Research NoteIdentifying key grazing indicators to monitor trends in the veld condition of Lambert’s Bay Strandveld, South Africa

Abstract

Currently, the methods used to assess the veld condition of the Lambert’s Bay Strandveld along the West Coast of South Africa require that the operator knows all the plants encountered in the survey area. In this study data were collected from several farms in the Lambert’s Bay Strandveld to establish a degradation gradient from which a minimum number of species necessary to monitor trends in the condition of the veld were determined, making it user-friendly for land-users, extension officers and others. The key indicators were also tested using a second set of data.

Keywords: arid, management (natural resources), monitoring, rangeland condition, winter rainfall

African Journal of Range & Forage Science 2014, 31(1): 43–47