Department of Biodiversity Using Geographic Information System to analyze collection patterns of medicinal plants by Ba-Pedi traditional healers in Blouberg Mountain, Limpopo Province K. Mathibela, B. Egan, H. du Plessis, M. Potgieter & V. Egan Department of Biodiversity University of Limpopo

BLOUBERG MOUNTAIN Blouberg mountain, situated west of the Soutpansberg, Limpopo Province, is an important centre of plant endemism. Healers use the mountain extensively to collect most of their natural resources, including medicinal plants. Blouberg mountain, situated west of the Soutpansberg, Limpopo Province, is an important centre of plant endemism. Healers use the mountain extensively to collect most of their natural resources, including medicinal plants.

Geographic Information Systems Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a tool that combines statistics with geographic locations to create informative maps. The benefit of using GIS technique is that it provides for the integration of data from a variety of sources. + =

AIM Use GIS technology to map the collection tracks of traditional healers in order to generate digital maps that link the tracks to vegetation types (Mucina & Rutherford 2006) and plant communities (Scholes 1978) in order to identify “areas of interest”. Add a photo(s) here

METHODOLOGY SELECTION OF TRACKS 16 tracks were chosen DATA COLLECTION SHEET Species used, their perceived abundance etc. RECORDING GPS CO-ORDINATES OF TRACKS Garmin GPS was used to log the start and end of each track. Co-ordinates were logged automatically on the GPS every 10m ANALYSIS An Open Source Linux system using Quantum GIS Mimas software Version 1.3.0 10m is the distance giving the most detail and best precision using the least amount of GPS memory & therefore storage capacity.

RESULTS 48 species of medicinal value were documented. Families, genera? (Chapter 3 - dissertation) Cassia abbreviata, Clivia caulescens and Maeura juncea, are perceived as rare. However, they are listed as Least Concern in the Red Data List, and perceived Warburgia salutaris as common and abundant on the mountain, where as this species is listed as EN (??) in the Red Data List. ???????????

Tracks A map was generated to capture the position of the tracks by logging the waypoints for each track on a GPS (Figure 3). Map of Blouberg Mountain’s topography overlaid by 16 collection tracks

Different vegetation types Information from Mucina & Rutherford (2006) on vegetation types, topographical information and nature reserve boundaries were overlaid on the position of the collection tracks (Figure 4). Digital map of Blouberg Mountain showing reserve boundaries (light blue) and different vegetation types overlaid on topography and collection tracks.

Different plant communities Scholes surveyed only the eastern part of the mountain, therefore half of the tracks cannot be compared to these vegetation communities. Digital map of Blouberg Mountian showing reserve boundaries and different plant communities overlaid on topography and collection tracks

Tracks, vegetation types and plant communities B A Composite map.

CONCLUSION Areas of high use or areas impacting on sensitive vegetation types are clearly evident from the map and can be targeted for immediate remedial action. Show areas of interest Red data spp

RECOMMENDATIONS Comprehensive vegetation surveys of the mountain should be done to verify the abundance of the used species. More tracks should be surveyed to give a more comprehensive picture of the medicinal plants collected and used from the mountain.

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