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Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape
Blackwater rivers and lakelets are a common feature of the landscape in the South Western Cape. Contrastingly, white rivers can also be found in the region. Key to the colour of blackwaters is the increased presence of dissolved organic carbon. The vegetation of the regions is known to posses' large...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613187656908800 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Power, Simon C |
| author2 | Cramer, Michael D |
| author_browse | Cramer, Michael D Power, Simon C |
| author_facet | Cramer, Michael D Power, Simon C |
| author_sort | Power, Simon C |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Blackwater rivers and lakelets are a common feature of the landscape in the South Western Cape. Contrastingly, white rivers can also be found in the region. Key to the colour of blackwaters is the increased presence of dissolved organic carbon. The vegetation of the regions is known to posses' large amounts of polyphenols and potentially low microbial decomposition. Therefore, are the plant-soil dynamics a possible answer to variation in river colour? To answer this, the chemical correlates of rivers in the region, along with the in vitro leaching of the fynbos vegetation compared to other types and the effects of nutrient fertilisation on microbial activity in soil were determined. The results revealed that organic carbon, Fe and pH are significantly correlated with blackwaters. The Fe in the water appears to be bound to humic compounds. Fynbos vegetation is able to produce greater concentrations of polyphenol leachates (315 mg/l humic acid) compared to savanna species (246 mg/ humic acid) over a four-day period. P fertilisations increased the concentrations of humic acids from 30 mg/1 to 200 mg/l in some soils through their affinity to bind with humic compounds. The N fertilisations moderately increased the humic acid concentrations and in some cases lowered the concentration by 10 mg/l, indicating that it provided a nutrient source to the microbes for carbon breakdown. The interactions between humic compounds, nutrients and Fe are key to the formation of blackwaters in the region. Attached to this is the limited decomposition that takes place due to nutrient limitations. Therefore, the interactions between the carbon leached from the vegetation and below ground activities are determinants of water colour in the South Western Cape. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26063 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:09.918Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26063 Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape Power, Simon C Cramer, Michael D Midgley, Jeremy J blackwaters fynbos humic compounds dissolved organic carbon plant leachates microbial activity Blackwater rivers and lakelets are a common feature of the landscape in the South Western Cape. Contrastingly, white rivers can also be found in the region. Key to the colour of blackwaters is the increased presence of dissolved organic carbon. The vegetation of the regions is known to posses' large amounts of polyphenols and potentially low microbial decomposition. Therefore, are the plant-soil dynamics a possible answer to variation in river colour? To answer this, the chemical correlates of rivers in the region, along with the in vitro leaching of the fynbos vegetation compared to other types and the effects of nutrient fertilisation on microbial activity in soil were determined. The results revealed that organic carbon, Fe and pH are significantly correlated with blackwaters. The Fe in the water appears to be bound to humic compounds. Fynbos vegetation is able to produce greater concentrations of polyphenol leachates (315 mg/l humic acid) compared to savanna species (246 mg/ humic acid) over a four-day period. P fertilisations increased the concentrations of humic acids from 30 mg/1 to 200 mg/l in some soils through their affinity to bind with humic compounds. The N fertilisations moderately increased the humic acid concentrations and in some cases lowered the concentration by 10 mg/l, indicating that it provided a nutrient source to the microbes for carbon breakdown. The interactions between humic compounds, nutrients and Fe are key to the formation of blackwaters in the region. Attached to this is the limited decomposition that takes place due to nutrient limitations. Therefore, the interactions between the carbon leached from the vegetation and below ground activities are determinants of water colour in the South Western Cape. 2017-11-08T12:11:42Z 2017-11-08T12:11:42Z 2006 2017-02-24T13:29:30Z Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26063 eng application/pdf application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | blackwaters fynbos humic compounds dissolved organic carbon plant leachates microbial activity Power, Simon C Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| thesis_degree_str | Bachelor's / Honours |
| title | Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| title_full | Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| title_fullStr | Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| title_short | Determinants of blackwaters in the South Western Cape |
| title_sort | determinants of blackwaters in the south western cape |
| topic | blackwaters fynbos humic compounds dissolved organic carbon plant leachates microbial activity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26063 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT powersimonc determinantsofblackwatersinthesouthwesterncape |