FLORAL, FAUNAL, WETLAND AND AQUATIC ASSESSMENT AS PART OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION PROCESS FOR THE PROPOSED COMMISSIEKRAAL COLLIERY, KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE Prepared for SLR Consulting (Africa) (Pty) Ltd. July 2015 Section B: Floral Assessment Prepared by: Scientific Aquatic Services Report author E. van der Westhuizen (Pr. Sci. Nat) S. van Staden (Pr. Sci. Nat) Report Reference: SAS 213081 Date: July 2015 Scientific Aquatic Services CC CC Reg No 2003/078943/23 Vat Reg. No. 4020235273 PO Box 751779 Gardenview 2047 Tel: 011 616 7893 Fax: 086 724 3132 E-mail: [email protected] SAS 213081 – Floral Assessment July 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ iv 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1 2 GENERAL SITE SURVEY ........................................................................................ 1 3 FLORAL ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 2 3.1 Floral Species of Conservational Concern Assessment ............................................. 2 3.2 Vegetation Surveys ................................................................................................... 2 3.3 Vegetation Index Score ............................................................................................. 3 4 ECOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY ............................................... 4 4.1 Biome and bioregion .................................................................................................. 4 4.2 Vegetation Type and Landscape Characteristics ....................................................... 7 4.3 Wakkerstroom Montane Grassland ........................................................................... 9 4.3.1 Distribution ................................................................................................................ 9 4.3.2 Climate ...................................................................................................................... 9 4.3.3 Geology and soils ...................................................................................................... 9 4.3.4 Conservation ............................................................................................................. 9 4.3.5 Taxa of the Wakkerstroom Montane Grassland ......................................................... 9 4.4 Paulpietersburg Moist Grassland ............................................................................. 11 4.4.1 Distribution .............................................................................................................. 11 4.4.2 Climate .................................................................................................................... 11 4.4.3 Geology and soils .................................................................................................... 11 4.4.4 Conservation ........................................................................................................... 11 4.4.5 Taxa of the Paulpietersburg Moist Grassland .......................................................... 11 4.5 Northern Afrotemperate Forest ................................................................................ 13 4.5.1 Distribution .............................................................................................................. 13 4.5.2 Geology and soils .................................................................................................... 13 4.5.3 Conservation ........................................................................................................... 13 4.5.4 Taxa of Northern Afrotemperate Forest ................................................................... 13 5 RESULTS OF FLORAL ASSESSMENT ................................................................. 14 5.1 Habitat Unit 1: Wetland and Riparian Habitat Unit ................................................... 16 5.2 Habitat Unit 2: Montane grassland ........................................................................... 18 5.3 Habitat Unit 3: Northern Afrotemperate Forest ......................................................... 21 5.4 Habitat Unit 4: Secondary Grassland ....................................................................... 23 5.5 Floral community assessment ................................................................................. 25 5.6 Vegetation Index Score ........................................................................................... 42 5.7 Floral Species of Conservation Concern Assessment ............................................. 42 5.8 Alien and Invasive Plant Species ............................................................................. 46 5.9 Medicinal Plant Species .......................................................................................... 48 6 SENSITIVITY MAPPING ......................................................................................... 49 7 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 52 APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................................... 54 List of floral species in QDS ............................................................................................. 54 APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................... 80 Vegetation Index Score .................................................................................................... 80 ii SAS 213081 – Floral Assessment July 2015 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Biomes associated with the subject property (Mucina & Rutherford, 2006). ....... 5 Figure 2: Bioregions associated with the subject property (Mucina & Rutherford, 2006).... 6 Figure 3: Vegetation type associated with the subject property (Mucina & Rutherford, 2006). ................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 4: Conceptual illustration of the habitat units within the subject property. ............. 15 Figure 5: Wetland and riparian habitat present in the subject property. ........................... 16 Figure 6: Representative depictions of montane grassland present on the subject property. ........................................................................................................... 18 Figure 7: Forested ravines (left) and stream within Northern Afrotemperate Forest ravine (right). .............................................................................................................. 21 Figure 8: Transformed grassland associated with the subject property. .......................... 23 Figure 9: Digital satellite image depicting location of the transects. ................................. 27 Figure 10: Transect 1 ........................................................................................................ 28 Figure 11: Transect 2. ....................................................................................................... 29 Figure 12: Transect 3. ....................................................................................................... 30 Figure 13: Transect 4. ....................................................................................................... 31 Figure 14: Transect 5. ....................................................................................................... 32 Figure 15: Transect 6. ....................................................................................................... 33 Figure 16: Transect 7. ....................................................................................................... 34 Figure 17: Transect 8. ....................................................................................................... 35 Figure 18: Transect 9. ....................................................................................................... 36 Figure 19: Transect 10. ..................................................................................................... 37 Figure 20: Transect 11. ..................................................................................................... 38 Figure 21: Transect 12. ..................................................................................................... 39 Figure 22: Transect 13. ..................................................................................................... 40 Figure 23: Transect 14. ..................................................................................................... 41 Figure 24: Sensitivity map for the subject property ............................................................ 51 iii SAS 213081 – Floral Assessment July 2015 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Dominant species encountered in the wetland and riparian habitat unit. Alien species are indicated with an asterisk (*) and