THE ECOLOGY OF GROENVLEI, A SOUTH AFRICAN FEN.

The article presents a study on the ecology of a South African fen, Groenvlei. It relates that Groenvlei is a shallow coastal lake between Wilderness and Goukamma River on the south coast of South Africa where rainfall is evenly distributed and it is also described as calcareous due to the presence of sand dunes as well as eutrophic by nature. The study describes the trends in plant succession which include the primary succession leading to fen carr as well as the secondary succession due to human utilization of the fen. The study also identifies a slight tendency to isotropic conditions and the vegetation of sand intrusions, sandy fen margin and dunes surrounding the lake.