Vegetation : Between Soils and Herbivores

• The vegetation of the study area in Chobe National Park is influenced by a range of factors, including inundation by the Chobe River, soil moisture and fertility, and the impacts of different-size grazers and browsers. This chapter focuses on how the structure and species composition of the present vegetation in northern Chobe National Park is related to recent herbivory by elephants, as agents shaping the vegetation, and by mesoherbivores acting as controllers or responders, along with abiotic controllers such as soil type and distance to the river. In the study, a two-way indicator species analysis classified the vegetation data into four more or less distinct plant community groups (i) Baikiaea plurijuga-Combretum apiculatum woodland, (ii) Combretum mossambicense-Friesodielsia obovata wooded shrubland, (iii) Capparis tomentosa-Flueggea virosa shrubland and (iv) Cynodon dactylon-Heliotropium ovalifolium floodplain, named after the TWINSPAN indicator or preferential species with high cover, and the relative amount of shrubs and trees.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Abiotic controllers

Biotic variables

Chobe National Park

Herbivores

Plant communities

Soil

Species distribution

Species diversity

TWINSPAN

Vegetation

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)