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Publications (80)
As a basis for conservation planning, a first comprehensive vascular plant species checklist for the core Richtersveld National Park was compiled, based on the collection of more than 3000 new herbarium vouchers and in total studying over 8000 specimens and more than 4000 iNaturalist observations. By the end of April 2024, a total of 1077 indigenou...
Aims: This study aimed at classifying, mapping and describing the plant communities of the Karoo National Park using floristic surveys in conjunction with Sentinel-2 and topo-morphological data. Study area: Karoo National Park, Western Cape, South Africa. Methods: The vegetation of the Karoo National Park was delineated into homogenous physiognomic...
Climate change has massive global impacts and affects a wide range of species. Threatened species such as the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) are particularly vulnerable to these changes because of their ecological requirements. Attempts to address concerns about the roan's vulnerability have not been well documented in South African protected...
The Nama Karoo biome is one of the least well-studied biomes in the semi-arid region of South Africa, and essential baseline biodiversity data for this region are lacking. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of environmental factors on the species diversity and richness of Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa, which incl...
Ephemeral pans are transient natural habitats with harsh conditions found in semi-arid regions. These pans endure high evaporation rates, extreme temperatures and an overflow of water. Pans are characterised by dry land becoming submerged in water temporarily (flood-like) followed by a prolonged period absent of water (drought-like). Ephemeral pans...
The description and classification of vegetation are important for conservation and resource management. The aim of this study was to identify, reclassify and describe the plant communities present in the Waterberg Mountain vegetation of the Marakele National Park in the Limpopo province, South Africa. A phytosociological classification, mapping an...
Mountain Zebra National Park has been extended over a number of years. To develop a scientifically sound management programme for the Park it was essential that an inventory of its natural resources was instituted. As a result various phytosociological studies were undertaken on the newly acquired farms to identify the different plant communities p...
South African National Parks (SANParks) is implementing rehabilitation projects in parks where acquired lands have degrees of degradation. Such parks need to have empirical data to determine the degree of degradation and the success of the projects. We sampled epigeal ants at degraded and control sites in Mountain Zebra and Mokala National Parks to...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Long-term studies of woody plants in South Africa are scarce. This study, initiated in the late 1970s, therefore aids understanding of vegetation dynamics in the southern Kalahari by investigating woody vegetation change at and away from a watering point. METHODS: At three sites, all woody individuals were counted by spec...
Monitoring is an essential component of measuring the performance of protected areas. This requirement led to the development of a biodiversity monitoring system for South African National Parks (SANParks). The system comprises of ten major programmes, each focusing on a core area of conservation biodiversity monitoring, with resource use being one...
Elephants and fire can modify African savanna ecosystems. The authors evaluated the influence that elephants and fires had on five mountainous plant communities in Marakele National Park. These plant communities were surveyed from 1996 to 2010 with the first sampling in 1996 in the absence of elephants. Initially thirty-nine elephants, introduced i...
Effective management of conservation areas is critical to ensure the adequate protection of the natural resources. The landscape unit concept can be used as a tool in conservation management as a spatial planning unit. Landscape units are areas with a specific set of biotic and abiotic characteristics that can be classified, mapped and described. T...
Mokala National Park (MoNP) was proclaimed in 2007 in an area that used to be managed as a commercial wildlife and hunting farm, and prior to 2003 as a cattle and goat farm. The vegetation comprises sparse to closed woodlands and shrublands of the Savanna Biome. Shrub densification was deemed undesirable in the context of commercial farming where m...
An updated checklist is provided for the flora of Tankwa Karoo National Park, which occupies an area of 143,600 ha. A total of 730 species and 780 plant taxa (species, subspecies and varieties), representing 267 genera in 73 families, are recorded for the park. This comprises 30 bryophytes, 7 pteridophytes, 189 monocotyledons and 554 dicotyledons....
Changes in the environment are first observed in changes in the vegetation. Vegetation survey, classification and mapping form the basis on which informed and scientifically defendable decisions on the environment can be taken. The classification and mapping of vegetation is one of the most widely used tools for interpreting complex ecosystems. By...
Changes in the environment are first observed in changes in the vegetation. Vegetation survey, classification and mapping form the basis on which informed and scientifically defendable decisions on the environment can be taken. The classification and mapping of vegetation is one of the most widely used tools for interpreting complex ecosystems. By...
Understanding the drivers of biological invasions, across taxa and regions, is important for designing appropriate management interventions. However there has been no work that has examined potential drivers of both plant and animal invasions, for both species considered to be aliens and those that are invasive. We use South Africa's national park...
Monitoring is a vital component of keeping protected areas in desired states. Lack of robust designs, however, impedes efficient monitoring. We ask two questions—how does effort at a specific site as well as number of sites in a plant community influence richness, abundance, and diversity indicators. Large mammal herbivory biodiversity influences a...
Changes in the environment are first observed in changes in the vegetation. Vegetation survey, classification and mapping form the basis on which informed and scientifically defendable decisions on the environment can be taken. The classification and mapping of vegetation is one of the most widely used tools for interpreting complex ecosystems. By...
The Tankwa Karoo National Park has been enlarged from 27 064 ha to 143 600 ha. This whole area is severely under-collected for plants in general and therefore it was an obvious target for the South African National Parks (SANParks) Programme, a component of the Pretoria National Herbarium (PRE) Plant Collecting Programme. This programme not only ai...
The objective of the proposed Highveld National Park (HNP) is to conserve a considerable area of the poorly conserved Rocky Highveld Grassland and Dry Sandy Highveld Grassveld of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The park has not yet been proclaimed, but is currently under the management of the North West Parks and Tourism Board. The mai...
Protected areas are under increasing threat from a range of external and internal pressures on biodiversity. With a primary mandate being the conservation of biodiversity, monitoring is an essential component of measuring the performance of protected areas. Here we present a framework for guiding the structure and development of a Biodiversity Moni...
Diverse political, cultural and biological needs epitomise the contrasting demands impacting on the mandate of the South African National Parks (SANParks) to maintain biological diversity. Systems-based approaches and strategic adaptive management (learn by doing) enable SANParks to accommodate these demands. However, such a management strategy cre...
Diverse political, cultural and biological needs epitomise the contrasting demands impacting on the mandate of the South African National Parks (SANParks) to maintain biological diversity. Systems-based approaches and strategic adaptive management (learn by doing) enable SANParks to accommodate these demands. However, such a management strategy cre...
African savannas are characterised by temporal and spatial fluxes that are linked to fluxes in herbivore populations and vegetation structure and composition. We need to be concerned about these fluxes only when management actions cause the system to shift towards a less desired state. Large herbivores are a key attribute of African savannas and ar...
Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the major threats to biodiversity in protected areas and pose a significant management challenge (see Allen, Brown & Stohlgren 2009; Pyšek, Jarošík & Kučera 2002). One of the first steps towards managing IAS in protected areas is establishing which alien species are present, followed by ongoing surveillance a...
African savannas are characterised by temporal and spatial fluxes that are linked to fluxes in herbivore populations and vegetation structure and composition. We need to be concerned about these fluxes only when management actions cause the system to shift towards a less desired state. Large herbivores are a key attribute of African savannas and ar...
The proposed Highveld National Park (HNP) is an area of high conservation value in South Africa, covering approximately 0.03% of the endangered Grassland Biome. The park is situated immediately adjacent to the town of Potchefstroom in the North-West Province. The objective of this study was to identify, classify, describe and map the plant communit...
The need for a scientifically-based wildlife management plan and for more knowledge on vegetation led to an investigation into the plant ecology of the Rooipoort Nature Reserve. The main aim of this study was therefore to classify, describe and map the vegetation of the reserve. The floristic data were analysed according to the Braun-Blanquet proce...
The Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP) has been extended over the last couple of years. One of the newly procured areas is the Doornhoek section, which had been adjacent to the park. To develop scientifically sound management programmes for conservation areas, it is essential that an inventory of their natural resources be undertaken. The aim of t...
This is an extract of this Grassland Biome chapter from the pre-publication PDF of the book Mucina, L., & Rutherford, M.C. (eds). Reprint 2011. The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19. South African Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. ISBN: 978-1919976-21-1
South Africa is well known for its semi-arid lowland areas that have a distinct flora and species composition. Because ecosystems react differently to different management practices, it is important that a description and classification of the vegetation of an area be done. As part of a vegetation survey programme for the newly acquired farms incor...
The long-term conservation of viable ecosystems requires a broader understanding of the ecological processes involved. Because ecosystems react differently to different management practices, it is important to have a description and classification of the vegetation of an area available. As part of a vegetation survey programme for the newly acquire...
The establishment of the Vhembe-Dongola National Park has been an objective of several conservationists for many years. The ultimate objective is that this park would become a major component of a transfrontier park shared by Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The aim of this study was to identify, classify and describe the plant communities pres...
Roads affect ecosystems, biological communities and species in numerous and different ways, determined largely by their location, density, and distribution across the landscape (Hourdequin 2000). Roads generally have negative effects on the biotic integrity in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and these effects can be classified under seven...
As part of a larger project to assess the vegetation dynamics and conservation potential of the enlarged Mountain Zebra National Park, a checklist was produced to determine the plant species richness for this area. Six hundred and eighty species, represented by 333 genera and 87 families were identified. One hundred and eighty species belong to the...
This study is an investigation of the role that plants play in the survival of adult blackflies by providing shelter and carbohydrate food. A detailed phenological study of the 29 most abundant plant species in the Augrabies Falls National Park showed that throughout the year percentage of plant species flowering was remarkably constant. It is ther...
In the past, the alluvial floodplains of the Orange River were covered with riverine shrubland and woodland. However, there are indications that this has changed and that this vegetation and habitat has been influenced by a number of factors, namely: Expansion of irrigated crop farming; grazing pressure; and upstream dam construction. A botanical a...
The application of fire as a management tool is often used to change the species composition of the vegetation and its cover to maintain plant communities in a specific successional stage. This study investigates the influence of two fire treatments (a head and a back fire) on the plateau grassland communities in the Mountain Zebra National Park (M...
This study is an investigation of the role that plants play in the survival of adult blackflies by providing shelter and carbohydrate food. A detailed phenological study of the 29 most abundant plant species in the Augrabies Falls National Park showed that throughout the year the percentage of plant species flowering was remarkably constant. It is...
In the past, the alluvial floodplains of the Orange River were covered with riverine shrubland and woodland. However, there are indications that this has changed and that this vegetation and habitat has been influenced by a number of factors, namely: expansion of irrigated crop farming; grazing pressure; and upstream dam construction. A botanical a...
The application of fire as a management tool is often used to change the species composition of the vegetation and its cover to maintain plant communities in a specific successional stage. This study investigates the influence of two fire treatments (a head and a back fire) on the plateau grassland communities in the Mountain Zebra National Park (M...
As part of a vegetation survey programme for conservation areas in South Africa, the plant communities of the De Rust section of the Mountain Zebra National Park were investigated. From a TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, 14 plant communities, which can be placed into six major groups, were identified. A clas- sificatio...
A list of flowering plants has been compiled for the Augrabies Falls National Park, which occupies an area of approximately 18 600 ha. This list of 364 species represents 210 genera and 74 families. The Monocotyledonae are represented by 76 species (20.9 of the total number of species) and the Dicotyledonae by 288 (79.1 ). Approximately 54 of these...
ISO 14001 is a procedural approach to environmental management, based on a philosophy of continual improvement. The planning element of ISO 14001, requires that environmental objectives and environmental targets are set to achieve the goals of the environmental policy. The stocking of game in Vaalbos National Park, is an aspect which impacts on the...
A supplementary list of 101 new records of plant species, as well as an updated alphabetical check list comprising a total of 489 plant species, were compiled for the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. The area covers approximately 9 593 km2. These species rep- resent 214 genera and 55 families. The Pteridophyta is represented by two species (0.4 of t...
Classification, description and mapping of the vegetation of the Augrabies Falls National Park, Northern Cape, were initiated. The classification is intended to serve as a basis for the establishment of an efficient wildlife management programme as well as conservation policies for the Augrabies Falls National Park. Using the BBPC suite, according...
Many South African vegetation scientists use utilise the Braun-Blanquet methodology. The main aim of this paper is to describe an affordable, rapid and efficient process for analysing Braun-Blanquet phytosociological data sets on a personal computer. It describes a suite of utilities joining various phases and this makes the entire process possible...
Detailed classification, description and mapping of the Graspan-Holpan section of the Vaalbos National Park, Northern Cape, were initiated. This classification is intended to serve as a basis for the establishment of an efficient wildlife management programme as well as conservation policies for the Vaalbos National Park. Using a numerical classifi...
A procedure for the effective classification of large phytosociological data sets, and the combination of many data sets from various parts of the South African grasslands is demonstrated. The procedure suggests a region by region or project by project treatment of the data. The analyses are performed step by step to effectively bring together all...
Pachypodium namaquanum (Nyley ex Harb.) Welw., an unusual arborescent stem succulent from the succulent karoo of the arid Richtersveld in north-western South Africa and adjacent Namibia, is characterized by a striking curvature of the terminal 20–60 cm of the trunk toward the north. This orientation displays the single terminal whorl of drought-dec...
The Bankenveld Grassland in the Lichtenburg area was reclassified using TWINSPAN classification and subsequently Braun-Blanquet procedures to refine these results. In two phytosociological tables, two Major Communities. six Communities and eight Variants are identified and described. This new classification can now be included in the comprehensive...
The vegetation data of the Cymbopogon-Themeda Grassland in the Lichtenburg area was reclassified by a numerical classification technique (Twinspan) and refined by applying Braun-Blanquet procedures. The results, which can be integrated with existing phytosociological classifications of the western Transvaal grassland, are summarized in two phytosoc...
A detailed classification, description and mapping of the Than-Droogeveld section of the Vaalbos National Park, Northern Cape Province, were initiated. This classification is intended to serve as an ecological basis for the establishment of an efficient wildlife management programme as well as conservation policies for the Vaalbos National Park. Us...
A detailed syntaxonomical and synecological account of five newly described phytosociological classes of the western Transvaal, South Africa is given. Using a new large data set classification technique, a synoptic table was compiled from 1 025 releves, representing 114 plant communities. An objective classification technique (TWINSPAN) was used co...
The Braun-Blanquet technique, complimented by TWINSPAN, was used for a phytosociological classification of the study area. Thirteen plant communities were recognised and described. A hierarchical classification is suggested and each community is related to its particular environmental characteristics.
Relatively little is known about the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The classification of the vegetation of the Ba land type forms part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome. The result of the numerical classification obtained by TWINSPAN was refined by applying Braun-B...
Relatively litde is known about the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The classification of the dolomite and chert grassland in the western Transvaal (Fa land type) forms part of a research programme on the syntaxonomic and synecological synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome. Using a numerical classific...
Relatively little is known about the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The classification of the vegetation of the Fb land type forms part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome. Using a numerical classification technique (Twinspan) as a first approximation, the classificat...
The vegetation in permanently marked plots was monitored by means of point surveys for canopy spread cover over a six-year period. Annual grasses, as well as the creeping grass Tragus koelerioides, spread rapidly during the first two wet seasons after the end of the drought. They later declined in abundance, presumably as a result of competition wi...
Relatively little is known about the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The classification of the vegetation of the Bd and Ea land types forms part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. This is a first formal classification of the vegetation of the study ar...
Relatively little is known about the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. The classification of the vegetation of the Bd and Ea land types forms part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome in South Africa. This is a first formal classification of the vegetation of the study ar...
A check list of flowering plants has been compiled for the Vaalbos National Park, comprising 334 species. These species represent 211 genera and 65 families. The Monocotyledonae is represented by 10 families (15,6 of the total number of families) and the Dicotyledonae by 55 families (85,9 ). The life form spectrum of the plants indicates that Vaalb...
Die doel van hierdie studie was om hoofplantegroei-eenhede en hulle variasies, van die A-landtipe, te identifiseer, karakteriseer en aan die hand van die habitat ekologies te interpreteer. Vyf plantgemeenskappe is deur die toepassing van 'n numeriese klassifikasie en Braun-Blanquet-prosedures geidentifiseer en elk is met ’n spesifieke habitat gekor...
The aim of this study was to identify, characterize and interpret ecologically, by using habitat characteristics, the major vegetation units and their variations of the Ba land type. Six plant communities were successfully distinguished through applying a numerical classification (TWINSPAN) and Braun-Blanquet procedures. The plant communities coul...
As part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the grassland biome, and also as part of a vegetation survey programme of conservation areas of South Africa, the plant communities of the Faan Meintjes Nature Reserve were investigated. A TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, revealed eleven plant commun...
As part of a research programme on the synthesis of the vegetation of the western Grassland Biome, the plant communities of the Potchefstroom–Fochville–Parys area were investigated. The results of a numerical classification (Twinspan) of 52 relevés were refined by Braun–Blanquet procedures. The analyses revealed seven plant communities which may be...
Die inloed van alkaligraniet en aangrensende gesteentes op die verspreiding van plantspesies en plantgemeenskappe is ondersoek. Die plantgemeenskappe van die studiegebied is suksesvol onderskei deur die toepassing van die TWINSPAN-numeriese klassifikasietegniek en daaropvolgende verfyning deur die Braun-Blanquet-tegniek. Ses plantgemeenskappe is ge...
