Booysendal South Flora & Fauna NATURALNatural SCIENTIFIC Scientific Services SERVICES CC B-1 Booysendal South Flora & Fauna SECTION B: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 1 2.1. Desktop Research ...................................................................................................... 1 2.2. Fieldwork .................................................................................................................... 2 2.3. Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 1 2.4. Limitations................................................................................................................... 2 3. Results ............................................................................................................................... 4 3.1. Regional Vegetation .................................................................................................... 4 3.2. Regional Floral Diversity ............................................................................................. 5 3.3. Local Habitats and Floral Communities ....................................................................... 5 3.4. Conservation Important Species ............................................................................... 36 3.5. Alien Invasive Species .............................................................................................. 51 4. Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................... 53 SECTION B: LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 Braun-Blanquet cover classes (Mueller-Dombois & Ellenberg, 1974) .............. 1 Table 3-1 Vegetation types within the region of Booysendal South.................................. 4 Table 3-2 Top ten dominant plant families and overall proportion of each plant growth form recorded within the QDS wherein Booysendal is situated ........................ 5 Table 3-3 Floral communities identified within the Study Area (Phase 1 and 2 of the Booysendal South Expansion Project) ............................................................. 9 Table 3-4 Aloe -Myrothamnus Shrub Sheetrock Community ......................................... 11 Table 3-5 Searsia- Diospyros - Rhoicissus Rocky outcrops Community ........................ 13 Table 3-6 Brachiaria - Tristachya Exposed Rock Community ........................................ 15 Table 3-7 Lydenburgia - Vitex - Kirkia Rocky Thicket Community .................................. 17 Table 3-8 Acacia - Euclea- Hippobromus - Scolopia Thicket Community....................... 19 Table 3-9 Protea – Themeda Open Woodland Community............................................ 21 Table 3-10 Slope Grassland Communities ...................................................................... 23 Table 3-11 Heteropogon - Eragrostis Semi-natural grassland Community ....................... 25 Table 3-12 Tulbaghia – Eleocharis Sheet Rock Seeps Community ................................. 27 Table 3-13 Fuirena - Agrostis Seep Community .............................................................. 29 Table 3-14 Phragmites Vlei Community .......................................................................... 30 Table 3-15 Faurea - Combretum - Halleria Riparian Community ..................................... 32 Table 3-16 Acacia-Hyperthelia Lower Floodplain Grassland............................................ 34 Table 3-17 CI Plant Numbers per TSP, MTPA in South Africa and Mpumalanga ............ 37 Table 3-18 Conservation Important plant species listed for grid square 2530AA ............. 38 Natural Scientific Services CC B-ii Booysendal South Flora & Fauna Table 3-19 Protected Species of flora found in the NSS Study area (highlighted in green) and in the broader surrounds ......................................................................... 42 SECTION B: LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1 Vegetation sampling plots ................................................................................ 3 Figure 3-1 Photographic representation of broad habitats in BS4 ..................................... 7 Figure 3-2 Photographic representation of broad habitats in the valley and slopes of the Groot Dwars River (Section 24G Footprint, survey areas north and south of BS1/2) ............................................................................................................. 8 Figure 3-3 Map of the floral communities identified in the Booysendal Study Area ......... 10 Figure 3-4 Species to look out for in the study area ........................................................ 37 Figure 3-5 Examples of observed CI plant species in Booysendal .................................. 44 Figure 3-6 Additional Examples of Red Listed CI plant species in Booysendal ............... 45 Figure 3-7 Photographic evidence of additional CI fern plant species on Site ................. 46 Figure 3-8 Photographic evidence of CI Fungi plant species on Site .............................. 48 Figure 3-9 Photographic evidence of additional CI Fungi plant species in the NSS Study Area ............................................................................................................... 49 Figure 3-10 Locations of observed CI plant species in the NSS Study area – Booysendal South Expansion Project ............................................................................... 50 Figure 3-11 Examples of observed alien invasives in BS4 ................................................ 53 Figure 3-12 Examples of observed alien invasives within the study area .......................... 53 Natural Scientific Services CC B-iii Booysendal South Flora & Fauna SECTION B: FLORAL ASSESSMENT 1. Introduction This report Section B details the Baseline Floral Assessment, which involved desktop- and field- based investigations of the structure, dominant species composition and condition of regional vegetation types and local floral communities. It is important to note that vegetation and flora is a major component when studying ecosystems. The composition, diversity, and structure of vegetation are important factors for assessing biological diversity. Vegetation is the source of primary production, plays a direct role in water and nutrient cycling, and interacts strongly with other biotic components being a determinant habitat for many species. Within the study region, as indicated in Section A, the vegetation is representative (a transitional area) of both the Savanna and Grassland Biomes. Grasslands provide essential ecosystem services, which include water production, wetland functioning and flood attenuation, good quality soil and forage for livestock; cultural and heritage value and the support for livelihoods (i.e. the use of medicinal plants). It is well documented that grasslands contain a high diversity of both plants and animals and is second only to the Cape Floristic Region. Vegetation has also been identified as a specific target for the calculation of critical loads/levels. The composition and structure of vegetation can serve as bio-indicators for environmental changes to ecosystems. Changes in vegetation and in underlying environmental factors can serve as indicators of the status of other organisms based on our current knowledge of the ecological niches of numerous plant species. This is specifically applicable in Ecotone areas. Although ecological changes will occur everywhere in response to say an environmental factor such as climate change, the signals will be detectable first in ecotones (Neilson, 1993). This sensitivity makes them indicators that provide early warning for other regions (Risser, 1993). Although ecotones are unique in provision of climate change-related services, they are threatened. Conservation traditionally is aimed at "prime" core areas of regional biomes/habitats rather than ecotones. 2. Methodology 2.1. Desktop Research A desktop investigation of regional vegetation, including Conservation Important (CI) floral species, was performed by consulting the following information sources: .. Google Earth and Bing satellite imagery. Google Earth imagery was updated during the survey after the fieldwork for BS Expansion Project Phase 1. This imagery was available for the additional fieldwork in December 2017 for the additional surveys areas specifically towards BN. .. Mucina & Rutherford’s (2006) vegetation map of southern Africa. Natural Scientific Services CC B-1 Booysendal South Flora & Fauna .. The South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI’s) online PRECIS (PREtoria Computerised Information System) database called POSA, which provides taxonomic information for plant species occurring in southern Africa (in the format of Germishuizen & Meyer, 2003). For this study plant species data were obtained for the grid square 2530AA. .. The Recently uploaded web based Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA), which contains records from the National Herbarium in Pretoria (PRE), the Compton Herbarium in Cape Town and the KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium in Durban (NH). .. CI plant species records in the study region, supplied by POSA (2012 data), SANBI’s online Threatened Species Programme (TSP) and a list per farm for the QDS 2530AA was also supplied by the Mpumalanga