| Summary: | Bibliography: leaves 191-198. === This study is aimed at elucidating and providing some understanding of the underlying causal processes that generate patterns in the salt marsh communities of Langebaan Lagoon. The study area forms part of the West Coast National Park and is the largest tract of saltmarsh in South Africa. An overview of the current literature on salt marsh ecology is discussed and a synopsis of local research of salt marshes is presented. The general nature of the study site is described in historical geological hydrological and ecological context. The zonation of the plant communities is a distinctive feature of the salt marshes at Langebaan. To establish the nature of this zonation and to achieve the stated objectives, transects were established at three sites around the lagoon. Tue vegetation was accurately surveyed using a continuous quadrat system to measure the apparent zonation. Sample sites were allocated to the transects and soil cores were extracted for the testing of a comprehensive range of edaphic factors. The results of these tests are graphically displayed to demonstrate the existence of environmental gradients, and these gradients are then linked to specific species which represent the various zones. In this manner, associations between the species and environment could be ascertained. Tue species and environmental data were subjected to canonical correspondence analysis, a powerful ordination technique in an attempt to unravel and illuminate the complex relationships in the species-environment.
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