The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.

The increase in the degradation of wetlands globally has highlighted the need to assess their ecological condition. Hillslope seep wetlands are among the least studied wetland types, yet they the most vulnerable because of their small size and steep slopes. Human pressure and the vulnerable nature o...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Notiswa Libala, Carolyn G Palmer, Oghenekaro Nelson Odume
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dff6743355944d259b6efd893735b11d
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:dff6743355944d259b6efd893735b11d
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dff6743355944d259b6efd893735b11d2021-12-02T20:11:19ZThe evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0251370https://doaj.org/article/dff6743355944d259b6efd893735b11d2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251370https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The increase in the degradation of wetlands globally has highlighted the need to assess their ecological condition. Hillslope seep wetlands are among the least studied wetland types, yet they the most vulnerable because of their small size and steep slopes. Human pressure and the vulnerable nature of these wetlands requires wetland assessment tools to assess their condition. This study sought to evaluate the performance of the Floristic Quality Assessment Index for all species (FQAIall), the FQAI for dominant species (FQAIdom), and the Floristic Assessment Quotient for Wetlands (FAQWet) in response to the Anthropogenic Activity Index (AAI) and WET-Health in eleven hillslope seep wetlands and used these indices to assess the degree and intensity of disturbance. Vegetation samples were collected in summer 2016 and winter 2017. All assessment indices, FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet and WET-Health, showed that hillslope seep wetlands were impacted by human activities. FQAIall showed the strongest response to AAI in winter, while FAQWet showed the strongest response to WET-Health. To the best of our knowledge, researchers in South Africa have used only WET-Health to assess wetland condition, and this is the first study to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands using a combination of indices (FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet, and WET-Health). Overall, the findings of this study suggest that FQAIall and FAQWet are potentially better tools for assessing the biological condition of hillslope seep wetlands in South Africa.Notiswa LibalaCarolyn G PalmerOghenekaro Nelson OdumePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 5, p e0251370 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Notiswa Libala Carolyn G Palmer Oghenekaro Nelson Odume The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
description	The increase in the degradation of wetlands globally has highlighted the need to assess their ecological condition. Hillslope seep wetlands are among the least studied wetland types, yet they the most vulnerable because of their small size and steep slopes. Human pressure and the vulnerable nature of these wetlands requires wetland assessment tools to assess their condition. This study sought to evaluate the performance of the Floristic Quality Assessment Index for all species (FQAIall), the FQAI for dominant species (FQAIdom), and the Floristic Assessment Quotient for Wetlands (FAQWet) in response to the Anthropogenic Activity Index (AAI) and WET-Health in eleven hillslope seep wetlands and used these indices to assess the degree and intensity of disturbance. Vegetation samples were collected in summer 2016 and winter 2017. All assessment indices, FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet and WET-Health, showed that hillslope seep wetlands were impacted by human activities. FQAIall showed the strongest response to AAI in winter, while FAQWet showed the strongest response to WET-Health. To the best of our knowledge, researchers in South Africa have used only WET-Health to assess wetland condition, and this is the first study to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands using a combination of indices (FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet, and WET-Health). Overall, the findings of this study suggest that FQAIall and FAQWet are potentially better tools for assessing the biological condition of hillslope seep wetlands in South Africa.
format	article
author	Notiswa Libala Carolyn G Palmer Oghenekaro Nelson Odume
author_facet	Notiswa Libala Carolyn G Palmer Oghenekaro Nelson Odume
author_sort	Notiswa Libala
title	The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
title_short	The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
title_full	The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
title_fullStr	The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
title_full_unstemmed	The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.
title_sort	evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the tsitsa river catchment, south africa.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/dff6743355944d259b6efd893735b11d
work_keys_str_mv	AT notiswalibala theevaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica AT carolyngpalmer theevaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica AT oghenekaronelsonodume theevaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica AT notiswalibala evaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica AT carolyngpalmer evaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica AT oghenekaronelsonodume evaluationofbiologicalindicestoassesstheconditionofhillslopeseepwetlandsinthetsitsarivercatchmentsouthafrica
_version_	1718374915687579648

The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa.

Ejemplares similares