Academic literature on the topic 'Lydenburg (South Africa)'

Acalitus vaccinii (Keifer, 1939) is reported for the first time in South Africa, on cultivated blueberries (Ericaceae: Vaccinium spp.). This is the first known occurrence outside its likely native range in North America where it is a pest on cultivated and wild blueberries. In South Africa it has first been identified in 2014 and now occurs between Amsterdam and Lothair, and near Lydenburg and Dullstroom in the Mpumalanga Province. The morphology of the South African A. vaccinii specimens was compared with previous published taxonomic descriptions and differences were found. Infestation levels in South Africa were high, and reduced flower and berry formation considerably on various Vaccinium corymbosum L. cultivars, and on rabbiteye blueberry Vaccinium virgatum Aiton. 'Centurion'. The current status of, symptoms, and cultivars infested by the mite in South African blueberry plantings are presented and discussed in the context of published information in North America. Acalitus vaccinii is a potential threat to cultivated blueberries in South Africa, but the threat varies according to climate and the susceptibility of different cultivars to this mite. Acalitus vaccinii will unlikely infest South Africa’s indigenous vegetation, apart from possibly the native Vaccinium exul Bolus.

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important crop in many countries and production is currently increasing (from 311,450 ha in 2010 to 516,500 ha in 2013) in South Africa. On 27 February 2013 in the Lydenburg/Badfontein area, Mpumalanga Province, on a no-till commercial farm planted to soybean cultivar PAN 737 (Roundup Ready, maturity group 7) under irrigation for a second consecutive season, leaf symptoms typical of soybean sudden death syndrome were observed and reported by a farmer (3). The symptoms developed at the R6 growth stage (near physiological maturity) of the soybean plants. Leaf symptoms were interveinal chlorotic blotches that became necrotic while the veins remained green. These symptoms appeared throughout the plant but were most severe on the top leaves. Some of the severely affected leaflets dropped off with the petioles remaining attached to the plant. The vascular tissue in the upper taproot and lower stem turned gray-brown, but the pith remained white. Roots of the affected plants had decayed lateral roots. Surface disinfested root pieces with rot symptoms and spores directly from blue sporodochia on the rotten root were plated on potato dextrose agar amended with novostreptomycin 0.04 g/L (PDA+). Slow growing Fusarium isolates with blue to purple masses of sporodochia were consistently obtained from diseased plants. Cultures were single-spored and plated on PDA+. Growth rate of cultures on PDA+ was on average 6 to 9 mm after 5 days at 20°C. The morphology of the isolates fit the description of Fusarium virguliforme in Aoki et al. (1). Sequence analyses of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and partial translation elongation factor (EF-1a) gene of the recovered eight isolates revealed that these isolates matched 99.6% with F. virguliforme O'Donnell & T. Aoki (Accession Nos. KF648835 to KF648850), one of the soybean sudden death syndrome causing species found in North and South America (1). All isolates are identical in each loci except that three isolates had one nucleotide deletion and two insertions at the EF-1a loci. The isolates are deposited at the national culture collection in Pretoria (PPRI13434 to PPRI13441). A glasshouse bioassay was conducted to test the pathogenicity of eight single-spored isolates by inoculating pasteurized planting medium (1:1:1 ratio of sand, perlite, and soil) with a layer of infested sand-bran medium (2) to each pot (13 cm in diameter) and covered with 2 cm of planting medium (4) after planting 20 seeds of soybean cultivar PAN 737. There were three pots per isolate randomized in a complete block design trial. All the South African F. virguliforme isolates tested induced leaf and root rot symptoms of sudden death syndrome on the soybean seedlings under glasshouse conditions after 4 weeks of inoculation. The fungus was re-isolated on PDA+ from diseased roots of the soybean seedlings to fulfill Koch's postulates. This is the first record of F. virguliforme in South Africa, and as an important component of soilborne diseases of soybean it may pose a major threat to the South African soybean industry. References: (1) T. Aoki et al. Mycoscience 46:162, 2005. (2) S. C. Lamprecht et al. Plant Dis. 95:1153, 2011. (3) J. C. Rupe and G. L. Hartman. Compendium of Soybean Diseases, 4th ed. G. L. Hartman et al., eds. American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1999. (4) M. M. Scandiani et al. Trop. Plant Pathol. 36:133, 2011.

Abstract An extensive suite of sills occurring in the eastern and western Transvaal Supergroup has been termed the Marico Diabase Suite. As a result of their overall geographic proximity to the Bushveld Complex and occurrence in the Transvaal Supergroup they have been assumed to be related to the Bushveld Complex. Previous studies have identified two different types of rocks within this suite, namely the Maruleng and Lydenburg types, based on geochemical and metamorphic characteristics. The Maruleng type has mineralogical (orthopyroxene-bearing) and geochemical affinities with the mafic rocks of the Bushveld Complex, and rocks belonging to this type are much more closely spatially related to the Bushveld Complex. The Lydenburg type, on the other hand, is much more extensive spatially and was emplaced at variable depths within the Transvaal Supergroup. The latter type of rock is variably metamorphosed, far beyond the likely thermal effects arising from emplacement of the Bushveld Complex. Using LA-SF-ICPMS and LA-MC-ICMS for U-Pb-Hf isotope ratio and REE+Ti concentration analysis, we demonstrate that zircon grains from this latter type were subjected to hydrothermal alteration, which caused the introduction of common lead. Despite compositional and isotopic overprinting, an age of 2 083 ± 18 Ma (MSWD = 12, n = 16) is obtained, suggesting a pre-Bushveld in age. We suggest that the original term Marico Diabase Suite encompasses two different events. The Maruleng Suite should be grouped as part of the Bushveld Complex, whereas the Lydenburg Suite should be given a status that is independent from the Bushveld event.

Background: Leopards (Panthera pardus) show genetically determined colour variation. Erythristic (strawberry) morphs, where individuals are paler and black pigment in the coat is replaced by a red-brown colour, are exceptionally rare in the wild. Historically, few records exist, with only five putative records known from India.Objectives: To record the presence of erythristic leopards in our study site (Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve, Mpumalanga) and to collate records from across South Africa. Method: A network of camera traps was used to record individual leopards at Thaba Tholo. We also surveyed local experts, searched the popular South African press, and used social media to request observations.Results: Two out of 28 individual leopards (7.1%) recorded in our study site over 3 years were of this colour morph. We obtained records of five other erythristic leopards in the North West and Mpumalanga regions, with no reports outside of this population.Conclusions: Erythristic leopards are widely dispersed across north-east South Africa, predominantly in the Lydenburg region, Mpumalanga. The presence of this rare colour morph may reflect the consequences of population fragmentation.

From the late 1830s Boer settlers conquered and settled vast new lands outside the Cape Colony. Although they more than doubled the area of European domination, historians have categorised Boer society outside the British colonies as primitive and dismissed the Boer conquests as an abberation from the broader process of European expansion. Such a distinction is no longer tenable. This study, which focuses on the Obrigstad/Lydenburg area, shows that the Boers were an integral part of European expansion in southern Africa. Settler expansion did not occur in a vacuum. Booming demand for commodities sparked economic growth across the sub-continent; the Boers were part of this process and consistently strove to produce for the region's expanding markets. In tandem with the expanding regional system, the Boer economy grew constantly. This was reflected in the centralisation of power in the Z.A.R. as Boer producers created formal political and administrative structures to further their economic interests. (A parallel process culminated in the Cape with colonists receiving representative government in March 1853.) This correlation between political and economic development was evident in the creation of a coercive labour system by the Boer state. Through their control of state structures, the Boers employed measures ranging from brute force to punitive taxation, legally enforceable contracts and pass laws to procure and control workers. It is important to note that the creation of a coercive labour system by the Boers paralleled similar developments in the Cape Colony. The speed with which the Boer economy expanded in comparison to the Cape, however, meant that stages in the development of an unfree labour force which had been chronologically distinct in the Cape coexisted within the Boer coercive system. Boer dependence on coerced labour made conflict with African groups inevitable. African groups in the eastern Transvaal had already been partly moulded by predatory economic forces emanating from the Portuguese settlements on the east coast since at least the 1750s. The arrival of the Boers in the 1840s greatly accelerated this process. Some groups were crushed, but others were able to obtain the means to resist Boer rule by interfacing with the settler economy. The economic forces which drove Boer settlement were thus not confined to the white settlers: Boer expansion was paralleled by the rise of African survivor states. The Dlamini, for example, built the powerful Swazi state by exchanging captives, ivory and cattle for guns and horses. Similarly, the Pedi, through the large scale expon of migrant labour, were able to acquire the means to challenge Boer authority in the late 1870s. Oearly then, the Boers 'Were not only representative of the wider settler social and economic order, but were acting in response to the same circumstances as the British settlers, Portuguese traders and African survivor states. It is thus impossible to continue to classify them as retrogressive and distinct from other groups in the region.

ABSTRACT The Rock Art of southern Africa represents the single most informative surviving artifact of the social and symbolic lives of many hunter-gatherers, herders, farmers and settlers who have lived and marked our land. Unlike many other forms of archaeology, rock art has always been in the public domain and of late has become a defining element of social identity. Farmer settlement engravings based on concentric circles joined by meandering lines are particularly intriguing images in southern African Iron Age rock art tradition. This study focuses on a large engraved Iron Age site on the farm Boomplaats 29 JT in Lydenburg District, Mpumalanga province, republic of South Africa. This site contains a variety of engravings ranging from concentric circles, animal motifs, drilled holes, spread-eagle designs and a Mhele/ Morabaraba game board. Although the general characteristics and overall distribution of this art are known, the issue of authorship of this art is till unknown. This research, therefore, goes deeper into both the historical and archaeological evidence from Mpumalanga province to investigate and ascertain the authors of these engravings. This study hopes to advance our knowledge of this art by focusing on the specific issue of authorship, and examining the relationship between the engravings and settlement ruins in the area.

The mobile phone forms part of a teenager’s life world and reality today and can be regarded as a tool with which they not only communicate, but also use them to gain access to the Internet, social media and social networking sites. The primary aim of this study was to determine if the mobile phone, with all its functionalities, has an impact on the development of the adolescent’s identity formation, social development and communication skills as well as the sense of the self. Another objective of this study was to determine what the opinions and perceptions are of older generations with regard to mobile practices of the youth. A concurrent triangulation mixed method design was utilised for the purpose of the study. The quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted simultaneously and the data and results from each method were integrated and interpreted as a whole. The quantitative data gathering method was short self-structured questionnaires that were completed by learners (190), teachers (35) and parents (21) to provide a general overview of mobile usage among adolescents. A single-group pre-test post-test experimental design and individual interviews were conducted with eight volunteers. Lastly, 12 learners took part in a focus group interview as a confirmation technique for all the information that was gathered. The findings of the empirical investigation revealed that the mobile phone is used nowadays as a social tool, a planning tool and a convenience tool. The constant connectedness the mobile phone provides, strengthens the adolescents’ self-esteem and self-confidence and contributes strongly to their self-worth. The mobile phone is used as a self-expressive personalised tool and forms part of the sense of the adolescent self. It was also found that adolescents build their relationships with others on a two-dimensional platform that involves online and offline communication and activities. A definite gap exists between older generations’ perceptions and adolescents in connection with the ways that adolescents use their mobile phones nowadays. Parents and teachers have to accept the fact that technology forms part of today’s youth and they should change their mind-sets with regard to this complicated and complex phenomenon.
Psychology of Education
D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)