Livestock paths on Namaqualand quartz fields: Will the endemic flora disappear?

AbstractQuartz fields are rare features that contribute significantly to vegetation diversity and endemism of South Africa's Succulent Karoo Biome. The Riethuis-Wallekraal quartz fields in the north-western Namaqualand area of South Africa contain 17 quartz field specialist species of which seven are endemic to this specific area. Hoof-action by livestock has formed paths of approximately 0.30m on these quartz fields. It would be important to conservationists to understand whether direct (e.g. trampling) and indirect effects (e.g. burial of flora by sediment movement) associated with the livestock paths holds any threat to the dwarf succulent (