Savanna ecosystem project - progress report 1974/75

Abstract

The period under review was devoted essentially to a pilot study of the Burked ecosystem, which aimed at an initial, albeit crude, quantitative appraisal of the total system to define the overall structure and the most important energy and material flowpaths and ecosystem controlling factors. The direction and depth of study of separate components and processes will be largely determined by a review of pilot study results towards the end of 1975. Severe shortages of professional manpower limited the pilot study in certain areas, notably the measurements of the magnitudes and rates of plant litter accumulation and decomposition, and in studies of the major ungulate herbivores within the system. Four projects were completed during the early part of 1975, these all related to studies of the structural features of the soils and vegetation of the study area (Coetzee et al_. 1975, Harmse 1975, Lubke et al.1975, Van Rooyen and Theron 1975).