Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve: biological and socio-economic survey 11
2.3 Methods
The survey was conducted between April and June 1997.
The reserve was stratified into broad physiognomic vegetation types using the available
reference material and the 1:50,000 topographic maps. This stratification was also used as the
basis for the large mammal and small fauna surveys.
Volunteer research assistants were trained in basic navigation skills including the use of maps
and compasses and the Global Positioning System (GPS), and learned to pace distances
accurately.
They were trained in the collection and preparation of botanical specimens, data recording,
and in the use of appropriate field guides and keys: Coates Palgrave (1988), Eggeling & Dale
(1951), Hamilton (1981), ICRAF (1992), Katende et al. (1995), and Noad & Birnie (1989)
for woody plants, Haines & Lye (1983) for sedges and rushes, and Eggeling (1941), Harker
(1961), and van Oudtshoorn (1992) for grasses.
The sampling unit was a 100m x 100m (1ha) plot for woody plants and a 25m x 25m sub-plot
within this for herbs and grasses. Within a stratum plots were located subjectively where the
vegetation seemed most ‘typical’. Each plot was surveyed by a small team which recorded
general information on the physiognomy of the vegetation. Every species in the plot was then
listed and its percentage cover estimated in Braun-Blanquet classes (after Zandri & Viskanic,
1992).
Voucher specimens of every species or recognisable taxonomic unit (rtu) of flowering plant
encountered were collected and pressed following Liesner (1990). They were then given
preliminary field identifications where possible, and used as a basic working reference
collection. At the end of the study period, the preliminary field identifications were confirmed
by Ms Olivia Wanyana Maganyi at the Makerere University Herbarium.
Opportunistic records of species not occurring in the plots were also made throughout the
reserve.
Frontier-Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project January 1998
Baseline Surveys Programme Report No. 13