Expertise:

Rangeland ecology, remote sensing, landscape condition assessment, climate change, rangeland production & water use.

 

Career History

1997 – present              Senior Specialist Scientist, ARC-Animal Production Institute, Grahamstown, South Africa.

2005 – 2008:                 Research Co-ordinator, Dept of Environmental Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

---

My publications

90 peer-reviewed scientific publications in international scientific journals & books.

>70 presentations at local & international conferences.

---

My research

As a Specialist Scientist, I have developed landscape analysis techniques which promote the wise management land use of southern Africa’s rangeland resources. These techniques include change detection in natural rangeland (field survey, remote sensing, forage production modelling), developing new perspectives on rangeland condition assessment (e.g. high resolution infra-red imagery & landscape function analysis) & production modelling . The following points highlight my most recent research & funding achievements:

““South African cropland dust emission risks: Physical thresholds, environmental & socio-economic impacts”. RSA-Swiss Bilateral fund. 2017-2020.

“Rehabilitation of rangelands after clearing of alien invasives”. Water Research Commission. 2014-2019.

National equipment grant for the purchase of eddy covariance and large aperture scintillometer equipment

“Modelling rangeland production using MODIS LAI and a modified Penman-Monteith equation. SA Red Med Research Development. 2009-2019.

RSA-Namibia Bilateral Agreement to continue grazing research in the semi-arid regions of South Africa & Namibia. 2012-2014

 

The earth observation research group that I lead focuses on using both low (1 km) & very high resolution (0.5m) imagery to monitor rangeland condition & production across the natural rangelands of southern Africa