Quantified range condition assessment of open Camelthorn savanna along a degradation gradient

Measurements were taken at 20 different sites in a relatively homogenous area of open Camelthorn savanna in eastern Namibia. Ordination of grass species composition did not provide a good degradation gradient, due to domination by different species of annual grasses at many of the sites. However a centred PCA ordination of perennial grass species indicated a degradation gradient. This gradient was used to allocate a range condition score to each site, which was then correlated with other measurements. The range condition score did not correlate well with mulch cover, basal cover, proportion of bare soil, above-ground grass biomass, proportion of moribund grass, proportion of seedlings amongst the perennial grasses, density of woody plants lower than O.5m and canopy cover of browsable woody plants over 0.5m tall. A weak correlation (r² = 0.68, p<0.0001, n = 20) was obtained through a power trend line with woody canopy cover of only the bush thickening species. A better correlation (r² = 0.90, p<0.0001, n = 20) was obtained with mean distance from sampling point to the nearest perennial grass. This may therefore be an appropriate indicator to include in range condition score for such types of savanna.