forcing.[2] The SAEON constitutes a national government response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2002) and is a component of the GEO (Group on Earth Observations). The SAEON has become the leader in environmental science and observation in South Africa,[3] but has been criticised for taking a long time to establish, a situation which was inevitable in view of SAEON's multiple stakeholder corps.[4] It has also been raised that the cost of replicated experimental treatments across SAEON sites will be high.[5]
Honckenii is SAEON's rigid hulled inflatable for estuarine and inshore observations
Vision
SAEON is a comprehensive, sustained, coordinated and responsive South
African environmental observation network that delivers long-term reliable
data for scientific research and informs decision-making; for a knowledge
society and improved quality of life.[4]
Development path
The SAEON's development was stimulated by the International Long-Term Ecological Research in 1996 and promoted further by South Africa's Foundation for Research Development.[6] This initiative led to a study tour of the USLTER [7] and a landmark national science meeting, held together with an ILTER meeting in 1999,[8] during which a large number of stakeholders supported the notion of a South African LTER.[9]
The SAEON performs environmental monitoring and research via strategically located nodes. The nodes also provide research support to collaborators.[10] Nodes are geographically distributed across South Africa to provide good coverage of biomes or subsets thereof. At the start of 2011 the respective nodes were:
SAEON Grasslands-Forests-Wetlands Node, in Pietermaritzburg, hosted by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The node focuses on the Grassland and Forest Biomes as well as on wetlands.
The SAEON is coordinated by a National Office located in Pretoria.
Observation and research
The SAEON focuses on question-driven in situ monitoring to gather time-series data at multiple scales with a view to understanding environmental change guided by a Core Science Framework.[11]
An example of the role that the SAEON plays in the wider field of Earth observation is its assumption of custodianship of the Jonkershoek hydrological observation system in 2009 and the long-term preservation of the data set that spans more than seven decades.[12]
Data and information
The SAEON developed an online information management system with spatial analytical capability to connect the distributed data holdings of nodes and external data sources.[13] The system, which uses open-source software and supports the visualisation of data, deals with multiple metadata standards and is being integrated with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.[14] The SAEON offers open access to its own data,[13] an essential strategy for its success.[2]
Education and outreach
Schools and universities are beneficiaries of a programme designed to produce potential future Earth observation scientists.[13] Monitoring projects, winter schools, training workshops, teacher support, science events and a graduate student network are some of the activities of the SAEON.[13]
^Midgley GF, Chown SL & Kgope BS, 2007. "Monitoring effects of anthropogenic climate change on ecosystems: A role for systematic ecological observation?" South African Journal of Science 103:282-286.
^Pauw, J.C., 1997. "Long-term Ecological Research: FRD’s networking initiative". Bulletin of the Southern African Institute of Ecologists and Environmental Scientists 16(1): 7-8.
^Biggs HC, Kerley GIH & Tshiguvho T 1999. "A South African long-term ecological research network: a first for Africa?" South African Journal of Science 95:244-246
^Henschel JR & Pauw JC, 2002. Environmental Observatories: LTER a-la-Africa. In : Rebirth of Science in Africa. A Shared Vision for Life and Environmental Sciences. Baijnath H & Singh Y (eds). pp 149-159. Umdaus Press, Hatfield. ISBN1-919766-23-5
^Van Jaarsveld AS & Biggs HC 2000. "Broad participation enhances initial steps towards a South African ecosystem observatory system (LTER)." South African Journal of Science 96:63-66
^ abcdPauw JC, 2007. Reliable Earth observation systems for science and sustainable development in Southern Africa. In: The Full Picture, pp 271-273. GEO Secretariat (eds). Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Geneva. ISBN978-92-990047-0-8.
