A guide to a vanishing flora
Date
2021-03-29
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ASSAf
Abstract
Renosterveld is a highly endangered vegetation type that once covered over 2 million hectares within the Cape
Floristic Region. Today, the estimated 18 000 remaining patches are widely scattered across the landscape,
collectively covering less than 4% of the original extent of this once-expansive veld type. Renosterveld differs from
the neighbouring and better-known fynbos in that it occurs on nutrient-rich soils derived from shale, as opposed
to the nutrient-poor sandstone soils that support fynbos. Fynbos is best known for its tall proteas and showy
ericas, as well as reed-like restios. Renosterveld, on the other hand, is more grassy and characterised by shrubs
of low to medium height. In the past, and unlike fynbos, renosterveld supported an abundance of large grazing
mammals and their accompanying predators. This began to change around 2000 years ago when the Khoekhoen
arrived with domesticated livestock whose more selective feeding habits would have differed from those of wildlife,
thus impacting on the flora. Large wild mammals were virtually exterminated when European settlers arrived
with modern firearms some 300 years ago, and domestic livestock became the dominant grazers. The fate of
the renosterveld was finally sealed after World War II, when mechanised farming allowed large tracts of land to
be converted to crops such as wheat and canola. Whether the original renosterveld was a shrubby grassland
or a grassy shrubland is a topic that ecologists debate today, as the changing grazing pressures and humaninfluenced
fire regimes would have affected the proportional contribution of these two important components of the
vegetation. Better understanding of this issue would be important for managing this vegetation type correctly, and
this book provides some insights into these intriguing questions. Nonetheless, forming an acceptably robust grasp
of the functioning and dynamics of such a fractured ecosystem is akin to visualising the image of a 100-piece
jigsaw puzzle from four remaining pieces.
Description
CITATION: Van Wilgen, B. W. 2021. A guide to a vanishing flora. South African Journal of Science, 117(3/4):9169, doi:10.17159/sajs.2021/9169.
The original publication is available at https://sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at https://sajs.co.za
Keywords
Conservation biology -- South Africa -- Overberg, Endangered ecosystems -- South Africa -- Overberg -- Guidebooks, Ecology -- South Africa -- Overberg, Plants -- South Africa -- Overberg -- Identification, Animals -- South Africa -- Overberg -- Identification
Citation
Van Wilgen, B. W. 2021. A guide to a vanishing flora. South African Journal of Science, 117(3/4):9169, doi:10.17159/sajs.2021/9169.