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A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa

The physical environment of a fynbos community was measured from before the experiments began and the work is continuing. Prior to burning 0, 25 ha-, and s I ightl y smaller plots..,were I aid out in an approximately 20 year old proteoid-ericoid-restioid community. The community 1s physiognomy and s...

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Main Author: Durand, Barend Jacobus
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Durand, Barend Jacobus
author_browse Durand, Barend Jacobus
author_facet Durand, Barend Jacobus
author_sort Durand, Barend Jacobus
collection Thesis
description The physical environment of a fynbos community was measured from before the experiments began and the work is continuing. Prior to burning 0, 25 ha-, and s I ightl y smaller plots..,were I aid out in an approximately 20 year old proteoid-ericoid-restioid community. The community 1s physiognomy and structure were described with methods that are compatible with the vegetation. Al I vegetation and environmental parameters that were measured confirm the classification of the fynbos that it is an evergreen broad to narrow leaved sclerophyl lous shrub land with rest ioid, ericoid and proteoid elements (Taylor, 1978). Experimental burns in al I the seasons, except winter, indicated that the timing of burning for catchment management is very important. Summer and spring burns, in that sequence, have the least short-term effect on fynbos species composition and the rate of vegetative recovery. Autumn fires suppress both the recovery of the vegetation and species survival. The phenology of species in the fynbos is changed for at least one season after a fire. Geophytes are stimulated to flower in abundance after a summer burn but much less so by a spring burn. The spring burn prevented at least one geophyte species from flowering the fol lowing spring which is the flowering time for the species. Records for the autumn burn are from too short a time after a burn for conclusions, but the regrowth of Rest io egregius was slower than for any of the other treatments. Flowering maturity is concomitantly retarded. Fi re intensities varied between the seasons, but the greatest factor determining intensity was rather the amount of fuel available per unit area than the season of the burn. composition also determines the heat value of the fuel.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:57.504Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40484 A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa Durand, Barend Jacobus The physical environment of a fynbos community was measured from before the experiments began and the work is continuing. Prior to burning 0, 25 ha-, and s I ightl y smaller plots..,were I aid out in an approximately 20 year old proteoid-ericoid-restioid community. The community 1s physiognomy and structure were described with methods that are compatible with the vegetation. Al I vegetation and environmental parameters that were measured confirm the classification of the fynbos that it is an evergreen broad to narrow leaved sclerophyl lous shrub land with rest ioid, ericoid and proteoid elements (Taylor, 1978). Experimental burns in al I the seasons, except winter, indicated that the timing of burning for catchment management is very important. Summer and spring burns, in that sequence, have the least short-term effect on fynbos species composition and the rate of vegetative recovery. Autumn fires suppress both the recovery of the vegetation and species survival. The phenology of species in the fynbos is changed for at least one season after a fire. Geophytes are stimulated to flower in abundance after a summer burn but much less so by a spring burn. The spring burn prevented at least one geophyte species from flowering the fol lowing spring which is the flowering time for the species. Records for the autumn burn are from too short a time after a burn for conclusions, but the regrowth of Rest io egregius was slower than for any of the other treatments. Flowering maturity is concomitantly retarded. Fi re intensities varied between the seasons, but the greatest factor determining intensity was rather the amount of fuel available per unit area than the season of the burn. composition also determines the heat value of the fuel. 2024-07-23T13:17:24Z 2024-07-23T13:17:24Z 1981 2024-07-23T07:07:57Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40484 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science
spellingShingle Durand, Barend Jacobus
A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
title_full A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
title_fullStr A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
title_short A study of the short-term responses of fynbos to fire in the Kogelberg State Forest, South Africa
title_sort study of the short term responses of fynbos to fire in the kogelberg state forest south africa
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40484
work_keys_str_mv AT durandbarendjacobus astudyoftheshorttermresponsesoffynbostofireinthekogelbergstateforestsouthafrica
AT durandbarendjacobus studyoftheshorttermresponsesoffynbostofireinthekogelbergstateforestsouthafrica