## 5 Conclusions and Implications  
The burden placed upon grassland ecosystems by exponential population growth justifies the need for more accurate and expedient rangeland monitoring frameworks to safeguard grassland ecosystems for the foreseeable future. This necessitates the need for more prudent scientific research, which both informs and augments environmental policy and management protocols. Thus, the intention of this investigation was to develop a semi-autonomous framework to facilitate the detection of nitrogen saturation within grassland ecosystems. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the RF classification algorithm and high-resolution 8-band Worldview-3-derived spectral variables can be used to successfully identify grassland plots at the brink of nitrogen saturation. In particular, the Red-Edge, NIR3 and Coastal parts of the electromagnetic spectrum were discovered as crucial wavebands for identifying nitrogen-saturated grassland plots. Moreover, the study identified the NDVI3 and SAVI as key vegetation indices for characterizing nitrogen saturation.  
These findings provide insights into the possible environmental and spectral repercussions of excessive fertilization, as well as a sense of the practical ability of presently orbiting modern satellite sensors and remotely sensed techniques, in assessing grassland biochemical conditionality in regions susceptible to nutrient irregularities. Furthermore, this research provides a framework that is potentially capable of assisting rangeland managers in spatially characterizing and isolating grassland segments within the initial stages of nitrogen saturation. This will enable fertilization treatments to be adjusted in near-real-time according to ecosystem demand and thereby maintain the health and longevity of Southern African grasslands. However, this is just a small component within the overarching framework of sustainable nitrogen usage within the regional biogeochemical planetary boundary. In order to remain within a safe biogeochemical operating space, it is essential for future studies to establish specific nitrogen thresholds for individual rangelands within Southern Africa. Hence, the results, deductions and frameworks derived from this investigation will serve to crucially inform and expand current rangeland conversational cognizance in Southern Africa.  
Conceptualization, R.N., O.M. and K.P.; Methodology, R.N., O.M., K.P. and N.A.; Formal analysis, R.N. and K.P.; Writing--Original draft, R.N., K.P. and N.A.; Writing--Review and editing, R.N., O.M., K.P. and N.A.; Visualization, R.N.; Supervision, O.M. and K.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was financially supported the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation through the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant no. 84157 and 114898).  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability Statement: Data are available from the authors upon request.  
This investigation was supported by the WOODRIGHTS Project and the eThek-wini Municipality--through the Durban Research Action Partnership (as a part of The Global Environmental Change Programme).  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.