Ecology of palustrine wetlands in Lesotho: Vegetation classification, description and environmental factors. Sieben I. The description and classification of wetland vegetation is important for water resource management and biodiversity conservation as it provides an understanding of the wetland vegetation-environment relationships and information to interpret spatial variation in plant communities.
This study discusses the vegetation of the palustrine wetlands of Lesotho based on a phytosociological approach. Data on vegetation and various environmental variables were collected using the Braun-Blanquet method and a standardised protocol developed for environmental information of wetlands in South Africa.
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The data were analysed mainly by clustering and ordination techniques. Twenty-two communities were found by the classification of the wetland vegetation. These communities were found to be diverse in terms of species richness.
The ordination revealed that the wetland vegetation is mainly influenced by altitude, longitude, slope, soil parent material, landscape, inundation, potassium content, soil texture, total organic carbon, nitrogen, electrical conductivity and latitude. Regarding species composition and diversity, plant communities in the Highlands were more diverse and were distinctively different from those in the Lowlands.
High-altitude communities were also found to be dominated mainly by C 3 plants, while those at low altitudes exhibited the dominance of C 4 species.
