Bruce Paxton

• PhD (Pr. Sci. Nat.)
• Researcher at Freshwater Research Centre

Freshwater ecosystems are the most threatened on Earth, with many species facing extinction. The Clanwilliam sandfish ( Labeo seeberi ) is South Africa's most threatened migratory freshwater fish and is endemic to the Olifants–Doring River system in the Cape Fold Ecoregion. Non‐native fish predation and river desiccation have caused a recruitment b...

Managing water resources and preventing water-related disasters requires investing in tools that aid knowledge-based group decision-making at local levels. We contribute to this toolbox by demonstrating the utility of the Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) for establishing an expressed equity-based allocation criteria (called community weighting i...

In South Africa, anthropogenic pressures such as water over-abstraction, invasive species impacts, land-use change, pollution, and climate change have caused widespread deterioration of the health of river ecosystems. This comes at great cost to both people and biodiversity, with freshwater fishes ranked as the country’s most threatened species gro...

The Ecological Reserve (environmental flows) as defined under the South African National Water Act 36 of 1998 was designed to equitably manage water for river sustainability while maximizing economic and social welfare. We investigated the climate change impacts on the Ecological Reserve targets for a seasonal river in an agricultural catchment in...

Freshwater fish are in decline worldwide as a result of introduced non‐native species, impoundment, water quality changes, over‐abstraction, and climate change. The Clanwilliam sandfish Labeo seeberi is an endangered migratory cyprinid endemic to a single river system in South Africa's Cape Fold Ecoregion. It has declined across its range and persi...

• This study aimed to develop an integrated analytical framework to identify candidate sites for surface water protection that is applicable at broad scales and in data scarce regions, using Zambia as a case study. • In the Zambian Water Resources Management Act of 2011, Water Resource Protection Areas are defined as areas where special measures ar...

• Although the network of national parks in Zambia offers a degree of protection for freshwater diversity, the protection status of numerous systems outside of these parks requires further action. The biodiversity associated with its freshwater systems, both lotic and lentic, is unique, covering a climatic gradient from tropical to subtropical acro...

In response to a call from the Water Fund (TNC) the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) initiated biodiversity, social, and governance assessments to conserve indigenous freshwater fish and associated aquatic ecosystems of the Upper Riviersonderend, Amandels and Du Toits Rivers in the Theewaterskloof Catchment (Western Cape, South Africa). These asses...

In response to a call from the Water Fund (TNC) the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) initiated biodiversity, social, and governance assessments to conserve indigenous freshwater fish and associated aquatic ecosystems of the Upper Riviersonderend, Amandels and Du Toits Rivers in the Theewaterskloof Catchment (Western Cape, South Africa). These asses...

In response to a call from the Water Fund (TNC) the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) initiated biodiversity, social, and governance assessments to conserve indigenous freshwater fish and associated aquatic ecosystems of the Upper Riviersonderend, Amandels and Du Toits Rivers in the Theewaterskloof Catchment (Western Cape, South Africa). These asses...

A holistic environmental flows (EFlows) assessment, undertaken as part of Ecological Reserve determination studies for selected surface water, groundwater, estuaries and wetlands in the Usuthu/Mhlatuze Water Management Area, South Africa, led to recommendations for modified releases from the Jozini Dam to support the socially, economically and ecol...

Introduced rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss have invaded many headwater streams in South Africa’s Cape Fold Ecoregion (CFE) and pose arguably the greatest threat to several species of threatened native fishes. Trout impacts in these systems appear to be density-dependent; we hypothesized that temperature is a key factor determining trout density a...

Native freshwater fish populations throughout South Africa's Cape Fold Ecoregion (CFE) are in decline as a result of human impacts on aquatic habitats, including the introduction of non‐native freshwater fishes. Climate change may be further accelerating declines of many species, although this has not yet been studied in the CFE. This situation pre...

This study tested the hypothesis that growth increments in larval largemouth yellowfish Labeobarbus kimberleyensis and smallmouth yellowfish L. aeneus from the Orange–Vaal river system, South Africa, are deposited daily. The periodicity of increment formation was determined by regular sampling and counting of increments deposited in the otoliths co...

The primary aim of this study was to assess the movement, flow and habitat requirements of two endangered fish species, i.e. the Clanwilliam yellowfish and Clanwilliam sawfin, and recommend water management strategies to ensure the persistence of remaining populations as well as to suggest a way forward for fish habitat studies in South Africa. The...

2 Streamflow Solutions, PO Box 889, Gonubie 5256, South Africa 3 Anton Bok Aquatic Consultants, 5 Young Lane, Mill Park, Port Elizabeth 6001, South Africa 4 Botany Department, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa 5 ESJ Dollar Consulting, 40 Susan Crescent, Langeberg Heights 7570, South Africa 6 DH Environmental C...