Ordination and classification of vegetation of Songimvelo Game Reserve in the Barberton Mountainland, South Africa for the assess­ ment of wildlife habitat distribution and quality

Bothalia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Stalmans ◽  
E. R. Robinson ◽  
K. Balkwill
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Species Assemblage ◽  
Vegetation Survey ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Game Reserve ◽  
Drainage Line ◽  
Forage Value ◽  
Specific Species

A vegetation survey was undertaken of the 49 000 ha Songimvelo Game Reserve in the Barberton Mountainland of Mpumalanga. South Africa with the aim to identify constituent plant communities and to assess their relative value to wild herbivores. The vegetation is highly diverse with representation of three biomes: Savanna. Grassland and Forest A total of 428 plots were sampled by means of a semi-quantitative technique. Data were subjected to ordination (CANOCO) and clas­sification (PATN). The composition of the 19 distinct communities is determined through an intricate combination of environmental factors as evident from the ordination results. Firstly drainage line' position is critical, followed by land use history and further by the interplay between elevation and geology. These findings are in line with results obtained from other studies along the eastern Escarpment. Alluvium, mafic and ultramafic lavas support mixed veld, whereas felsic lavas, sandstones and quartzites support sour veld which has a very low forage value in the dry’ season. Each community, through its specific species assemblage, structure and location, forms a distinctly different habitat in terms of its value to the various species of herbivores in the SGR

scholarly journals A checklist of the non-acarine arachnids (Chelicerata: Arachnida) of the Ndumo Game Reserve, Maputaland, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.R. Haddad ◽  
A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman ◽  
W. Wesołowska
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Acacia Tortilis ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Floodplain Vegetation ◽  
Game Reserve ◽  
Sand Forest ◽  
Fig Tree

Arachnids (Chelicerata: Arachnida) were collected in the Ndumo Game Reserve (Maputaland, South Africa) during 11 collecting trips in the period 2000–2006. Sampling was undertaken by various methods in eight broad habitat types: Acacia tortilis savanna; Acacia xanthophloea (fever tree) forests; deciduous broadleaf woodland; Ficus (wild fig tree) forests; floodplain vegetation; riparian forest; sand forest; and subtropical bush. In total, 457 species of arachnids were collected, representing six orders, 59 families and 240 determined genera. The most diverse order was the Araneae (46 families, 431 spp.), followed by the Pseudoscorpiones (6 families, 12 spp.), Scorpiones (3 families, 8 spp.), Opiliones (2 families, 3 spp.), Solifugae (1 family, 2 spp.) and Amblypygi (a single species). The most diverse families all belonged to the Araneae: Salticidae (82 spp.), Thomisidae (56 spp.) and Araneidae (38 spp.). The spider diversity is the highest recorded from any protected area in South Africa so far, and represents approximately 22 % of the country’s spider fauna. The habitat and guild associations of each species are provided.

scholarly journals THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF ESTIMATABILITY ASSESSMENT OF TRAIN SITUATION SIGNS FOR WORK OF INTELLECTUAL LOCOMOTIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (38) ◽  
pp. 223-231
Author(s):  
O. Gorobсhenko
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Random Search ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Train Control ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
Control Decision ◽  
Definition Of

The article is devoted to the problem of implementation of intelligent control systems in transport. An important task is to assess the information parameters of the control systems. In the existing works the question of definition of one of the basic parameters of functioning of locomotive control systems - information value of separate signs of a train situation is not considered. This does not make it possible to determine the order of signal processing at the input and assess their contribution to the adoption of a control decision. Moreover, informativeness is a relative value, which is expressed in the different information value of a particular feature for the classification of different train situations. Also, the informativeness of the feature may depend on the type of decisive rules in the classification procedure. The quality of recognition of a train situation in which the locomotive crew is, depends on the quality of the features used by the classification system. The decisive criterion for the informativeness of the features in the problem of pattern recognition is the magnitude of losses from errors. To determine the range of the most informative features of train situations, the method of random search with adaptation was used. The results of the work make it possible to optimize the operation of automated and intelligent train control systems by reducing the amount of calculations and simplifying their algorithm.

scholarly journals The vegetation of Tshanini Game Reserve and a comparison with equivalent units in the Tembe Elephant Park in Maputaland, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.Y. Gaugris ◽  
W.S. Matthews ◽  
M.W. Van Rooyen ◽  
J. Du P. Bothma
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Management Decisions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Renewable Natural Resources ◽  
Game Reserve ◽  
Northern Maputaland

The Tembe Elephant Park was proclaimed in 1983 after negotiations between the then KwaZulu Bureau of Natural Resources and the Tembe Tribal Authority in consultation with the local communities of northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The park boundaries were subsequently fenced and animal numbers started to increase. The fence has kept the utilisation of renewable natural resources by the local communities at bay for the past 19 years. In this period, the vegetation of the park has been utilised only by the indigenous fauna, but it has been affected by management decisions and possibly also regional environmental changes.

scholarly journals Vegetation survey of the Khomas Hochland in central-western Namibia: syntaxonomical descriptions

Bothalia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Strohbach
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Vegetation Survey ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Grassland Biome ◽  
Botanical Diversity ◽  
Riverine Habitats ◽  
Landscape Units ◽  
Great Escarpment ◽  
Fifth Order

Background: The Great Escarpment of southern Africa takes the form of an extended mountainous highland in central-western Namibia, commonly referred to as the ‘Khomas Hochland’. It is regarded as an area of high botanical diversity. Yet only few localised studies on the vegetation composition are available. The Khomas Hochland is formed on the southern part of the Damara Orogen and dominated by metamorphosed sediments. Climatically it forms a transition between the hot desert of the Namib and the slightly cooler hot steppe in the inland.Objectives: To classify and provide syntaxonomical descriptions of the vegetation of the Khomas Hochland.Methods: A dataset comprising 1151 relevés and 914 species was compiled from various surveys, mostly collected under, and to the standards of, the umbrella project ‘Vegetation Survey of Namibia’. For first classifications, the data set was reduced to a synusial set consisting of trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs and grasses only.Results: The classification resulted in four major landscape units, being the Pre-Namib and Escarpment zone, the Khomas Hochland proper, riverine habitats as well as surrounding lowlands. The classification was further refined using Cocktail procedures to produce 30 associations, one with four sub-associations. These are described in this paper.Conclusion: A classification of synoptic data grouped the associations into five orders and one undefined cluster of associations on specialised desert habitats. Four of these orders correspond to the habitat types identified in the first classification. The fifth order, the Senegalio hereroensis–Tarchonanthoetalia camphorathi, represents high mountains of the central Khomas Hochland, which link biogeographically to the grassland biome in South Africa.

scholarly journals The legal position on the classification of human tissue in South Africa: Can tissues be owned?

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safia Mahomed ◽  
Melodie Nöthling-Slabbert ◽  
Michael S Pepper
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Tissue ◽  
Legal Position
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