A reclassification and description of the Waterberg Mountain vegetation of the Marakele National Park, Limpopo province, South Africa

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 and description of sections of the Waterberg Mountain vegetation in the park were done in 1995. Since 1995, various farms adjacent to the park have been bought and incorporated into it. Little is known about the vegetation and habitat status of these newly acquired areas, which led to this study. The floristic data were analysed according to the Braun-Blanquet procedure using the Braun Blanquet Personal Computer (BBPC) suite as well as the JUICE software package, whilst the diversity of the plant communities was determined using the Shannon–Wiener and Gini–Simpson indices. A total of 12 plant communities were identified and are described according to their diagnostic, constant and dominant plant species as determined from the synoptic table analysis as well as their characteristic species as derived from the phytosociological table. Based on the topography and plant species composition, the vegetation can be grouped into five major groups, namely the: (1) lower midslope and plateau shrub- and woodlands, (2) high altitude midslope woodland, (3) high-lying plateau and midslope grass-, shrub- and woodlands, (4) ravine, footslope and drainage line forests and woodland, and (5) higher-lying plateau wetlands and forblands. The high altitude midslope grassland and shrubland and the lower midslope and plateau areas have the highest diversity. The high-lying vegetation has affinity with Bankenveld and Drakensberg vegetation, whilst the relatively low-lying plateaus and midslope vegetation are typical of the bushveld areas.Conservation implications: This reclassification, mapping and description of the Waterberg Mountain vegetation have been incorporated into the Management Plan for the park. It will enable managers to make scientifically based decisions on the management of the different ecosystems to ensure biodiversity conservation. This vegetation study also provides baseline information that allows for vegetation assessments to determine veld condition, carrying capacity and stocking density for the park.

At the origins of Pompeii: the plant landscape of the Sarno River floodplain from the first millennium bc to the ad 79 eruption

The ad 79 eruption of the Vesuvius severely affected the floodplain surrounding the ancient city of Pompeii, i.e. the Sarno River floodplain. The landscape was covered with volcaniclastic materials that destroyed the ecosystem but, at the same time, preserved the traces of former environmental conditions. This study provides—for the first time—a pollen sequence reconstructing the environmental evolution and the plant landscape of the Sarno floodplain between 900 and 750 cal bc and ad 79, i.e. before and during the foundation of the city, and during its life phases. Previous geomorphological studies revealed that the portion of the Sarno floodplain under the “Pompeii hill” was a freshwater backswamp with patchy inundated and dry areas. Palynology depicts a thin forest cover since the Early Iron Age, suggesting an open environment with a mosaic of vegetation types. The local presence of Mediterranean coastal shrubland, hygrophilous riverine forest and mesophilous plain forest is combined with the regional contribution of mountain vegetation through the sequence. Oscillations between inundated and wet ground characterized the studied area until the ad 79 eruption. Such a natural environment shows anthropogenic traits since pre-Roman times: pasturelands, cultivated fields and olive groves, which probably occupied drier soils. The most important change in the land use system was the introduction of cabbage cultivation in the fourth century bc and its intensification from the second century bc, when Roman influence grew. The presence of tree crops and of ornamental trees reveals the opulence of the Imperial age until the catastrophic eruption.

Mid-term changes in the physiognomy of plant communities and functional plant groups define successional pathways of mountain vegetation in the province of Córdoba (Argentina)

To identify restoration strategies over degraded semi-natural plant communities, successional pathways and their local controls should be identified. The objective of this work is to quantify the changes in the physiognomy and functional groups of plant communities in the Sierras Chicas of Córdoba along seven years. Lyapunov coefficients were calculated and arranged in two-phase diagrams, identifying different successional pathways over two soil categories and six plant communities. Du Rietz`s life forms were identified defining several plant functional groups. Results showed two successional pathways in the field of azonal soils and three in the field of intrazonal soils. Rainfall, extent of human-caused disturbances, and plant interactions are the leading causes explaining the changes in the structure of the plant communities. Fire and overgrazing retract the successions by altering the cover of plant communities and their functional groups.

Analysis of high-mountain vegetation of the Kurai Ridge

The paper presents a taxonomic, areographic and belt-andzonal analysis of the high-mountain flora of the Kurai Ridge. The flora of the region in question contains 312 species of plants, referred to 143 genera belonging to 48 families. Analysis of the taxonomic structure of the high-mountain flora of the Kurai Ridge has shown the following most abundant plant families: Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae, and Poaceae. For the variety of the genera, the following genera are predominant: Carex, Pedicularis, Salix, and Oxytropis. The areographic analysis has demonstrated that the said species are of the North Asian (21 %), South Siberian (19.4 %) and Holarctic (17.4 %) origins. Dominant in the belt-and-zonal range are the following species: high-mountain (23.2 %), light-coniferous forest (17.7 %) and Arctic Alpine (17.4 %) species. In general, the composition and structure of the high-mountain flora of the Kurai Ridge are determined by its geographic position at the boundary of Central and South-Eastern Altai and by decrease in the amount of precipitation in the south-eastern direction.

On the Physicochemical Characteristics and Applications of an “Undesirable” Pyrenean Thorny Cushion Dwarf: Echinospartum horridum (Vahl) Roth

Small evergreen shrubs of the family Fabaceae represent a large proportion of current Mediterranean mountain vegetation. Their low pastoral value and tendency for encroachment makes these plants undesirable. In this paper, the thermal and chemical characteristics of Echinospartum horridum, a thorny cushion-shaped dwarf shrub native to the French Central Massif and the Pyrenees (particularly dominant in the shrublands of the Pyrenees), have been analyzed with a view to its valorization. Although the higher and lower heating values of the biomass from E. horridum met the ISO 17225-2:2014 requirements for its use in pellets, the ash content was slightly above the upper limit, so it would not comply with the normative for its acceptable use as a fuel. Nevertheless, the presence of high added-value flavonoids and lignans in its extracts, which are receiving increasing recent interest as efficient anti-tumor drugs and antivirals, may open the door to the valorization of this shrub for pharmacological applications.