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Vegetation of the Sigatoka sand dunes, Fiji
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-25, 22:18 authored by James KirkpatrickJames Kirkpatrick, Hassall, DCThe vegetation of the Sigatoka sand dunes in Viti Levu, Fiji, consists of forest dominated by native trees and shrubs, coastal communities dominated variously by native and introduced species, and grassland dominated by introduced species. The near-coastal and inland forest are discriminated by numerical analysis as are three non-forest communities. The dunes are edaphically and climatically capable of supporting a complete cover of native closed-forest. However, this formation has been drastically reduced in area by firing, cutting, grazing, and the instability of the parabolic dune system in the high-energy coastal environment. The closed-forest may be eliminated if the present pattern of use of the area continues or if the full area of the dunes is used for mining of magnetite. The destruction of the closed-forest would be unfortunate as it has high nature conservation value.
History
Publication title
New Zealand Journal of BotanyVolume
19Pagination
285-297ISSN
0028-825XPublication status
- Published
Rights statement
Copyright 1981, by the Royal Society of New Zealand. http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjb/index.phpRepository Status
- Restricted