- Title
- Assessing the abundance of non-timber forest products in relation to forest succession on the Wild Coast, South Africa
- Creator
- Njwaxu, Afika
- Subject
- Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Forest ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Willowvale
- Subject
- Forest ecology -- South Africa -- Willowvale
- Subject
- Rural development -- South Africa -- Willowvale
- Subject
- Forest plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- text
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSc
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94090
- Identifier
- vital:30999
- Description
- The number of people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, that are engaging in arable cropping has declined markedly over the last few decades. This is due to a number of factors such as a decrease in human capital because of migration of able-bodied people to urban areas, disinclination to participate in farming, raiding of crops by livestock and lack of equipment. This has resulted in abandoned croplands being invaded by trees and shrubs as the start of forest succession leading to a change in species composition and the ecosystem benefits reaped from these sites. Key amongst these benefits is a variety of non-timber forests products (NTFPs) which are an integral part of livelihoods in the area. The study was conducted in Willowvale, on the Wild Coast, South Africa. Aerial photographs were used to determine when cessation of cropping occurred in local fields and when revegetation began in order to determine the age of old fields. Botanical inventory and Braun-Blanquet scale were used to assess species richness, composition and abundance of vegetation in fields abandoned at different times. Focus groups were used to identify NTFPs found in these old fields, their uses as well as rank their importance to the local people. Results showed an increase in woody cover with time since field abandonment. Species richness also increased with age of the old field with approximately three species gained per decade. When species richness was disaggregated by growth forms, herbaceous plants were abundant in the early stages of succession, shrubs in the mature stages and trees increased steadily with time. A total of 177 species were recorded from 50 plots that were sampled during the ecological data collection. Of these, 70 species (39.6%) were identified by the focus group participants as NTFPs. The participants grouped the NTFPs into six categories namely: food, building, medicinal, craft, cultural and energy. There was an increase of richness of NTFPs with forest succession; however the proportion of NTFPs decreased with age suggesting an increase in non-useful species. This suggests that harvesting from plots of different ages would be the optimal way for local people to get access to a large variety of NTFPs.
- Format
- 97 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Rhodes University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Njwaxu, Afika
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | NJWAXU-MSc-TR19-128.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |