Frontiers of Vegetation Science—An Evolutionary Angle

230 Pages·2008·2.29 MB·English

Frontiers of Vegetation
Science—An Evolutionary
Angle
Edited by
Ladislav Mucina 1, Jesse M. Kalwij 1 & Valdon
R. Smith 1
in collaboration with
Milan Chytrý 2, Peter S. White 3, Sarel S. Cilliers 4,
Valerio D. Pillar 5, Martin Zobel 6 & I-Fang Sun 7
1) Evolutionary Plant Biology & Conservation Group, Dept. of Botany & Zoology,
Stellenbosch University, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2) Dept. of Botany & Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-61137 Brno,
Czech Republic [email protected]
3) Dept. of Biology #CB3280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
27599-3280, USA; [email protected]
4) School of Environmental Sciences & Development, North-West University,
Potchefstroom Campus, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa
5) Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto
Alegre/RS, 91540-000, Brazil; [email protected]
6) Dept. of Botany, Inst. of Ecology & Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40,
Tartu 51005, Estonia; [email protected]
7) Dept. of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan;
[email protected]
Abstracts of presentations at the 51st Annual Symposium of the
International Association for Vegetation Science, Stellenbosch,
South Africa, September 7-12, 2008
The editors have peer reviewed this compendium for scientific
merit, technical format, and language.
Citation suggestions:
This book: Mucina, L., Kalwij, J.M., Smith, V.R., Chytrý, M.,
White, P.S., Cilliers, S.S., Pillar, V.D., Zobel, M. & Sun, I.-F. (eds)
2008. Frontiers of Vegetation Science—An Evolutionary Angle.
Keith Phillips Images, Somerset West.
An abstract from this book: Aguiar, F.C., Ferreira, T.,
Albuquerque, A. & Rodrígues-Gonzáles, P. 2008. Mahjonging
key functional and taxonomic tiles in near-natural Mediterranean
riparian woods (SW Iberia, Portugal). In: Mucina, L. et al. (eds),
Frontiers of Vegetation Science—An Evolutionary Angle. p. 12.
Keith Phillips Images, Somerset West.
ISBN 978-0-9584766-9-0
Published by Keith Phillips Images, Somerset West on September 1, 2008
© Text of the abstracts: The authors
© Foreword and chapter IAVS Comes to Stellenbosch, List of Participants, and
Author Index to Presentations: Stellenbosch University
© The photo on page 5: Erhardt Thiel
© The cover photograph: Ladislav Mucina
© The photographs on pages 1, 2 & 3: Ladislav Mucina
© The logos of the sponsors: the respective sponsor companies
Cover design and layout: Keith Phillips Images, PO Box 5683, Helderberg, 7135
South Africa; [email protected]
ISBN 978-0-9584766-9-0
9 780958 476690
Contents
Word of Welcome
(Arnold van Zyl) 5
IAVS Comes to Stellenbosch
(Ladislav Mucina) 8
Abstracts of Presentations 11
Author Index to Presentations 212
List of Participants 218

Word of Welcome
Dear Professor Peet, President of the International Association for Vegetation Science, dear Professor
Mucina, Secretary-General of the IAVS and President of this meeting, dear botanists and ecologists, dear
fellow scientists –
Welcome to the capital of the most beautiful flowers in the world – welcome to Stellenbosch, the heart of
Capensis. Stellenbosch University, of which I have the honour to be Vice-Rector for Research, opens its arms
to embrace the largest crowd of vegetation scientists ever to assemble in our country, or anywhere in Africa,
for that matter.
The University is especially proud to host this, the 51st annual symposium of IAVS, which is one of the oldest
and most respected ecological societies in the world. We trust that you will enjoy not only the fantastic flora
of the Cape, but also our hospitality, and, of course, our wine.
The Cape is special – one of few places on this planet where an appreciation of beautiful plants and
fascinating vegetation is not restricted only to professional botanists – as an engineer by training, I am a
living proof of this.
Coming to the Cape, which is home to the most diverse of the planet’s five floral kingdoms, is a dream of
every botanist. Here is a kingdom blessed with unique flora and many floral superstars, such as proteas,
pelargoniums, restios, hundreds of ericas, gladioli and many other bulbs – the complete list is much too
long to mention here. I gather that most of you attended the pre-symposium excursions to our western and
southern coasts, and especially to Namaqualand. At this time of the year these regions are floral wonders that
we appreciate tremendously. The beauty of those landscapes is truly addictive.
In addition to its beauty, the Cape Floral Kingdom is an unsurpassed laboratory in which we can delve into
the secrets of the evolution of plants and vegetation. It therefore is not surprising that the major focus of
your meeting is evolution – or rather, bringing together the concepts of vegetation science and evolution.
This is the sort of approach that is encouraged in the academic programmes of Stellenbosch University – we
place a major emphasis on cutting-edge interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. We also encourage
and foster international contacts. It is for these two reasons that the University is very pleased to host and
support your meeting. I wish you success and relaxation. May you make many new friends and forge many
new research partnerships. Simply put – have a good time and enjoy Stellenbosch!
Arnold van Zyl
Vice-Rector (Research), Stellenbosch University
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
Ladislav Mucina (Stellenbosch University): President
Valdon Smith (Stellenbosch University): 1st Vice-President
Karen Esler (Stellenbosch University): 2nd Vice-President
Christelle Snyman (ConsultUS): Organizer
Suné van Rooyen (ConsultUS): Organizer
Sarel Cilliers (North-West University): Programme
Jesse Kalwij (Stellenbosch University): Programme
David Richardson (Stellenbosch University): Programme
Mike Rutherford (SANBI, Kirstenbosch): Programme
Hugo Bezuidenhout (SANParks, Kimberley): Excursions
Matt Buys (SANBI, Kirstenbosch): Excursions
Annelise le Roux (CapeNature, Jonkershoek): Excursions
Leon Lubbe (Windhoek, Namibia): Excursions
Roy Lubke (Rhodes University, Grahamstown): Excursions
Ted Oliver (Stellenbosch University): Excursions
Richard Thompson (Stellenbosch University): Website & IT Support
Dagmar Mucina (Stellenbosch University): Logistics & Excursions
Frans Radloff (Stellenbosch University): Logistics & Excursions
Shula Johnson (Stellenbosch University): Logistics
Raphael Kongor (Stellenbosch University): Logistics
Annette van Zonneveld (Stellenbosch University): Logistics
Lydia Willems (Stellenbosch University): Logistics
International Advisory Committee
Robert Peet, US, President of IAVS
Martin Diekmann, DE, Vice-President of IAVS
Javier Loidi, ES, Vice-President of IAVS
Valerio Pillar, BR, Vice-President of IAVS
Joop Schaminée, NL, Vice-President of IAVS
Martin Zobel, EE, Vice-President of IAVS
Peter White, US, Editor-in-Chief of an IAVS Journal
Bastow Wilson, NZ, Editor-in-Chief of an IAVS Journal
Helge Bruelheide, DE, Advisory Council of IAVS
Milan Chytrý, CZ, Advisory Council of IAVS
Nina Smits, NL, Advisory Council of IAVS
Hillary Thomas, UK, previous IAVS Symposium host
Jill Rapson, NZ, previous IAVS Symposium host
Panayotis Dimopoulos, next IAVS Symposium host
Jason Fridley, US, continental representative
Kingsley Dixon, AU, continental representative
I-Fang Sun, TW, continental representative
 51st IAVS Symposium
Symposium Secretariat/ Administrator
Portfolio: Financial management, registration, logistics, marketing, social programme:
Christelle Snyman, IAVS 2008 Symposium, P.O. Box 19063, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town,
South Africa
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Symposium Secretariat/ LOC
Portfolio: PA to the President of LOC, contact with participants, excursions:
Dagmar Mucina, Dept. of Botany & Zoology, Stellenbosch University, P.O. Box X1, Matieland,
7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]; Cell: 082-5649297
E-mail: [email protected]
Sponsors
Stellenbosch University
Office of the Vice-Rector for Research
Stellenbosch, South Africa
International Association for Vegetation Science
Regional Section for Southern Africa
Grahamstown, South Africa
Wiley-Blackwell Publishers
Oxford, United Kingdom
Springer
Dordrecht, The Netherlands
NISC Digital & Print Publishing
Grahamstown, South Africa
Stellenbosch South Africa 
IAVS Comes to Stellenbosch
Ladislav Mucina
Evolutionary Plant Biology & Conservation Group, Dept. of Botany & Zoology,
Stellenbosch University, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa; [email protected]
The International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS; www.iavs.org) is a bona
fide scientific society supporting research in the field of vegetation science, one of the
core scientific ecological disciplines. The IAVS is a very active scientific body, organizing
usually one (rarely two) general annual meetings, publishing two international journals –
Journal of Vegetation Science and Applied Vegetation Science – until 2008 in cooperation
with Opulus Press, Uppsala, Sweden (www.opuluspress.se) and from 2009 onwards in
cooperation with the renowned international publishing house Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford,
UK (www.blackwell.org).
IAVS also supports several sub-units (regional sections) which pursue the aims of the IAVS
on a regional level and in specialised working groups. After having held most of the past
meetings in the Northern Hemisphere, the IAVS will hold its annual meeting for the first
time in Africa.
Focus of the Symposium
http://sun.ac.za/iavs2008/
The main focus of the symposium is to seek links between vegetation science and
evolutionary biology and the formation of platforms in cooperation between these
major scientific fields. The title of our meeting – “Frontiers of Vegetation Science—An
Evolutionary Angle”– alludes symbolically to the challenges that vegetation science as a
discipline is currently facing. Technologically driven progress in evolutionary research is
changing the face of many traditional biological sciences. Vegetation science, should (and to
some extent already does) react to this new phase of evolutionary research by reaching out
to ecological disciplines traditionally closer to evolutionary biology (population biology,
palaeo-ecology) and implementing tools of evolutionary research in explaining structure
and dynamics of vegetation. The field of interaction and cooperation is enormous and is
ripe for exploration and discovery. The major aim of our meeting is to extend the interface
and to deepen the cooperation between the evolutionary research and vegetation science.
The scientific programme features several major core topics, such as:
• Evolutionary Plant Community Ecology
• Linking Ecology, Physiology and Evolution: From Species to Functional Groups
• Linking Hierarchies: Populations, Communities, Landscapes
 51st IAVS Symposium
• Mechanism of Community Assembly: Ecological Filters and Assembly Rules
• Community Disassembly and Homogenization: Role of Alien Invasions
• Vegetation and the Global Change
• Surveying Biodiversity at High-Levels of Complexity
• Managing Vegetation: Conservation, Restoration, Reconstruction
Due to enormous interest and the high quality of suggested presentations, the LOC
decided to run the symposium in three parallel sessions over three full days. Two Poster
Sessions are also scheduled.
These core topics have served as the substrate for moulding the following sessions:
Monday, September 8, 2008:
Session A: EVOLUTIONARY COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 1
Session B: REGENERATION & RESTORATION
Session C: DIVERSITY PATTERNS IN VEGETATION 1
Session D: EVOLUTIONARY COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 2
Session E: VEGETATION MANAGEMENT 2
Session F: DIVERSITY PATTERNS IN VEGETATION 2
Poster Session 1
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Session G: COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY 1
Session H: MODELLING SPECIES RESPONSE
Session I: VEGETATION SURVEYS 1
Session J: PLANT TRAITS IN COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY
Session K: VEGETATION & NUTRIENTS
Session L: VEGETATION PALEOPATTERNS
Poster Session 2
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Session M: PLANT FUNCTIONAL TYPES 1
Session N: VEGETATION SURVEYS 2
Session O: PLANT LIFE-HISTORIES
Session P: PLANT FUNCTIONAL TYPES 2
Session R: INVASIVE ALIENS & VEGETATION 1
Session S: INVASIVE ALIENS & VEGETATION 2
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 is reserved for five one-day excursions to Cape Point,
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, West Coast National Park, De Hoop Nature
Reserve and the Hermanus coast.
Stellenbosch South Africa 
Venue
Stellenbosch University has the honour of organising the 51st IAVS Annual Symposium.
This symposium is organised by the Regional Section for Southern Africa of the
IAVS (Chair: Prof. Roy Lubke, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa) and
Stellenbosch University. Stellenbosch (www.tourismstellenbosch.co.za) is the second
oldest town in South Africa and lies about 50 km east of Cape Town. It has a very rich
architectural heritage, with more than 100 declared monuments, and its streets are lined
with oak (Quercus) trees – hence its colloquial name, Die Eikestad (Town of Oaks). It
is the centre of the Winelands District of the Western Cape – a region renowned for its
vineyards and mountains.
Stellenbosch has always had a significant involvement in the history of education in South
Africa and Stellenbosch University is one of the oldest, and largest (about 22 000 students,
on four campuses) universities in the country. Stellenbosch is truly a ‘university town’ – an
intoxicating mixture of nature beauty, youth, and wine.
(Visit www.exploresouthafrica.net/westerncape/Stellenbosch/history/ for information
on the history of the town, and www.sun.ac.za/university/history/ for information on
the history of the university).
The symposium is held in the university’s Music Conservatorium, on the corner of
Victoria and Neethling Streets. The oldest university botanical garden in the southern
hemisphere (http://admin.sun.ac.za/botanicalgarden) is a two minute walk from the
Conservatorium and the town centre is a ten minute walk away.
The Conservatoire is situated on the Stellenbosch University Main Campus (corner of
Neethling and Victoria Streets).
Welcome to Stellenbosch and feel at home!
10 51st IAVS Symposium