A comparative study of the distribution of C₃ and C₄ species of Cyperaceae in South Africa in relation to climate
type: CreativeWork
description: In this study the contribution of the climatic factors such as temperature, altitude, and mean annual precipitation as well as phylogeny to the determination of the distribution of C₃ and C₄ genera of Cyperaceae in South Africa has been investigated. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the climatic factor that best predicted percent C₄ distribution. To see if the C₄ syndrome was inﬂuenced by taxonomy, the percentages of C₄ species was determined for each of the subtribes and genera. The results show that the relationship between the climatic factors and percentage of C₄ Cyperaceae species is similar to what has been found for the grasses (Vogel et al., 1978). However C₃ species of Cyperaceae seem to be abundant in most parts of South Africa. Only minimum growing season temperature showed significant correlation (P = 0.000391) with percentage C₄. The presence of the C₄ syndrome is shown to have some consistency within subfamilies, tribes and genera.
abstract: In this study the contribution of the climatic factors such as temperature, altitude, and mean annual precipitation as well as phylogeny to the determination of the distribution of C₃ and C₄ genera of Cyperaceae in South Africa has been investigated. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the climatic factor that best predicted percent C₄ distribution. To see if the C₄ syndrome was inﬂuenced by taxonomy, the percentages of C₄ species was determined for each of the subtribes and genera. The results show that the relationship between the climatic factors and percentage of C₄ Cyperaceae species is similar to what has been found for the grasses (Vogel et al., 1978). However C₃ species of Cyperaceae seem to be abundant in most parts of South Africa. Only minimum growing season temperature showed significant correlation (P = 0.000391) with percentage C₄. The presence of the C₄ syndrome is shown to have some consistency within subfamilies, tribes and genera.
author: Chuba, David
language: eng
date published: 1999
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:04Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Biological Sciences

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25990