A description of rangeland on commercial and communal land, Peddie district, South Africa

Abstract

Analysis of a Landsat TM image from a rangeland near Peddie, Eastern Cape, revealed differences in two vegetation indices (normalised difference vegetation index, NDVI, and moving standard deviation index, MSDI) between communal and commercial rangeland. It was suggested that the difference in the MSDI reflected differences in rangeland condition. To assess whether or not any differences could be detected in the field, vegetation parameters were recorded (cover, species composition) along ten, paired 20-m transects. Based on species forage factors for commercial live-stock production, the commercial grassland was in a significantly better condition than the communal land. The commercial farmland had a higher occurrence of palatable species while the communal land was richer in non-palatable species. A TWINSPAN classification and the NDVI and MSDI values confirmed the marked difference between the communal and the commercial land. Both the vegetative field survey data and the satellite imagery showed that the communal land was transformed in comparison to the commercial land, and this difference can be attributed to differences in land-use.