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Testing efficacy of bomas or kraals for restoration of SOM, nutrients, grass cover in damaged and intact grassland. Two R codes and datasets are supplied:1. Models_plots.R tests differences in plant and soil characteristics between kraaled and unkraaled areas in Eastern Cape of South Africa in the dataset DataLong.csv. 2. Effect_sizes.R tests the relative efficacy of kraaling relative to controls using the dataset DataPaired.csvShort-duration overnight kraaling has been suggested as a tool for restoring degraded rangelands. However, the response of different plant functional types and communities to such intense livestock impact may vary depending on local context. We thus examined the effects of short-duration overnight kraaling on soil and vegetation characteristics in a mesic montane grassland in South Africa using paired kraal and control sites, as part of a low intensity grazing approach. Kraaling increased soil P and S, as well as soil organic matter (except when initial values were over 12%). The effect of kraaling on vegetation was strongly dependent on initial condition. Basal cover of grasses and forbs increased by approximately 50 and 15%, respectively, if sites had very low initial basal cover, but decreased cover by up to 15% if initial values were over 50% and 10%, respectively. Kraaling always decreased herbaceous biomass, but especially when initial values were over 2 000 kg ha−1. In mesic grasslands, short-duration overnight kraaling is promising as a tool for rehabilitating degraded sites or fertilizing abandoned cropland, but should be avoided where the grass sward is intact. We recommend that the suitability of kraaling be evaluated per vegetation type and local context.

Forage production in arid and semi-arid rangelands is not uniform but varies with seasons and in various landscapes. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial and temporal variation in forage production in RNP. Plants sampling was carried out in 225 plots distributed in each of the five vegetation types. In each vegetation strata, sampling points was based on proximity to an occupied stock post, a rain gauge, a foothill and flat plains. A total of were measured in the 5 study sites. Line Intercept Method in combination with harvest method were used in ground measurement of biomass production. To assess biomass production using remote sensing technique, par values were obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imageries which consisted of 8 days composite images at spatial resolution of 1km² pixel size. There was positive correlation between line intercepts and biomass production Biomass production was higher in succulent Karoo biome than in desert biome. There was a strong relationship between biomass production with rainfall and with fpar values. Since leaf and stem succulents’ plants were found to contribute the highest amount of forage production in RNP, they should be given conservation priority. Published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES, {"references":["Anderson PML, Hoffman MT. 2007. The impact of sustained heavy grazing on plant diversity and composition in lowland and upland habitats across the Kmiessberg mountain range in the Succulent Karoo, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environment 70(4), 686-700.","Anderson PML, Hoffman TM, O'Farrell PJ. 2010. Above ground perennial plant biomass across an altitudal and land-use gradient in Namaqualand, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 76, 471-481.","Cowling RM, Pressey RL, Lombard AT, Desmet PG, Ellis AG. 1999. From representation to persistence; requirement for a sustainable system of conservation areas in the species-rich Mediterranean-climate desert of Southern Africa. Diversity and Distribution 5(1-2), pp 51-71.","Diouf A, Lambin EF. 2001. Monitoring land-cover changes in semi-arid regions, remote sensing data and filed observations in the Ferlo, Senegal. Journal of Arid Environment 48,129-148.","Easdale MH, Aguiar MR. 2012. Regional forage production assessment in arid and semi-arid rangelands- Astep towards social-ecological analysis. Journal of Arid Environment 83, 35-44.","Eisfelder C, Klein L, Niklaus M, Kuenzer C. 2014. Net primary productivity in dynamics and cattle performance in a semi-arid savanna, South Africa, Journal of Applied Ecology 37, 491-507.","Flombaun, Sala P. 2007. A non-destructive and rapid method to estimate biomass and aboveground net primary production in arid environments. Journal of Arid Environments 69, 352-358.","Fynn RWS. 2012. Functional Resource Heterogeneity increases livestock and rangeland productivity. Rangeland Ecology and Management, Vol 65, pp 319-329.","Hempson GP, Illius AW, Hendricks HH, Bond JW, Vetter S. 2015. Herbivore population regulation and resource heterogeneity in a stochastic environment. Ecology, 96(8), 2170-2180.","Hendricks HH, Clark, Bond B, Midgley WJ, Novellie JJ. 2005b. Movement response patterns of livestock to rainfall variability in Richtersveld National Park. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 22(2), 117-125.","Hendricks HH, Novellie PA, Bond WJ, Midgley JJ. 2005a. Plant species richness and composition along livestock grazing intensity gradients in a Namaqualand South Africa protected area. Plant Ecology 176, 19-33.","Jakoby O, Quaas MF, Baumgartner S, Frank K. 2015. Adapting livestock management to spatio-temporal heterogeneity in semi-arid rangelands. Journal of Arid Environment Vol 162, pp 179-189.","MacKellar NC, Hewiston BC, Tadross MA. 2007. Namaqualand's climate: Recent historical changes and future scenarios. Journal of Arid Environment 70(4), 604-614.","Mucina L, Jurgens N, Le Roux A, Rutherfoldmc, Schmiedel U, Esler KJ, Powrie LW, Desmet PG, Milton SJ. 2006. Succulent Karoo Biome. In, Mucina, L. and Rutherfold, M.C (Editors). The vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, Pretoria, South Africa 220- 299.","Mucina L, Rutherfoldmc. (Editors). 2006. The vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, Pretoria, South Africa 822-997.","Palmer AR, Yunusa IM. 2011. Biomass production, evapotranspiration and water use efficiency of arid rangelands in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environment 75(11), 1223-1227.","Rasch S, Heckelei T, Oomen JR. 2016. Reorganizing resource use in a communal relation to grazing pressure and soils in the sandveld and hardveld communal grazing areas of Botswana. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 22(1), 17-28.","Rutherfoldmc, Powrie LW. 2010. Severely degraded rangeland, Implications for plant diversity from a case study in Succulent Karoo, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environment 74, 692-701.","Saayman N, Morris C, Botha H. 2016. Livestock grazing has minimal effect on the species richness and diversity of semi-arid shrubland in the western little Karoo, South Africa. African Journal of Range and Forage Sciences 26, 169-179.","Samuels MI, Allsopp N, Knight RS. 2007. Patterns of resource use resource use by livestock during and after droughts on the commons of Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environment 70(4), 728-739.","Tsalyuk M, Kelly M, Koy K, Getz WM, Butterfield HS. 2015. Monitoring the impact of grazing on rangeland conservation easements using MODIS Vegetation Indices. Rangeland Ecology and Management Vol 68(2), 173-185.","Young JA, Guo D, Desmet PG, Midgley GF. 2016. Biodiversity and climate change, Risk to dwarf succulents in Southern Africa. Journal of Arid Environment Vol 129, 16-26."]}

Die Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung von Bürgern zur Gerechtigkeit im Einkom-mensteuergesetz (EStG) werden in dieser Studie um die Expertensicht erweitert. In struktu-rierten Interviews wurden 19 Steuerberater und ein Finanzbeamter zu ihrer eigenen Ein-schätzung des Einkommensteuergesetzes befragt sowie um eine Stellungnahme zu den insgesamt 28 Einzelnormen gebeten, die in der Vorgängerstudie von Steuerlaien als gerecht bzw. ungerecht bewertet wurden. Der Fokus der Untersuchung lag dabei auf den Argumen-ten, mit denen Experten die "gerechten" und "ungerechten" Paragraphen befürworteten oder ablehnten. Diese wurden inhaltlich erfasst und zusätzlich vier ethischen Grundpositionen zugeordnet. In der Bewertung unterschieden sich in den Ergebnissen Experten und Laien nur geringfü-gig: Die Steuerberater sprachen sich ebenfalls global zunächst eher gegen das EStG aus, bewerteten aber zwei ursprünglich "ungerechte" Ausnahmen als gerecht: Sie fanden Argu-mente dafür, dass Kosten für Unterricht, Sport und Freizeit für die eigenen Kinder zurecht nicht abzugsfähig sowie die Versteuerung von Gewinnen aus privaten Veräußerungsge-schäften sinnvoll seien. Pro Gerechtigkeit argumentierten die Experten häufig zweckethisch, contra Gerechtigkeit führten sie eher pflichtethische Aspekte an. Stellenweise zeichnete sich auch ein sehr uneinheitliches Meinungsbild bezüglich des EStG ab. Trotz der relativ positi-ven Bewertung der Einzelnormen fordern die Steuerberater insgesamt eine Reduzierung der Ausnahmen. Gerechtigkeit dürfe nicht auf Kosten von Transparenz und Praktikabilität ver-wirklicht werden, und ein vollständig gerechtes Gesetz lasse sich nicht erreichen. Anregun-gen für die zukünftige Gestaltung des Einkommensteuergesetzes werden diskutiert., In this study, the results of a nationwide study on justice in the German Income Tax Law are presented to and commented by experts. 19 tax advisors and a tax inspector were asked for their point of view concerning the 28 single normative rules which tax payers had judged as either just or unjust. The study focussed on arguments the experts brought forward, support-ing or opposing the paragraphs under consideration. The arguments were collected and, additionally, related to four ethical positions (deontology, utilitarianism, intuitionism, hedon-ism). Only little difference was found between laymen's and experts' assessment. From a global perspective, tax advisors tended to object to the Income Tax Law. As to the single norms, they were in agreement on the main lines with the tax payers, and even argued for two more norms to be just. In favour of justice, experts frequently brought forward arguments referring to consequence-oriented ethics, while they used duty-oriented ethics to appeal against a norm's justice. In spite of the predominantly positive ratings of single norms, tax advisors call for decreasing the number of exceptions: Justice should not be realized at the expense of transparency and practicality, especially because they negate that there could be a Tax Law which was con-sidered to be absolutely just. Implications for future law structuring are discussed.

Bibliography: leaves 185-205., A more recent approach to communal rangelands argues that this traditional view has ignored communal farmers' objectives, which are to maximise stock numbers rather than offtake in the form of sales and slaughter, and challenges the view that communal rangelands are necessarily degraded. Long-term livestock records in many former homeland districts of South Africa have shown no appreciable long-term decline in animal numbers. This has led several influential researchers and policy makers to conclude that no loss in productivity has occurred and that these systems are sustainable in fulfilling the objectives of the land users. The aim of this study is to assess the costs of degradation in terms of land users' objectives using a case study in a communal rangeland area in South Africa.

Donkeys are used extensively in Namaqualand and other rural areas in South Africa for pulling carts, carrying loads, ploughing and threshing grain. There is, however, an ongoing debate among farmers, agriculturalists and the wider population about the implications of keeping donkeys, particularly on communal lands. Donkeys are reported to cause more damage to the veld than other animals, and it is commonly said that one donkey eats as much as seven goats. This project was initiated as a case study to investigate the impacts of donkeys in a communal area in the succulent shrublands of Namaqualand, and to generate suggestions for the management of donkey populations. The degree of competition between goats and donkeys was investigated by predicting daily food intake using a model based on ruminant and non-ruminant digestion, which takes into account the animal's body weight and digestibility characteristics of its diet. The ratio predicted food intakes is discussed in the light of the degree of dietary and habitat overlap, which were obtained from field observations. Habitat use was scored using dung frequency transects, and feeding was directly observed. It was found that in the wet season, one donkey eats as much as 5 / 7.6 goats (donkey weight set at 200 and 250 kg respectively). In the dry summer, this ratio increases to 7.6 / 8.6 because in ruminants, the passage of food through the gut slows down as the digestibility of the diet decreases. Habitat overlap is concentrated in the riverine areas and sandy pediments, which make up 15 % of the landscape and are strongly favoured by donkeys. No significant differences were found to exist between the intensities of goat use of the different habitats. The botanical composition of the diets of donkeys and goats were found to be similar, but there is a great difference in the quality of the diet consumed by each species as goats are able to select plant parts of a higher quality. The implications of this are that whereas a donkey takes in as much dry matter as 5 - 8.6 goats, the diet of this food is not high enough to satisfy the dietary requirements of goats, and hence fewer goats than predicted can be supported for every donkey that is eliminated. Donkeys are commonly reported to have destructive feeding habits; little of this was directly observed, but donkeys were found to bite deeper into the wood of shrubs, which may damage the plants in the long term. There are two main management measures that should be applied. The feral donkey population in Paulshoek, estimated at 50-100 animals, must be eliminated - even at a conservative estimate, these animals could be replaced with 250 goats. However, one must look beyond the number to the processes taking place to make management effective. Even if one donkey can be replaced with fewer than 5 goats, the vegetation is relieved of the indirect effects donkeys have through their feeding habits. Control of working donkeys should focus on the riverine and flat, sandy areas, as they are potentially of high nutritional importance (especially the riverine areas which support grass throughout the year), and which are also the most susceptible to erosion due to their sparse vegetation cover. These areas are small and valuable, and plans should be made to protect some areas through the growing season.

Grateloupia filicina is a carrageenophytic red alga which is in demand as a carrageenan raw material and for use in food. There is therefore interest in developing a technique for mariculturing this species. Since vegetative propagation from thallus fragments has not been successful, the present study was initiated to determine suitable conditions for spore liberation and growth of G. filicina from spores. It was also attempted to propagate G. filicina sporelings from crust and thallus fragments. In addition, the proportions of plants in different life history phases were determined in August and September to test for seasonal differences in shore phenology, and whether G. filicina is monoecious or dioecious, since there is disagreement on this in the literature. Spore release was easy to achieve, even without stressing the parent plant. Growth of crusts was found to be fastest at 50 μM.m⁻².s⁻¹ and at 20°C. Carposporelings (i.e. young tetrasporophytes) grew slightly but significantly faster than tetrasporelings (i.e. young carposporophytes). Crust fragments were able re-attach to the substrate and gave rise to new upright thalli within 1-2 weeks, compared to 4-5 weeks between spore release and thallus initiation. Attachment was weak, however, and only a small proportion of the crust fragments placed into culture regenerated. Thallus regeneration was not successful. There were seasonal differences in shore phenology during the study period: while two thirds of the plants collected in August were carposporophytes, only tetrasporophytes were found in September. No male gametophytes or spermatangia were found. It did not emerge from this study whether G. filicina in an annual, or what phenotypic differences are found throughout the year. Information of this kind is important for mariculture as it affects the supply of parent plants (and therefore spores) and the growth of young plants on ropes if these are released into the sea. The culturing experiments look promising; techniques (seeding ropes directly with spores or using regenerated crust fragments) still need to be refined.

This documents correspond to Chapter 3 of the IPBES methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature and its supplementary material., Suggested citation: Termansen, M., Jacobs, S., Mwampamba, T.H., Ahn, S., Castro, A., Dendoncker, N., Ghazi, H., Gundimeda, H., Huambachano, M., Lee, H., Mukherjee, N., Nemogá, G.R., Palomo, I., Pandit, R., Schaafsma, M., Ngouhouo, J., Choi, A., Filyushkina, A., Hernández-Blanco, M., Contreras, V., and González-Jiménez, D. (2022). Chapter 3: The potential of valuation. In: Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. P. Balvanera, U. Pascual, M. Christie, B. Baptiste, and D. González-Jiménez (eds). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6521298.