Conservation priorities in lowland regions of the Fynbos biome

Abstract

Natural vegetation in the lowland regions of the fynbos biome has been transformed by modern land-use practices to a patchwork of small remnants. A system is described for identifying sites of conservation merit from these known remnants, and ordering them by means of a numerical rating. The principal factor contributing to the value of the rating is the current rarity of the vegetation types of each site. A second level of factors comprises habitat diversity, plant species richness and the existence of rare or threatened species. A third level of factors includes the size of the remnant, its shape, the degree of invasion by alien woody plants and the degree of other forms of 'abuse' such as overgrazing, road building or quarrying. Finally a small bonus score is added to any site having a special attribute such as proximity to any other conserved remnant. Composite scores for 153 sites are presented with recommended conservation priorities in each of the five lowland regions of the study area. Comments on the methodology and the value of the data for further analysis are made.