Are wetland plant communities in the Cape flora influenced by environmental and land-use changes?

Abstract

Includes bibliographical references.Considerable attention has been given over the past few years to the distribution and environmental condition of wetlands in South Africa. A 1987-1989 study investigated over one hundred wetlands to establish unique discernible features for grouping and classifying wetlands in the Cape Floristic Region. In the current study, a representative subset of the wetlands surveyed in 1988/89 was re-examined. This thesis characterizes and assesses wetland plant communities and wetland types in both data sets, attempts to identify the major environmental factors influencing plant species distribution in the wetlands, assesses changes in plant species community composition over time; and asks whether surrounding land-use has influenced these. In the current study, of the 142 plants species recorded, 114 were identified to species with 28 to genus level. The historical vegetation data includes 173 plants, of which 115 were identified to species with 58 to genus level