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An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape
Includes abstract.
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613546276192256 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Blanchard, Ryan |
| author2 | Holmes, P M |
| author_browse | Blanchard, Ryan Holmes, P M |
| author_facet | Holmes, P M Blanchard, Ryan |
| author_sort | Blanchard, Ryan |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes abstract. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6235 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:52.055Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| 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:11427/6235 An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape Blanchard, Ryan Holmes, P M Richardson, D M Botany Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-134). Riparian zones are dynamic, as a result of varying levels of disturbance from natural flooding regimes, and this makes them particularly susceptible habitats to invasion by alien plants. In South Africa, particularly the Fynbos Biome, closed-stand invasions by alien Acacia and Eucalyptus species have been able to develop within riparian areas. Their impacts on water resources and biodiversity have been countered by manual clearing in order to protect the valuable ecosystem services provided by intact riparian zones, as well as the biodiversity of indigenous communities. The Working for Water programme is tasked with the important role of controlling invasive alien plants with an assumption that indigenous vegetation will recover naturally. Current management objectives are to reduce above ground biomass of invasive alien plants by labour intensive means, after which indigenous vegetation is usually left to recover without further intervention. However, it is unclear to what extent natural recovery can be achieved. The main aims of this study were to ascertain the nature of riparian vegetation recovery, as well as determine which clearing treatment was most successful in promoting recovery. This was achieved by focusing on: 1) the recovery of species composition and biodiversity, 2) recovery of vegetation structure (assumed to be a surrogate for ecosystem function) and 3) whether a particular clearing treatment best promoted indigenous riparian vegetation recovery. Reference sites (control), as determined by Prins et aI., (2004), were compared to alien impacted sites in order to analyse variation among vegetation variables. Three initial clearing treatments were identified, namely: Fell Only (trees are felled and slash left on site), Fell & Remove (slash is removed from the riparian zone) and Fell & Bum (the slash is left for six months to a year before it is burnt). 2014-08-13T14:15:50Z 2014-08-13T14:15:50Z 2008 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6235 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Botany Blanchard, Ryan An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| title_full | An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| title_fullStr | An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| title_full_unstemmed | An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| title_short | An investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the Western Cape |
| title_sort | investigation of riparian vegetation recovery following invasive alien tree clearing in the western cape |
| topic | Botany |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6235 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT blanchardryan aninvestigationofriparianvegetationrecoveryfollowinginvasivealientreeclearinginthewesterncape AT blanchardryan investigationofriparianvegetationrecoveryfollowinginvasivealientreeclearinginthewesterncape |