Palynological evidence for the impact of colonial settlement within lowland fynbos: A high‐resolution study from the Verlorenvlei, southwestern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

The present distribution of lowland fynbos of the southwestern Cape coastal forelands occupies a unique yet threatened existence. Long renowned for its extraordinary species richness, the lowland fynbos now reveals a decline in diversity following the impact of recent European settlement. Fine resolution pollen analysis, conducted on a dated sediment core from the Verlorenvlei, reveals a 250 year pattern of debilitating vegetation transformations. The arrival of European colonists in the area circa 1700 is noted in the sedimentary sequence, not only with respect to changes in the pollen spectra, but also through concomitant changes in the nature and timing of sedimentation. The rapid extermination of large mammalian fauna, overgrazing by domestic stock and decades of agricultural mismanagement in a marginal landscape are considered to be the principal factors responsible for deliterious alterations of the natural disturbance regime.

Key words:

• Palynology
• vegetation history
• human impact
• fynbos
• South Africa

Notes

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