Soil-plant Relationships in the Central Kruger National Park

Abstract

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.