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An Updated Plant Checklist for Tankwa Karoo National Park, South Africa

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An Updated Plant Checklist for Tankwa Karoo National Park, South Africa South African Journal of Botany 88 (2013) 247–251 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect South African Journal of Botany journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sajb An updated plant checklist for Tankwa Karoo National Park, South Africa H.M. Steyn a,⁎,S.P.Bestera,b, H. Bezuidenhout c,d a National Herbarium, South African National Botanical Institute, Private Bag X101, Pretoria 0001, South Africa b Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa c Scientific Services, South African National Parks, Kimberley 8306, South Africa d Applied behavioural ecology and ecosystem research unit, UNISA, Private Bag X6, Florida 1717, South Africa article info abstract Article history: An updated checklist is provided for the flora of Tankwa Karoo National Park, which occupies an area of Received 26 February 2013 143,600 ha. A total of 730 species and 780 plant taxa (species, subspecies and varieties), representing 267 genera Received in revised form 17 July 2013 in 73 families, are recorded for the park. This comprises 30 bryophytes, 7 pteridophytes, 189 monocotyledons and Accepted 19 July 2013 554 dicotyledons. Sixteen species are endemic or near-endemic to the Hantam-Tanqua-Roggeveld subregion. Available online 4 September 2013 Twenty-eight species are of conservation concern and six species have been declared as alien invasives. Edited by JC Manning © 2013 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Alien invasives Checklist Conservation Endemic species Flora Succulent Karoo Hotspot Tankwa Karoo National Park 1. Introduction Van Wyk and Smith, 2001). The park therefore was an obvious target for the South African National Parks (SANParks) Programme, a compo- According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2012: 95) one of nent of the National Herbarium (PRE) Plant Collecting Programme the strategic actions of the Global Taxonomy Initiative is the “facilitation (Bester et al., 2012a, 2012b). Within this programme priority is given of all-taxa inventories in targeted national, regional and subregional to collecting in national parks that contain under-collected areas. priority areas”, such as biodiversity hotspots and protected areas. The Under-collected areas are determined by using data from SANBI's Succulent Karoo is one of only two entirely arid regions considered to plant database, PRECIS (Pretoria National Herbarium Computerised be global biodiversity hotspots (Conservation International, 2013; Information System). Any quarter degree squared grid (QDS) listing Desmet and Cowling, 2004). It boasts an extremely rich succulent less than 200 plant species is considered under-collected. flora with a remarkably high level of endemism (Cowling and Hilton- Surveys in under-collected areas like the TKNP not only enhance our Taylor, 1994; Hilton-Taylor, 1994; Mucina and Rutherford, 2006; Van knowledge and general understanding of these areas in terms of their Wyk and Smith, 2001), with an estimated 2439 endemic plant species floras, but also allow us to provide floristic checklists for specific areas. (38.4% of the total flora) (Conservation International, 2013). It has Checklists are important for conservation areas as they are fundamental been identified as a major conservation priority (Cowling and Hilton- to biogeographical analysis and conservation planning (Clark et al., Taylor, 1994; Hilton-Taylor, 1994; Hilton-Taylor and Le Roux, 1989). Al- 2011) and can also be used to address aspects such as the presence of though the Tankwa Karoo National Park (TKNP) falls within the Tanqua threatened and alien species (Zietsman and Bezuidenhout, 1999). Karoo and Western Mountain Karoo regional centres of endemism With accurate GPS locations and digital photographs, specificrecords (Hilton-Taylor, 1994) and partially within the Hantam-Roggeveld Cen- can also contribute to monitoring programmes of rare and endangered tre (Van Wyk and Smith, 2001), information on the plant diversity of plant species. the area is poorly documented (Gibbs Russell et al., 1984; Hilton- Taylor and Le Roux, 1989; Milton et al., 1997; Rubin, 1998; Van der 1.1. Study area Merwe et al., 2008a, 2008b; Van der Merwe and Van Rooyen, 2011a; The TKNP was declared a national park in 1986 (Rubin, 1998)and ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 12 843 5136. since then has been extended from the original 27,064 ha (Rubin, E-mail address: [email protected] (H.M. Steyn). 1998) to 143,600 ha in 2012 (Coetzee, 2012)(Fig. 1). The park lies in 0254-6299/$ – see front matter © 2013 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2013.07.018 248 H.M. Steyn et al. / South African Journal of Botany 88 (2013) 247–251 Fig. 1. Map of TKNP showing the collecting localities within the park. a predominantly winter rainfall region (Rubin, 1998)andstraddlesthe The above mentioned facts challenge park management in achieving bio- border between the Northern and Western Cape provinces of South Af- diversity objectives as stated in the Tankwa Karoo Management Plan rica. It includes low-lying plains with isolated hills (Rubin, 1998), as (SANParks, 2008). As part of specific management actions red hartebeest, well as parts of the Roggeveld escarpment and Roggeveld plateau gemsbok, springbok and mountain zebras were re-introduced into the (Van der Merwe et al., 2008a, 2008b). The topographical range of this park since 2009. Preliminary observations in plant monitoring plots extensive landscape not only creates large habitats, but also small, iso- show higher diversity in pioneer as well as perennial grass and non- lated micro-habitats. For more detailed information about the physical grass species (Strauss, 2012)andtheherbivoresseemtohaveapositive features and climate of the TKNP, see Rubin (1998) and Van der effect on the functioning of the ecosystems within the park. Merwe et al. (2008a, 2008b). In 1998 a plant checklist was published for TKNP (Rubin, 1998), but The Acocks (1988) veldtypes Mountain Renosterveld (Veld Type since then the boundaries of the park have been substantially extended 43), Succulent Karoo (Veld Type 31) and Western Mountain Karoo (Fig. 1). The aim of this survey was to compile an updated checklist for (Veld Type 28) are represented in the TKNP. These veldtypes are equiv- TKNP, including alien invasive, endemic and threatened plant species. alent to the Escarpment Mountain Renosterveld (Unit 60), Lowland Succulent Karoo (Unit 57) and Upland Succulent Karoo (Unit 56) of 2. Methods and materials Low and Rebelo (1996) respectively. The South African vegetation map (Mucina and Rutherford, 2006) recognises six vegetation types with- Staff of the National Herbarium, Pretoria, conducted a total of seven in the park, namely Nieuwoudtville-Roggeveld Dolerite Renosterveld collecting trips to TKNP between 2004 and 2011 as part of the National (FRd 1), Roggeveld Karoo (SKt 3), Roggeveld Shale Renosterveld (FRs Herbarium (PRE) Plant Collecting Programme. The collecting was done 3), Tanqua Escarpment Shrubland (SKv 4), Tanqua Karoo (Skv 5) and by 10 collectors (all staff of PRE), including the first two authors. Each Tanqua Wash Riviere (AZi 7). According to Van der Merwe et al. collecting trip targeted different areas of the park (Fig. 1)andwas (2008a, 2008b) the park includes one association of Fynbos Biome related done at various times of the year between July and October and includ- vegetation (Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis Mountain Renosterveld) and ed the range of habitats encountered, to best reflect the flora of the park. three associations of Succulent Karoo Biome related vegetation (Aridaria Herbarium specimens were collected of all plants that were noctiflora Tanqua and Loeriesfontein Karoo; Pteronia glauca–Euphorbia flowering or fruiting at the various collecting sites. Information accom- decussata Escarpment Karoo and Stipagrostis obtusa Central Tanqua panying each specimen included information recorded on herbarium Grassy Plains). collecting labels, such as locality, habitat, substrate, lithology, exposure, Over the years various authors have commented on the poor state of aspect and slope, etc. GPS readings were taken, but these mostly repre- the vegetation in the Tanqua Karoo (Acocks, 1988; Hilton-Taylor and Le sent a few general readings for a collecting site as a whole and not nec- Roux, 1989; Vlok, 2000). According to Milton et al. (1997) perennial essarily specific for each individual plant species that was collected. species in the Succulent Karoo need decades to re-establish after Herbarium specimens were mainly identified at PRE, but specialists overgrazing or disturbance and specific management actions are need- from Compton Herbarium (NBG) and the University of Stellenbosch edtospeeduprecovery(Vlok, 2000). According to Ferreira (2008) the Herbarium (STEU) were also consulted. Cuttings from non-flowering exclusion of moderate trampling and grazing by large mammals may stapeliads were grown at the nursery of the Pretoria National Botanical lead to a loss in plant diversity as the absence of disturbance through Garden until flowering. The flowers were then added to the herbarium trampling encourages crust formation and this in turn inhibits seedling sheets with non-flowering stems. Specimens are housed at PRE and establishment and therefore large herbivores need to be re-introduced. duplicates, where available, were distributed primarily to the South H.M. Steyn et al. / South African Journal of Botany 88 (2013) 247–251 249 African National Parks Herbarium
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