Lindokhule X Dlamini – PhD candidate hosted at the Grasslands, Forests & Wetlands Node, SAEON
My interests are broad but mainly to understand drivers of ecosystems change, biodiversity management, restoration ecology principles, soil carbon dynamics (i.e. soil respiration & soil carbon fractionations), & the contribution of pyrogenic organic carbon to carbon sequestration. I hold a BSc Environmental Sciences (2012-2014), BSc (Hons) Ecological sciences (2015), & MSc Ecological sciences (2016-2017) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Supervised by Prof. David Ward, my honours project aimed to understand how South African savanna trees (broad- and fine-leaved) response to herbivory pressure. My MSc emerged from my background in Soil sciences, Geomorphology, and Vetiver Grass Technology. Fascinated by the usefulness of vetiver (alien grass from India) in soil and water conservation, I, therefore, wanted to understand its competitive effect on native grasses. This was with a broad aim to understand if native grasses can successfully recruit in areas rehabilitated using vetiver? I was supervised by Dr. Michelle Tedder and Prof. Kevin Kirkman.
After my MSc, I joined SAEON, the Grassland Forest and Wetland node as an EFTEON Intern. During this time, I improved my field experience, gained immense knowledge on carbon-vegetation dynamics, and learnt more about in-situ monitoring instrumentation. However, I started working with SAEON as an ad hoc field assistant in 2017 (Paul Gordijn and Tamanna Patel).
Currently, I am a PhD student registered at the University of Free State (UFS) in collaboration with the University of Burgundy (UB), Dijon, France. My PhD project focuses on soil carbon dynamics of a montane species-rich fire climax grassland, cathedral peak, Drakensberg, South Africa. The general aim is to investigates the effect of fire, vegetation heterogeneity, and climate variability on soil carbon dynamics at a catchment scale, through examining subsoil horizon carbon pools, soil respiration, soil carbon fractions (stable/active), δ13C isotopic signatures, and contribution of pyrogenic organic carbon (ash and charcoal) on carbon sequestration. I am under the supervision of Dr. Elmarie Kotze (UFS), Dr. Gregor Feig (SEAON &University of Pretoria), and Prof Jean Leveque (UB-France). I firmly believe that through scientific research in ecology and environmental sciences, new strategies for conservation and management of our natural resources will be developed and those will cater for estimated climate change impact. My side interest is photography.
