scholarly journals The major vegetation communities of the Augrabies Falls National Park, Northern Cape. 1. The southern section

Koedoe ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Bezuidenhout

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 to Braun-Blanquet procedures to classify the vegetation of the southern section of the Augrabies Falls National Park, six major plant communities are recognised. A hierarchical plant community classification, description, ecological interpretation and a vegetation map are presented.

Koedoe ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Bezuidenhout

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 classification technique (TWINSPAN) as a first approximation, the classification was refined by applying Braun-Blanquet procedures. A hierarchical plant community clas- sification, description, ecological interpretation and a vegetation map are presented. In the phytosociological table nine major plant communities are recognised.


Koedoe ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Bezuidenhout

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. Using a numerical classification technique (TWINSPAN) as a first approximation, the classification was refined by applying Braun-Blanquet procedures. A hierarchical classification, as well as description, ecological interpretation and a vegetation map are presented. In the phytosociological table 11 major plant communities are recognised.


Koedoe ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L.R. Brown ◽  
G.J. Bredenkamp ◽  
N. Van Rooyen

After classifications and descriptions of the southern and western sections of the Borakalalo Nature Reserve were published, a study on the phytosociology of the northern part was initiated. The study is aimed at providing an ecological basis for establishing an efficient wildlife management programme for the reserve. From a TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, 15 plant communities, which can be grouped into six major plant communities, were identified. Descriptions of the various plant communities, include diagnostic species, prominent species and less conspicuous species of the tree, shrub, forb and grass strata. A hierarchical classification, description of the plant communities and a vegetation map are presented.


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vilis Kurmis ◽  
Sara L. Webb ◽  
Lawrence C. Merriam Jr.

The vegetation of Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, U.S.A., was investigated, in part to establish a plant community classification system that would be useful to park managers and naturalists, and to evaluate short-term changes within plant communities. Samples from 120 stands were ordinated and classified on the basis of synecological coordinates, a system of ecological coordinates relating floristics to physical site conditions. Along indirect gradients of moisture and nutrient conditions, 12 ecological types were distinguished. Within each ecological type, it is expected that stands of diverse cover types will tend to converge, over a period of 150–200 years, on an edaphically constrained “climax” community characteristic of that ecological type, given present management practices and disturbance regimes. Permanent plots were established in 46 stands to permit future testing of these projections. Ecological types, named for expected dominants and for a typical undergrowth species or genus, include (1) jack pine – oak – Arctostaphylos; (2) red pine – white pine – Linnaea; (3) fir–spruce–birch–Lycopodium; (4) fir–birch–Mitella; (5) oak–maple–Uvularia; (6) ash–elm–Trillium; (7) black ash – Caltha; (8) white cedar – Coptis; (9) black spruce – Alnus; (10) black spruce – Kalmia; (11) leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne) bog; and (12) marsh.


Author(s):  
George P Malanson ◽  
Michelle L Talal ◽  
Elizabeth R Pansing ◽  
Scott B Franklin

Current research on vegetation makes a difference in people’s lives. Plant community classification is a backbone of land management, plant communities are changing in response to anthropogenic drivers, and the processes of change have impacts on ecosystem services. In the following progress report, we summarize the status of classification and recent research on vegetation responses to pollution, especially nitrogen deposition, invasive species, climate change, and land use and direct exploitation. Two areas with human feedbacks are underscored: fire ecology and urban ecology. Prominent questions at the current research frontier are highlighted with attention to new perspectives.


Koedoe ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Stalmans ◽  
W.P.D. Gertenbach ◽  
Filipa Carvalho-Serfontein

The Parque Nacional do Limpopo (PNL) was proclaimed during 2002. It covers 1 000 000 ha in Moçambique on the eastern boundary of the Kruger National Park (KNP) and forms one of the major components of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. A vegetation map was required as one of the essential building blocks for the drafting of its management plan (Grossman & Holden 2002).


Koedoe ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L.R. Brown ◽  
H. Bezuidenhout

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- sification and description of these communities, as well as a vegetation map are presented. Associated gradients in habitat were identified by using an ordination algorithm (DECORANA). The diagnostic species as well as the prominent and less conspicuous species of the tree, shrub, herb and grass strata are outlined.


2019 ◽  
pp. 18-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Grummo ◽  
R. V. Tsvirko ◽  
N. A. Zeliankevich ◽  
E. Y. Kulikova ◽  
O. V. Sozinov

In 2013–2018 studies of phytocoenotic diversity were carried out in the territory of the National Park “Belovezhskaya Pushcha” (Belarus). As a result, a classification scheme of vegetation was developed based on the floristic approach (Braun-Blanquet method) and a large-scale (1 : 100 000) geobotanical map was made. The map is compiled on the basis of the field data, analysis of remote sensing data, literary and cartographic sources, land and forest inventory materials. The compilation of this geobotanical map was consisted of 4 stages. 1) The pre-field (cameral) stage included: collection of archive data about the investigated territory, selection of space imagery, primary processing of digital images and data visualization, interpretation, automatic non-controlled classification, preliminary map compilation. 2) Field studies provided for surface interpretation of vegetation based on satellite imagery.In total, 1851 complete geobotanical relevés were made during field studies, including 743 forest, 452 mire, 576 meadow, segetal and ruderal plant communities. 3) The post-field (cameral) stage, including the preparation of the cartographic base; the systematization of field materials; the development of the final legend; the systematization of image standards for creating cartographic models; the controlled classification of images with preliminary segmentation by the method of superpixels (SNIC-Simple Non-Iterative Clustering); assessment reliability of classification results; geometric and geographical generalization; making an original map. 4) Field check (verification) of geobotanical map. During the 2018 field season a vegetation map of the protected area was checked with the compilation of the final reliability protocol. The main unit of the map legend, a syntaxon of the floristic classification of vegetation, is the association, however, along with the association, to display the typology of the vegetation cover, syntaxons of as a higher hierarchical rank (union) and lower (options, facies), as well as rankless communities are used. In establishing the names of associations and subassociations and in comparative analysis various regional works were taken into account (Matuszkiewicz, Matuszkiewicz, 1954; Czerwiński, 1978; Faliński, 1991, 1994а, b; Kwiatkowski, 1994; Bulokhov, Solomeshch, 2003; Semenischenkov, 2014; Lądowe ekosystemy…, 2016; Dubyna et al., 2019;). In the legend, the mapped units reflecting the restoration stages of the association are marked with letter indices. Heterogeneous areas consisting of regularly and repeatedly alternating plant communities are presented on the map as complexes (phytocoenoses-complex). In total, the map legend contains 75 mapped vegetation units, including forest — 40, shrub — 4, mire — 13, meadow and wasteland — 11, ruderal and segetal vegetation — 6, deforestation and disturbed forest habitats — 1. Separate units reflect other lands (water, residential development, etc.) The practical application of the geobotanical map for identifying key (important for biodiversity conservation) habitats and developing a science-based approach to the functional zoning of protected areas is shown.


Bothalia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga Van der Merwe ◽  
M. Timm Hoffman

Background: Akkerendam Nature Reserve is the second oldest proclaimed municipal nature reserve in the Northern Cape, yet to date no vegetation map has been produced. The possible expansion of the reserve is under consideration.Objectives: To produce a vegetation map, classification and description of the vegetation of the reserve and proposed expansion area, and assess how the vegetation has changed over the past century.Method: Braun Blanquet methodology was used to produce a vegetation map. To quantify vegetation change, (1) relevés (a plot of phytosociological data) composed from Acocks’ species lists, recorded in 1954 and 1956, were compared with the phytosociological table, and (2) recent repeat photographs (2016) were compared to four images taken by Pole Evans (ca. 1920).Results: Three plant communities were identified within the reserve and expansion area; however, four subcommunities are only found in the proposed expansion area. Relevés compiled from Acocks’ species lists were absorbed into the phytosociological table indicating that no significant vegetation change has taken place in the last approximately 60 years. This study found 222 species in common with Acocks’ species lists; however, he did not list the alien invasive species Prosopis glandulosa. Comparison of repeat photographs with images taken nearly a century earlier suggests that, except for the impact of recent fires, the composition remained relatively similar.Conclusion: The phytosociological approach adopted has provided a map of the vegetation units of the study area, while the historical comparisons indicate that the vegetation of Akkerendam Nature Reserve has not undergone significant change over the last 100 years.


Koedoe ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. De Klerk ◽  
L.R. Brown ◽  
H. Bezuidenhout

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 acquired farms to be incorporated into the Mountain Zebra National Park, the vegetation of the Ebenhaezer section was investigated. Ahierarchical classification, vegetation map, description and ecological interpretation of the plant communities of the study area are presented. ATWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures revealed eight distinct plant communities. Habitat factors associated with differences in vegetation include topography, soil form and grazing. Descriptions of the plant communities include diagnostic species as well as prominent and less conspicuous species of the tree, shrub and herbaceous layers.


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