The vulnerable Rand Highveld Grassland vegetation unit in the Tlokwe Municipal area, South Africa, has been extensively affected and transformed by urbanisation, agriculture, and mining.
The area is particularly vulnerable because protective vegetation has been stripped from hilly areas for use as fuel for cooking fires.
Kirkpatrick and Brown have used modeled risk assessment to set targets as high as 90%% of the pre-European extent for some vulnerable or rare vegetation types in New South Wales (Kirkpatrik & Brown 1991).
Wherever climatic conditions are marginal for tree growth, vegetation is vulnerable to alteration by human activities.
"My concern is for a stunningly beautiful but vulnerable fragile and irreplaceable vegetation that occur in those high-altitude areas," Law said.
This study shows that the adoption of dense vegetation buffers in vulnerable semi-arid irrigated regions can be effective to mitigate agricultural impacts and provide environmental protection.
Habitat specialists are especially vulnerable to habitat alterations in vegetation structure and composition, making them difficult to protect and restore amidst agricultural landscapes.
