Open Access

Toivo Zoete

• This paper reports on a vegetation study undertaken to enable the development of appropriate fire management strategies for the conservation of biodiversity. The approach taken is to relate fire response mechanisms reported for species within the literature to floristic patterns. Floristic and environmental data were obtained from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The data set was derived from 262 plots located within and around the study area. Data were analysed using classification, ordination, one way non-parametric analysis of variance, and correlation routines contained within the PATN computer package. On the basis of this analysis, 14 vegetation communities were delineated including 12 non-rainforest communities. There was a strong relationship between the floristic pattern and a number of environmental variables, including altitude, climatic variables, geographic location, and geology. "Years since logging" and "Years since last fire" were also relatively highly correlated, but much of this data is based on subjective field estimates in relatively few sites, often several years after a fire had occurred and is therefore less reliable. The relationships between floristic data and known plant fire response mechanisms, were generally weak, though significant. The weakness of the correlation is probably due to the lack of information on fire response for many species. On the basis of the existing data base, preliminary guidelines are provided on the nature of suitable fire regimes. Suggestions are given for further study of the floristic pattern, fire history, and other data required to guide ecological fire management in the future.