Quantifying the extent and rates of change in wetland ecosystem functional groups in the Maputaland Coastal Plain of South Africa

Abstract

This dataset shows the changes in seven different wetland Ecosystem Functional Groups (EFGs) of the Maputaland Coastal Plain of South Africa. These EFGs included two estuarine (Coastal saltmarshes, and Intertidal forests and shrublands (mangroves)) and five freshwater EFGs (Lacustrine wetlands and palustrine wetlands: Large macrophytes, Permanent marshes, Seasonal marshes, and Subtropical-temperate forested wetlands) (Van Deventer <i>et al</i>., 2026). Changes were mapped across seven epochs of a 32-year period (1990-2022). Three of these epochs were above-average rainfall years (2000, 2006, and 2022), and four years to align with the South African National Land Cover dates: 1990, 2014, 2018, and 2020. The analysis used Landsat, Sentinel-1 and -2 image collections in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The classification of the EFGs included points collected in-field across the study area, a Random Forest classification algorithm with recursive feature elimination, a digital terrain model and multiple spectral indices (Apleni <i>et al</i>., in review). The study was funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) between 2021-2024 (Van Deventer <i>et al</i>., 2024).Citations:Van Deventer, H., Apleni, P., Naidoo, L., Tsele, P., 2026. Quantifying the extent and rates of change in wetland ecosystem functional groups in the Maputaland Coastal Plain of South Africa. Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN) 1029: 181709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181709.Apleni, P., Van Deventer, H., Naidoo, L., Tsele, P., In review. Using Landsat, Sentinel-1 and -2 and GEE to assess changes in wetland ecosystem functional groups in the Maputaland Coastal Plain of South Africa.Van Deventer, H., Apleni, P., Nortje, K., Naidoo, L., Tsele, P., Aucamp, I., Mhlongo, N., Goso, L., &amp; Ndlovu, N. B. (2024). Quantifying the Extent and Rate of Changes in Wetland Types of the Maputaland Coastal Plain with Remote Sensing (Nos. C2020-2021-000427). Water Research Commission, South Africa. https://www.wrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/3133 final.pdf.<br><br>