Soil-plant Relationships in the Central Kruger National Park

• Main Authors: S.W. Fraser, T.H. van Rooyen, E. Verster
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AOSIS 1987-10-01
• Series: Koedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science
• Subjects: Kruger National Park, soil types, vegetation, Colophospermum mopane, Combretum apiculatum, Terminalia sericea, Mooiplaas-Mahlangeni region.
• Online Access: https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/499
• ISSN: 0075-6458; 2071-0771

There is a significant relationship between the tree communities and the soils in the Mooiplaas- Mahlangeni region of the central Kruger National Park. Shrub savanna dominated by Colophospermum mopane (mopane) as a multiplestemmed shrub occurs on all the fine-textured soils derived from basic rocks i.e. basalts, diabase and olivine gabbro. Mixed savanna woodlands dominated by either mopane or Combretum apiculatum (red bushwillow) occur on the coarse-textured soils derived from granitic gneiss. The red bushwillow is dominant on the more shallow soils. Mopane occurs in very dense stands as either stunted trees or as single-stemmed shrubs on most duplex soils. Relatively low-lying areas with saline soils are treeless. Terminalia sericea (silver cluster- leaf) is characteristic of deeper coarse-textured and somewhat poorly drained soils.