A phytosociology survey and vegetation description of inselbergs in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, South Africa

Koedoe - African Protected Area Conservation and Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A phytosociology survey and vegetation description of inselbergs in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, South Africa
 
Creator Brand, Robert F. Collins, Nacelle du Preez, P. Johann
 
Subject Phytosociology; vegetation science; botany; alpine ecology; conservation Alpine vegetation; Classification; Conservation; Correspondence Analysis; grassland; Habitats; Juice
Description No previous scientific surveys have been conducted on inselbergs in the Drakensberg. The aim of this study was to collect specimens, identify, describe and name the vegetation clusters and assess biogeographical connections with other Afromontane regions. A total of 103 relevés where sampled from six inselbergs. The plant sampling was carried out according to the Braun-Blanquet method with the plant and environmental data entered in TURBOVEG and exported as a Cornell Condensed format file (CC!) into Juice. Classification was completed using TWINSPAN (Two-way Indicator Species Analysis) (modified), resulting in 4 major communities, 11 communities, 13 sub-communities and 18 variants. Ordination (indirect) was carried out using CANOCO (version 4.5) to investigate the relationship between species. The four major communities identified are Rhodohypoxis rubella (wetland grass and forblands), Scirpus ficinioides – Crassula peploides (sheet rock grass and forblands), Pentaschistis exserta (high-altitude alpine grassland), previously undescribed, and Merxmuellera drakensbergensis – Helichrysum trilineatum (high-altitude alpine fynbos grassland), described in other vegetation and floristic studies. Four habitats were identified, namely wetlands, sheet rock shallow soil, highaltitude alpine grassland and deep soil high-altitude fynbos grasslands. Substrate and moisture availability appeared to be the defining micro-climatic conditions determining the different vegetation clusters whilst altitude is the overriding environmental factor influencing all vegetation.Conservation implications: Rising temperatures as a result of carbon dioxide increase is predicted to drastically decrease the number of endemic and near-endemic montane species, whilst altering the composition of vegetation units which comprise the alpine vegetation.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration (grant # 7920-05)
Date 2015-04-16
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Survey; Plot method
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/koedoe.v57i1.1233
 
Source Koedoe; Vol 57, No 1 (2015); 12 pages 2071-0771 0075-6458
 
Language eng
 
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The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1233/1756 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1233/1757 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1233/1758 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1233/1748 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1233/1740
 
Coverage Africa; uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site present Total counts; abundance; species richness
Rights Copyright (c) 2015 Robert F. Brand, Nacelle Collins, P. Johann du Preez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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