Life form and species diversity on abandoned croplands, Roggeveld, South Africa

dc.contributor.authorVan der Merwe, Helga
dc.contributor.authorVan Rooyen, Margaretha W.
dc.date.accessioned2012-05-02T08:38:52Z
dc.date.available2012-05-02T08:38:52Z
dc.date.issued2012-03
dc.description.abstractThe Roggeveld consists of an island of Mountain Renosterveld (Fynbos biome) surrounded by Succulent Karoo biome vegetation. Since management of abandoned croplands depends on a better understanding of their succession sequences, vegetation recovery on abandoned croplands in the Roggeveld was studied using species and life form diversity parameters. Abandoned croplands of different ages were compared with each other and to the natural vegetation. Therophytes and chamaephytes were the most abundant life forms. Chamaephytes made an overwhelming contribution to the relative cover. Species-area curves (exponential function) differed significantly between the abandoned croplands and natural vegetation. Species richness increased with time since abandonment but no similar increase in species evenness, Shannon or Simpson indices were found. A regression of species richness against age of abandoned cropland predicted that an abandoned cropland of approximately 33 years should be as species rich as the natural vegetation, but a principal cooordinate analysis of floristic data indicated that all the plots were floristically still extremely different from the natural vegetation. Across all nine survey plots only 15 species contributed to a high cover on the plots. Vegetation recovery on abandoned croplands in the Roggeveld occurs naturally, yet the rate of recovery varies among the life forms.en
dc.description.librariannf2012en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe National Research Foundation under grant number 61277.en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tarf20en_US
dc.identifier.citationVan der Merwe, H & Van Rooyen, MC 2012, 'Life form and species diversity on abandoned croplands, Roggeveld, South Africa', African Journal of Range and Forage Science, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 99-110.en
dc.identifier.issn1727–9380 (online)
dc.identifier.issn1022–0119 (print)
dc.identifier.other10.2989/10220119.2011.642097
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/18638
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherTaylor & Francisen_US
dc.rights© NISC (Pty) Ltden_US
dc.subjectVegetation recoveryen
dc.subjectAbandoned croplandsen
dc.subject.lcshPlant diversity conservation -- South Africa -- Little Karooen
dc.subject.lcshFynbos ecology -- South Africa -- Little Karooen
dc.subject.lcshSucculent plants -- South Africa -- Little Karooen
dc.subject.lcshSpecies diversity -- South Africa -- Little Karooen
dc.titleLife form and species diversity on abandoned croplands, Roggeveld, South Africaen
dc.typePostprint Articleen

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