ASSOCIATES
Dr Donovan Kotze
Position: Honorary Research Fellow
Centre: Centre for Water Resources Research (CWRR)
School: School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Campus: Agriculture Campus
Telephone: +27 823022228
Email: kotzed@ukzn.ac.za
Biography
The focus of Donovan’s professional work over the last 23 years has been on wetland ecology and management. He has gained much experience in a great variety of wetlands under many different land-uses, mainly in South Africa, as well as across eastern and southern Africa, and collaborates with many different government and non-government organizations. He has worked extensively on the assessment of wetland ecosystem services and ecological integrity for a variety of purposes, including ecosystem rehabilitation and sustainability assessments, as well in the development of several wetland assessment methods.
Qualifications
PhD
Current Research Projects
- The development of a model for identifying trade-offs between wastewater and solid waste inputs to a wetland and the multiple ecosystem services supplied by wetlands.
- To provide technical expertise as the wetland specialist in a multi-disciplinary team conducting a resource economic evaluation of wetlands and their rehabilitation in the upper Breede River catchment.
Recently Completed Projects (2020-23)
- An assessment of organic soils in five wetlands in the Langeberg Mountains, Herbertsdale: extent, degradation, threats and recommendations.
- An evaluation of the ecological outcomes at Working for Wetland rehabilitation sites across all of South Africa’s provinces.
Hobbies and Interests
Growing food in the garden, escaping to the mountains frequently, and taking on invasive alien trees for a full body workout.
Five recent publications
- KOTZE DC, RIVERS-MOORE NA, JOB N, GRENFELL M, 2022. Predicting wetland occurrence, main hydrogeomorphic type and vulnerability in the predominantly arid to semi‑arid interior of the Western Cape, South Africa. Wetlands Ecology and Management 30: 879–898
- KOTZE D C, and WOOD A P, 2021. Assessing the Long-Term Ecological Sustainability of Dambo Cultivation in Southern Africa: Ten-Year Case Studies from Zambia and Malawi. Wetlands 41:21, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01399-5
- NDLOVU H, KOTZE DC, JEWITT GPW, MORRIS CD, 2021. An assessment of the ecological condition of a wetland on the Lions River floodplain based on soil and vegetation parameters, South Africa, African Journal of Aquatic Science 46: 67-78, DOI:10.2989/16085914.2020.1794781
- WALTERS D, KOTZE D C, REBELO A, PRETORIUS L, JOB N, LAGESSE JV, RIDDELL E, COWDEN C. 2021. Validation of a rapid wetland ecosystem services assessment technique using the Delphi method. Ecological Indicators 125 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107511
- KOTZE DC, MACFARLANE DM, EDWARDS RJ, and MADIKIZELA B, 2020. WET-EcoServices Version 2: A revised ecosystem services assessment technique, and its application to selected wetland and riparian areas. Water SA 46: 679–688
