Commercial exploitation of natural vegetation: an exploratory model for management of the wildflower industry in the Fynbos Biome of the Cape, South Africa

The mediterranean-type region of South Africa supports natural vegetation which, like that in Western Australia, is an important resource for the international decorative wildflower industry. In the Cape, South Africa, it is the floristically diverse vegetation of the Fynbos Biome that is the source of material for that trade. This paper explores that industry by means of a computer model used as a vehicle for analysing the convergence of biological, ecological and economic factors, and attempts to predict how these factors might affect the sustainability of natural populations of harvested plant species. © 1992 Academic Press Limited.