1.
Cape Peninsula
–
The Cape Peninsula is a generally rocky peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, on the northern end is Table Mountain, overlooking Cape Town, South Africa. The peninsula is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south. The Peninsula has been an island on and off for the past 5 million years, as sea levels fell and rose with the ice age and interglacial global warming cycles of, particularly, the Pleistocene. The last time that the Peninsula was an island was about 1.5 million years ago, soon afterwards it was joined to the mainland by the emergence from the sea of the sandy area now known as the Cape Flats. The towns and villages of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats now form part of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, the Cape of Good Hope is sometimes given as the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Thus the west coast of the Peninsula is invariably referred to as the Atlantic Coast and it is at Cape Point that the ocean to the south is often said to be divided into the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the east. However, according to the International Hydrographic Organization agreement that defines the ocean boundaries, from there it is retroflexed in an easterly direction by the South Atlantic, South Indian and Southern Ocean currents, known as the West Wind Drift, which flow eastwards round Antarctica. The Benguela Current, on the hand, is an upwelling current which brings cold. Having reached the surface it flows northwards as a result of the prevailing wind, thus the Benguela and Agulhas currents do not strictly meet anywhere, although eddies from the Agulhas current do from time to time round the Cape to join the Benguela Current. The park comprises a part of the undeveloped area of the Cape Peninsula. The coastal waters surrounding the Cape Peninsula are proclaimed as a protected area since 2004, and include several no-take zones. The waters of this protected area are unusual in that they are parts of two fairly distinct marine bioregions, namely the Agulhas Bioregion and the South-western Cape Bioregion. The boundary is at Cape Point, the Cape Peninsula has an unusually rich biodiversity. Its vegetation consists predominantly of several different types of the unique, on the sandy Cape Flats lowlands there are a few pockets of protected Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. The Peninsulas vegetation types form part of the Cape Floral Region protected areas, many of these species, including a great many types of proteas, are endemic to these mountains and can be found nowhere else. It is a showy orchid that blooms from January to March on the Table Mountain Sandstone regions of the mountain. Although they are widespread on the Back Table, the best place to view these beautiful blooms is in the Aqueduct off the Smuts Track
Cape Peninsula
–
The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point.
Cape Peninsula
–
Map showing the Cape Peninsula, illustrating the positions of the
Cape Town City Centre,
Table Mountain, the main mountains and peaks that make up the Peninsula, and the
Cape of Good Hope.
Cape Peninsula
–
The courses of the warm Agulhas current (red) along the east coast of South Africa, and the cold Benguela current (blue) along the west coast. Note that the Benguela current does not originate from Antarctic waters in the South Atlantic Ocean, but from upwelling of water from the cold depths of the Atlantic Ocean against the west coast of the continent. The two currents do not "meet" anywhere along the south coast of Africa.
Cape Peninsula
–
A
King protea growing in
Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos on Table Mountain
2.
Shrubland
–
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterised by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity and it may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for habitation because of the danger of fire. The term shrubland was coined in 1903, shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a woody plant less than 8 m high. Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high, Mediterranean scrublands Mediterranean scrublands occur naturally in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biomes, located in the five Mediterranean climate regions of the world. Scrublands are most common near the seacoast, and have adapted to the wind. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean Basin are known as garrigue in France, phrygana in Greece, tomillares in Spain, and batha in Israel. Interior scrublands Interior scrublands occur naturally in areas where soils are nutrient-poor. Florida scrub is another example of interior scrublands, dwarf shrubs Some vegetation types are formed of dwarf-shrubs, low-growing or creeping shrubs. These include the maquis and garrigues of Mediterranean climates, and the acid-loving dwarf shrubs of heathland and moorland, fynbos Maquis Prostrate shrub Semi-desert Shrub-steppe Shrub swamp Moorland
Shrubland
–
Low shrubland in
Hawaii
Shrubland
–
Scrub vegetation with
cactus in
Webb County in south
Texas
Shrubland
–
Prince Edward County bird observatory shrubland.
Shrubland
–
Fynbos in South Africa
3.
Heath (habitat)
–
A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler, heaths are widespread worldwide, but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. They form extensive and highly diverse communities across Australia in humid and sub-humid areas where fire regimes with recurring burning are required for the maintenance of the heathlands, even more diverse though less widespread heath communities occur in Southern Africa. Extensive heath communities can also be found in the California chaparral, New Caledonia, central Chile, in addition to these extensive heath areas, the vegetation type is also found in scattered locations across all continents, except Antarctica. Heaths are dominated by low shrubs,20 centimetres to 2 metres tall, heath vegetation can be extremely plant-species rich, and heathlands of Australia are home to some 3,700 endemic or typical species in addition to numerous less restricted species. The fynbos heathlands of South Africa are second only to tropical rainforests in plant biodiversity with over 7,000 species, in marked contrast, the tiny pockets of heathland in Europe are extremely depauperate with a flora consisting primarily of heather, heath and gorse. The bird fauna of heathlands are usually species of the region. In the depauperate heathlands of Europe bird species tend to be characteristic of the community and include Montagus harrier. Australian heathlands are also home to the worlds only nectar-feeding terrestrial mammal, the bird fauna of the South African fynbos includes sunbirds, warblers and siskins. Heathlands are also an excellent habitat for insects including ants, moths, butterflies and these heaths were originally created or expanded by centuries of human clearance of the natural forest and woodland vegetation, by grazing and burning. Referring to heathland in England, Rackham says, “Heaths are clearly the product of human activities and need to be managed as heathland, in recent years the conservation value of even these man-made heaths has become much more appreciated, and consequently most heathlands are protected. However they are threatened by tree incursion because of the discontinuation of traditional management techniques such as grazing and burning that mediated the landscapes. Some are also threatened by urban sprawl, anthropogenic heathlands are maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning, or mowing, if not so maintained, they are rapidly re-colonised by forest or woodland. The re-colonising tree species will depend on what is available as the seed source. Bolster heath Chalk heath Garrigue Maquis shrubland Matorral Scrubland The Countryside Agency information on types of open land Origin of the word heath
Heath (habitat)
–
Heathland at
Woodbury Common, Devon (England), featuring purple flowers of
Calluna vulgaris and yellow flowers of
Ulex gallii
Heath (habitat)
–
Heath landscape in the
Stirling Range, Western Australia, with a
dieback -infested valley in the mid-ground
Heath (habitat)
–
Fynbos heathland,
South Africa
Heath (habitat)
–
Lüneburg Heath, an anthropogenic heath in
Lower Saxony, northern Germany
4.
Western Cape
–
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated in the south-western part of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces in terms of area and population, with an area of 129,449 square kilometres and 5.8 million inhabitants. About two-thirds of these live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town. The Western Cape was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province, the Western Cape Province is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape of Good Hope, in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about 400 kilometres northwards along the Atlantic coast and about 500 kilometres eastwards along the South African south coast and it is bordered on the north by the Northern Cape and on the east by the Eastern Cape. The total land area of the province is 129,462 square kilometres and it is roughly the size of England or the State of Louisiana. Its capital city and largest city is Cape Town, and some major cities include Stellenbosch, Worcester, Paarl. The Garden Route and the Overberg are popular tourism areas. The Western Cape is the southernmost region of the African continent with Cape Agulhas as its southernmost point, the coastline varies from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. The only natural harbour is Saldanha Bay on the west coast, however a lack of fresh water in the region meant that it has only recently been used as a harbour. But fresh water coming off Table Mountain and Devils Peak allowed the early European settlers to build Cape Town on the shores of this less than satisfactory anchorage, the province is topographically exceptionally diverse. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt, a set of parallel ranges of sandstone folded mountains of Cambrian-Ordovician age. The valleys between ranges are very fertile as they contain the weathered loamy soils of the Bokkeveld mustones. The far interior forms part of the Karoo and this region of the Province is generally arid and hilly with a prominent escarpment that runs close to the Provinces most inland boundary. The Escarpment marks the edge of South Africas central plateau. The principal rivers of the province are the Berg and Olifants which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Breede and Gourits which drain into the Indian Ocean. The vegetation is extremely diverse, with one of the worlds seven floral kingdoms almost exclusively endemic to the province, namely the Cape Floral Kingdom. These evergreen heathlands are extremely rich in diversity, with at least as many plant species occurring on Table Mountain as in the entire United Kingdom
Western Cape
–
Topography of the Western Cape. The Roggeveld and Nuweveld mountains are part of the
Great Escarpment (see diagrams below). The other mountain ranges belong to the
Cape Fold Belt, also shown in the diagrams below. The Western Cape's inland boundary lies for the most part at the foot of the Great Escarpment.
Western Cape
Western Cape
Western Cape
5.
Mediterranean climate
–
A Mediterranean climate /ˌmɛdɪtəˈreɪniən/ or dry summer climate, is the climate typical of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin. The Mediterranean climate is characterised by dry summers and mild, moist winters, the Azores High is associated with the Mediterranean climate found in southern Europe and north Africa and the Sahara Desert with France and England both bordering this climate, France especially. The South Atlantic High is similarly associated with the Namib Desert, under the Köppen climate classification, hot dry-summer climates and cool dry-summer climates are often referred to as mediterranean. Under the Köppen climate system, the first letter indicates the climate group, temperate climates or C zones have an average temperature above 0 °C, but below 18 °C, in their coolest months. The second letter indicates the precipitation pattern, Köppen has defined a dry summer month as a month with less than 30 mm of precipitation and with less than one-third that of the wettest winter month. Some, however, use a 40 mm level, the third letter indicates the degree of summer heat, a represents an average temperature in the warmest month above 22 °C, while b indicates the average temperature in the warmest month below 22 °C. Under the Köppen classification, dry-summer climates usually occur on the sides of continents. Under Trewarthas system, at least eight months must have average temperatures of 10 °C or higher, during summer, regions of mediterranean climate are dominated by subtropical high pressure cells, with dry sinking air capping a surface marine layer of varying humidity and making rainfall unlikely. In many Mediterranean climates there is a strong character to daily temperatures in the warm months. The majority of the regions with mediterranean climates have relatively mild winters, however winter and summer temperatures can vary greatly between different regions with a mediterranean climate. Or to consider summer, Athens experiences rather high temperatures in that season, in contrast, San Francisco has cool summers with daily highs around. In North America, areas with Csc climate can be found in the Olympic, Cascade, Klamath and these locations are found at high altitude nearby lower altitude regions characterized by a warm-summer mediterranean climate or hot-summer mediterranean climate. A rare instance of this occurs in the tropics, on Haleakalā Summit in Hawaii. In South America, Csc regions can be found along the Andes in Chile, the town of Balmaceda is one of the few towns confirmed to have this climate. Small areas with a Csc climate can also be found at elevations in Corsica. Mediterranean climate Explanation of Mediterranean Climate
Mediterranean climate
–
Mediterranean climate distribution in the Americas
Mediterranean climate
–
Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa)
6.
Ecoregion
–
An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than an ecozone. All three of these are less or greater than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, the biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches, firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible, secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges, rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome, biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers. Some physical, some climatic and some ocean chemical related, the history of the term is somewhat vague as it was used in many contexts, forest classifications, biome classifications, biogeographic classifications, etc. The concept of ecoregion of Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, there is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making the delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Such transition zones are called ecotones, Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or a holistic, “weight-of-evidence” approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the approach is Robert Bailey’s work for the U. S. The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used, according to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across the Earth, the use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and it is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation, Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean of land, WWF ecologists currently divide the land surface of the Earth into 8 major ecozones containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions. The WWF effort is a synthesis of previous efforts to define. Many consider this classification to be decisive, and some propose these as stable borders for bioregional democracy initiatives. The eight terrestrial ecozones follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, ecozone boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like the Himalayas and the Sahara
Ecoregion
–
A map location of the
Amazon rainforest ecoregions. The yellow line encloses the ecoregions per the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Ecoregion
–
A map of North America's Bioregions
Ecoregion
–
The
Ötztal Alps, a
mountain range in the central
Alps of
Europe, are part of the
Central Eastern Alps, and can both be termed as ecoregions.
Ecoregion
–
A conifer forest in the
Swiss Alps (
National Park).
7.
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near colder seas, winters are typically mild to cool in low-lying locations but can be cold in inland and higher locations. All these ecoregions are highly distinctive, collectively harboring 10% of the Earths plant species, much of the woody vegetation in Mediterranean-climate regions is sclerophyll, which means hard-leaved in Greek. Sclerophyll vegetation generally has small, dark leaves covered with an outer layer to retain moisture in the dry summer months. This is equivalent to about 40% of the plant species of the United States and Canada combined, forests are often found in riparian areas, where they receive more summer water. Coniferous forests also occur, especially around the Mediterranean, pine and deciduous oak forest are widespread across California Woodland, Oak woodlands are characteristic of the Mediterranean Basin and in California. Pine woodlands are also present in the Mediterranean Basin, savanna and grassland, The California Central Valley grasslands are the largest Mediterranean grassland eco-region, although these grasslands have mostly been converted to agriculture. The remaining woodlands feature mainly oak, walnut and pine, the cork oak savanna in Portugal, known as montado, is a good example of a mediterranean savanna. Shrubland, Shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen shrubs and small trees. They are most common near the seacoast, and are adapted to wind. Northern coastal scrub and coastal scrub, also known as soft chaparral. In some places shrublands are of the vegetation type, and in other places are the result of degradation of former forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing. Fire, both natural and human-caused, has played a role in shaping the ecology of Mediterranean ecoregions. The hot, dry summers make much of the prone to fires. Many of the plants are pyrophytes, or fire-loving, adapted or even depending on fire for reproduction, recycling of nutrients, and the removal of dead or senescent vegetation. The plant communities in these areas adapted to the frequent human-caused fires, the European shrublands have also been shaped by anthropogenic fire, historically associated with transhumance herding of sheep and goats. Mediterranean ecoregions are some of the most endangered and vulnerable on the planet, media related to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub at Wikimedia Commons National Geographic Global 200 Ecoregions, Mediterranean Forest, Woodland and Scrub. Part of National Geographics Wild World Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World mapping project, Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia FAO
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Mediterranean forests in Salamanca, Spain
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
A Mediterranean forest, the
Upper Galilee
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Eucalyptus forest
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
A mediterranean cork oak savanna, in
Alentejo region, Portugal.
8.
Biome
–
A biome /ˈbaɪoʊm/ is a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in, and can be found over a range of continents. Spanning continents, biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate, biome is a broader term than habitat, any biome can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large ares, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a space as well. For example, the microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere, the term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for biotic community of Möbius. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, the International Biological Program projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in contexts, the term biome is used in a different manner. Both includes many biomes in fact and their boundaries must therefore be drawn arbitrarily and their characterization made according to the average conditions that predominate in them. A1978 study on North American grasslands found a positive correlation between evapotranspiration in mm/yr and above-ground net primary production in g/m2/yr. These findings help explain the categories used in Holdridge’s bioclassification scheme, Holdridge uses the four axes to define 30 so-called humidity provinces, which are clearly visible in his diagram. While this scheme largely ignores soil and sun exposure, Holdridge acknowledged that these were important and his scheme can be seen as a simplification of Holdridges, more readily accessible, but missing Holdridges greater specificity. Whittaker based his approach on theoretical assertions and empirical sampling and he was in a unique position to make such a holistic assertion because he had previously compiled a review of biome classifications. Physiognomy, the apparent characteristics, outward features, or appearance of communities or species. Biome, a grouping of terrestrial ecosystems on a continent that are similar in vegetation structure, physiognomy, features of the environment. Formation, a kind of community of plants on a given continent. Biome-type, grouping of convergent biomes or formations of different continents, whittakers distinction between biome and formation can be simplified, formation is used when applied to plant communities only, while biome is used when concerned with both plants and animals. Whittakers convention of biome-type or formation-type is simply a method to categorize similar communities. Whittaker considered four main ecoclines in the terrestrial realm, changes in physiognomic complexity vary with how favorable of an environment exists
Biome
–
The distribution of vegetation types as a function of mean annual temperature and precipitation.
9.
Biogeography
–
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation, phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals, Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology, geology, and physical geography. The short-term interactions within a habitat and species of organisms describe the application of biogeography. Historical biogeography describes the long-term, evolutionary periods of time for broader classifications of organisms, early scientists, beginning with Carl Linnaeus, contributed theories to the contributions of the development of biogeography as a science. Beginning in the century, Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life. Linnaeus initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories, the patterns of species distribution across geographical areas can usually be explained through a combination of historical factors such as, speciation, extinction, continental drift, and glaciation. Through observing the distribution of species, we can see associated variations in sea level, river routes, habitat. Additionally, this science considers the constraints of landmass areas and isolation. As writer David Quammen put it. biogeography does more than ask Which species, and, what is sometimes more crucial, Why not. Modern biogeography often employs the use of Geographic Information Systems, to understand the factors affecting organism distribution, often mathematical models and GIS are employed to solve ecological problems that have a spatial aspect to them. Biogeography is most keenly observed on the worlds islands and these habitats are often much more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. They can then apply their understanding to similar but more complex mainland habitats, Islands are very diverse in their biomes, ranging from the tropical to arctic climates. This diversity in habitat allows for a range of species study in different parts of the world. One scientist who recognized the importance of geographic locations was Charles Darwin. Two chapters in On the Origin of Species were devoted to geographical distribution, the first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, Carl Linnaeus, in the mid-18th century, initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories. When he noticed that species were not as perpetual as he believed, when Noah’s ark landed on Mount Ararat and the waters receded, the animals dispersed throughout different elevations on the mountain
Biogeography
–
Frontispiece to
Alfred Russel Wallace 's book The Geographical Distribution of Animals
Biogeography
–
Diagrammatic representation of the
divergence of modern
taxonomic groups from their
common ancestor
Biogeography
–
Edward O. Wilson, a prominent biologist and conservationist, coauthored
The Theory of Island Biogeography and helped to start much of the research that has been done on this topic since the work of Watson and Wallace almost a century before
Biogeography
–
Phylogeography
10.
Biodiversity
–
Biodiversity, a contraction of biological diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species and it is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation within an area, biome, terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics and these tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earths surface, and contain about 90 percent of the worlds species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is a component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines. The richness of biodiversity depends on the conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date, all species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions, more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earths current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, there are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland. More recently, in 2015, remains of life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe
Biodiversity
–
A sampling of
fungi collected during summer 2008 in Northern
Saskatchewan mixed woods, near LaRonge is an example regarding the species diversity of fungi. In this photo, there are also leaf
lichens and
mosses.
Biodiversity
–
A
conifer forest in the
Swiss Alps (
National Park).
Biodiversity
–
Summer field in
Belgium (Hamois). The blue flowers are
Centaurea cyanus and the red are
Papaver rhoeas.
Biodiversity
–
Amazon Rainforest in
South America
11.
Endemism
–
The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, the word endemic is from New Latin endēmicus, from Greek ενδήμος, endēmos, native. Endēmos is formed of en meaning in, and dēmos meaning the people, the term, precinctive, has been suggested by some scientists, and was first used in botany by MacCaughey in 1917. It is the equivalent of endemism, precinction was perhaps first used by Frank and McCoy. That definition excludes artificial confinement of examples by humans in far-off botanical gardens or zoological parks, physical, climatic, and biological factors can contribute to endemism. The orange-breasted sunbird is found in the fynbos vegetation zone of southwestern South Africa. The glacier bear is found only in limited places in Southeast Alaska, political factors can play a part if a species is protected, or actively hunted, in one jurisdiction but not another. There are two subcategories of endemism, paleoendemism and neoendemism, paleoendemism refers to species that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that have arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization. Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct if their restricted habitat changes, particularly—but not only—due to human actions, there were millions of both Bermuda petrels and Bermuda cedars in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the seventeenth century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought extinct, cedars, already ravaged by centuries of shipbuilding, were driven nearly to extinction in the twentieth century by the introduction of a parasite. Bermuda petrels and cedars are now rare, as are species endemic to Bermuda
Endemism
–
The
orange-breasted sunbird (Nectarinia violacea) is exclusively found in
fynbos vegetation.
12.
Afrikaans
–
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Hence, it is a language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as Cape Dutch or kitchen Dutch. Although, it is described as a creole, a partially creolised language the least. The term is derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning African Dutch. It is the first language of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern Africa, therefore, differences with Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and a spelling that expresses Afrikaans pronunciation rather than standard Dutch. There is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages—especially in written form. With about 7 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13. 5% of the population and it has the widest geographical and racial distribution of all the eleven official languages of South Africa, and is widely spoken and understood as a second or third language. About 1. 5% of black South Africans speak it as their first language, large numbers of speakers of Bantu languages and English-speaking South Africans also speak it as their second language. It is taught in schools, with about 10.3 million second-language students and it, along with German, was among the official languages of Namibia until the country became independent in 1990, 25% of the population of Windhoek spoke Afrikaans at home. Both Afrikaans and German survive as recognised regional languages in the country, estimates of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. The Afrikaans language arose in the Dutch Cape Colony, through a gradual divergence from European Dutch dialects, there is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, particularly in written form. Nevertheless, Dutch speakers are confronted with fewer non-cognates when listening to Afrikaans than the way round. Mutual intelligibility thus tends to be asymmetrical, as it is easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch, in general, mutual intelligibility between Dutch and Afrikaans is better than between Dutch and Frisian or between Danish and Swedish. The workers and slaves who contributed to the development of Afrikaans were Asians and Malagasys, as well as the Khoi, San, and Bantu peoples who also lived in the area. African creole people in the early 18th century — documented on the cases of Hendrik Bibault, Only much later in the second half of the 19th century did the Boers adopt this attribution, too. The Khoi and mixed-race groups became collectively referred to as Coloureds, beginning in about 1815, Afrikaans started to replace Malay as the language of instruction in Muslim schools in South Africa, written with the Arabic alphabet, see Arabic Afrikaans. Later, Afrikaans, now written with the Latin alphabet, started to appear in newspapers and political, in 1925, Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a real language, rather than simply a slang version of Dutch proper. Before the Boer Wars, and indeed for some time afterwards, rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as ‘a kitchen language’ or as ‘a bastard jargon, suitable for communication mainly between the Boers and their servants
Afrikaans
–
Slogan in front of the Afrikaans Language Monument, near Paarl, South Africa. Loosely translated, it reads "This we care about/This is important to us", or, literally, "This is our seriousness".
Afrikaans
–
Regions shaded dark blue represent areas of concentrated Afrikaans-speaking communities
Afrikaans
–
Side view of the Pretoria Art Museum in Arcadia, Pretoria, with Afrikaans language sign.
Afrikaans
–
Sign in Afrikaans: "Gevaar Slagysters" or "Warning (danger), Traps"
13.
Ericoid
–
The word ericoid is used in modern biological terminology for its literal meanings and for extensions. Etymologically the word is derived from two Greek roots via Latin adaptations, firstly, the Ancient Greek name for plants now known in English as heather was ἐρείκη, believed to be Latinised by Pliny as Erica. Linnaeus, who wrote in Latin, used Erica as the name of the genus which still is known as such. However, when Linnaeus named an organism, using a specific epithet that described it as being like some particular thing and that was a contraction of —ο + ειδος, denoting a likeness of form. In its Latinised form it became, —oides, an example is the entry 9413 Stilbe ericoides according to Wapplers Index Plantarum to Linnaeus Species Plantarum. Further derivations emerged at need or convenience, such as —oidea, accordingly, ericoid could have more than one meaning and it has been misapplied from time to time in the literature. For example, sometimes a writer uses it where the word would be ericaceous, meaning a member of, or related to. More precisely ericoid means resembling an Erica in some relevant way, in practice the commonest use is in reference to a plants habit, in particular its leaves. The term is not precise, but ericoid leaves is a convenient way to describe small, applied to a plant, ericoid generally means that apart from its sclerophyllous leaves, it has short internodes so that the leaves more or less cover the usually slender branchlets
Ericoid
–
Erica glomiflora showing ericoid habit
Ericoid
–
Struthiola myrsinites in flower. Note ericoid habit
14.
Sclerophyll
–
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that has hard leaves, short internodes and leaf orientation parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek sklēros and phyllon, sclerophyllous plants occur in many parts of the world, but are most typical in the chaparral biomes. The term was coined by A. F. W, schimper in 1898, originally as a synonym of xeromorph, but later was changed. Most areas of the Australian continent able to support woody plants are occupied by sclerophyll communities as forests, common plants include the Proteaceae, tea-trees, acacias, boronias, and eucalypts. The most common sclerophyll communities in Australia are savannas dominated by grasses with an overstorey of eucalypts, acacia shrublands also cover extensive areas. These traits make the majority of plants in these woodlands largely unpalatable to domestic livestock. It is therefore important from a perspective that these woodlands support a more or less continuous layer of herbaceous ground cover dominated by grasses. Sclerophyll forests cover a smaller area of the continent, being restricted to relatively high rainfall locations. They have a eucalyptus overstory with the understory also being hard-leaved, dry sclerophyll forests are the most common forest type on the continent, and although it may seem barren dry sclerophyll forest is highly diverse. For example, a study of vegetation in Seal Creek, Victoria. Even less extensive are wet sclerophyll forests and they have a taller eucalyptus overstory than dry sclerophyll forests,30 metres or more, and a soft-leaved, fairly dense understory. They require ample rainfall — at least 1000mm, sclerophyllous plants are all part of a specific environment and are anything but newcomers. By the time of European settlement, sclerophyll forest accounted for the vast bulk of the forested areas, most of the wooded parts of present-day Australia have become sclerophyll dominated as a result of the extreme age of the continent combined with Aboriginal fire use. Deep weathering of the crust over millions of years leached chemicals out of the rock, leaving Australian soils deficient in nutrients. Such nutrient deficient soils support non-sclerophyllous plant communities elsewhere in the world, however such deficient soils cannot support the nutrient losses associated with frequent fires and are rapidly replaced with sclerophyllous species under traditional Aboriginal burning regimens. With the cessation of traditional burning non-sclerophyllous species have re-colonised sclerophyll habitat in parts of Australia. Sclerophyllous plants generally resist dry conditions well, making them successful in areas of seasonally variable rainfall, the leaves are hard due to lignin, which prevents wilting and allows plants to grow, even when there isnt enough phosphorus for substantial new cell growth
Sclerophyll
–
Fynbos in
South Africa
Sclerophyll
–
Bush around Eagle Bay,
Western Australia
Sclerophyll
–
Blackbutt (
Eucalyptus pilularis) in sclerophyll forest,
Sydney
15.
Grassland
–
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses, however sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica, grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. For example, there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications of the grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Grassland vegetation can vary in height from short, as in chalk grassland, to quite tall, as in the case of North American tallgrass prairie, South American grasslands. Woody plants, shrubs or trees, may occur on some grasslands – forming savannas, scrubby grassland or semi-wooded grassland, as flowering plants and trees, grasses grow in great concentrations in climates where annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 900 mm. The root systems of perennial grasses and forbs form complex mats that hold the soil in place, graminoids are among the most versatile life forms. Existing forest biomes declined, and grasslands became much more widespread, following the Pleistocene ice ages, grasslands expanded in range in the hotter, drier climates, and began to become the dominant land feature worldwide. Grasslands often occur in areas with annual precipitation between 600 mm and 1,500 mm and average annual temperatures ranges from −5 and 20 °C. However, some occur in colder and hotter climatic conditions. Grassland can exist in habitats that are disturbed by grazing or fire. Grasslands dominated by unsown wild-plant communities can be called natural or semi-natural habitats. The majority of grasslands in temperate climates are semi-natural and these grasslands contain many species of wild plants – grasses, sedges, rushes and herbs –25 or more species per square metre is not unusual. Chalk downlands in England can support over 40 species per square metre, in many parts of the world, few examples have escaped agricultural improvement. For example, original North American prairie grasslands or lowland wildflower meadows in the UK are now rare and their associated wild flora equally threatened. Some of the worlds largest expanses of grassland are found in African savanna, grasslands may occur naturally or as the result of human activity. Grasslands created and maintained by human activity are called anthropogenic grasslands, hunting peoples around the world often set regular fires to maintain and extend grasslands, and prevent fire-intolerant trees and shrubs from taking hold. The tallgrass prairies in the U. S. Midwest may have been extended eastward into Illinois, Indiana, much grassland in northwest Europe developed after the Neolithic Period, when people gradually cleared the forest to create areas for raising their livestock. Grassland types by Schimper, meadow steppe savannah Grassland types by Ellenberg & Mueller-Dombois, terrestrial herbaceous communities A. Savannas and related grasslands B
Grassland
–
Grassland in
Magallanes Region,
Patagonia, Chile
Grassland
–
Grassland in the
Antelope Valley,
California
Grassland
–
The
Konza tallgrass prairie in the
Flint Hills of northeastern
Kansas
Grassland
–
A grassland in the
Philippines
16.
Cape Floristic Region
–
The Cape Floristic Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom. Much of this diversity is associated with the fynbos biome, a Mediterranean-type, the economical worth of fynbos biodiversity, based on harvests of fynbos products and eco-tourism, is estimated to be in the region of R77 million a year. Thus, it is clear that the Cape Floristic Region has both economic and intrinsic value as a biodiversity hotspot. Covering 78,555 km², Cape Floristic Region hotspot is located entirely within the borders of South Africa and it is one of the five temperate Mediterranean-type systems on the hotspots list, and is one of only two hotspots that encompass an entire floral kingdom. Most of the region is covered with fynbos, a sclerophyllous shrubland occurring on acid sands or nutrient poor soils derived from Table Mountain Sandstones. Fynbos is home to a diversity of plant species including many members of the Protea family, Heath family. Other vegetation types are sandveld, a soft coastal scrubland found mostly on the west-facing coast of the Western Cape Province, small pockets of Afromontane forest can be found in humid and sheltered areas. According to Takhtajan, the families are endemic or subendemic to the region. The World Wildlife Fund divides the Cape floristic region into three ecoregions, the Lowland fynbos and renosterveld, Montane fynbos and renosterveld and the Albany thickets, the fynbos ecoregions are designated one of the Global 200 priority ecoregions for conservation. Conservation International declared the Cape floristic region to be a biodiversity hotspot and it is thought that the Cape Floristic Region is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of extinction in the world due to habitat loss, land degradation, and invasive alien plants
Cape Floristic Region
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
17.
Phytochorion
–
A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a boundary, but rather a soft one. The region of overlap is called a tension zone. However, some prefer not to rank areas, referring to them simply as areas. Systems used to classify vegetation can be divided in two groups, those that use physiognomic-environmental parameters and characteristics and those that are based on floristic relationships. Several systems of classifying geographic areas where plants grow have been devised, most systems are organized hierarchically, with the largest units subdivided into smaller geographic areas, which are made up of smaller floristic communities, and so on. Phytochoria are defined as possessing a large number of endemic taxons. Floristic kingdoms are characterized by a degree of family endemism, floristic regions by a high degree of generic endemism. In the late 19th century, Adolf Engler was the first to make a map with the limits of distribution of floras. His Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien, from the third onwards, also included a sketch of the division of the earth into floral regions. Other important early works on floristics includes Augustin de Candolle, Schouw, Alphonse de Candolle, Drude, botanist Ronald Good identified six floristic kingdoms, the largest natural units he determined for flowering plants. Goods six kingdoms are subdivided into units, called provinces. The Paleotropical kingdom is divided into three subkingdoms, which are subdivided into floristic provinces. Each of the five kingdoms are subdivided directly into provinces. There are a total of 37 floristic provinces, almost all provinces are further subdivided into floristic regions. Armen Takhtajan, in a widely used scheme that builds on Goods work, identified thirty-five floristic regions, each of which is subdivided into floristic provinces, guide to Standard Floras of the World. An annotated, geographically arranged systematic bibliography of the principal floras, enumerations, checklists, 2nd ed. pp. xxiv,1100. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Phytochorion
–
Floristic kingdoms
18.
Clanwilliam, Western Cape
–
Clanwilliam is a town in the Olifants River valley in the Western Cape, South Africa, about 200 kilometres north of Cape Town. It is located in, and the seat of, the Cederberg Local Municipality, as of 2011 Clanwilliam had a population of 7,674. Clanwilliam is situated at an elevation of 100 metres, between the slopes of the Cederberg mountains and the east bank of the Olifants River. It is located just off the N7 national road, which runs from Cape Town to the Namibian border, and on the R364 road, Clanwilliam is 230 kilometres from Cape Town by road. The Dutch Reform Church has been a national monument since 1973. The mission there used to run a school where Harold Cressy once taught whilst studying to become the first coloured man to gain a degree in Cape Town. In 1930 District Surgeon and botanist Dr Pieter Le Fras Nortier Rhodes scholar began conducting experiments with the cultivation of the rooibos plant, Dr Nortier also saw the vast commercial potential the tea held for the region. Dr Nortier cultivated the first plants at Clanwilliam on his farm Eastside, since 2001, Clanwilliam has been the site of the Clanwilliam Arts Festival, run by Cape Town-based Magnet Theatre. During the annual arts festival, workshops in fine arts, dance, music, theatre. Clanwilliam is the birthplace of ZP Theart, former lead vocalist, Municipality — The municipal council assumed a coat of arms on 13 February 1964 and registered them with the Cape Provincial Administration in August 1964. The crest was a tree, and the motto Toujours pret. Both the motto and the ermine on the shield were dervied from the Earl of Clanwilliams arms, divisional council — The Clanwilliam divisional council registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry in May 1976. The arms were, Or, on a pale wavy Azure, the crest was a bunch of grapes between two elephant trunks, and the motto Fide labora
Clanwilliam, Western Cape
–
Dutch Reform Church building in Clanwilliam
19.
Port Elizabeth
–
Port Elizabeth or The Bay is one of the largest cities in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province,770 km east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed The Friendly City or The Windy City, stretches for 16 km along Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth is the southernmost large city on the African continent, just farther south than Cape Town. Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa and it now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, which has a population of over 1.3 million. The area around what is now called Algoa Bay was first settled by hunting and gathering people ancestral to the San at least 100,000 years ago. Around 2,000 years ago, they were displaced or assimilated by agriculturalist populations ancestral to the Xhosa. For centuries, the area was marked on European navigation charts as a landing place with fresh water. One of the goals of the Portuguese Crown in the Indian Ocean was to take over the lucrative trade of Arab. As they took over that trade, the Portuguese strengthened trading with Goa, the name Algoa means to Goa, just as the port further north in present-day Mozambique, Delagoa means from Goa. The area became part of the Cape Colony and this area had a turbulent history between its founding by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 and the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 as a result of the British winning the Boer War. In 1799, during the first British occupation of the Colony during the Napoleonic Wars and this fort, built to protect against a possible landing of French troops, overlooked the site of what later became Port Elizabeth. The fort is now preserved as a monument, from 1814 to 1821, the Strandfontein farm, which later became the Summerstrand beach suburb of Port Elizabeth, was owned by Piet Retief. He later became a Voortrekker leader and was killed in 1837 by Zulu king Dingane during negotiations about land, an estimated 500 men, woman and children of his party were massacred. After Retief, the Strandfontein farm was owned by Frederik Korsten, another contemporary suburb of Port Elizabeth is named for him in the 21st century. At this time the town was founded by Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin, the Acting Governor of the Cape Colony. Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited Port Elizabeth in the early 1830s and he noted that Port Elizabeth in the 1820s had contained four houses, and now it has upward of one hundred houses, and its residents are rated at above twelve hundred persons. The Apostolic Vicariate of Cape of Good Hope, Eastern District, was established in the city in 1847, the town expanded as a diverse community comprising European, Cape Malay and other immigrants. The population increased rapidly after 1873 when the railway to Kimberley was built, during the Second Boer War, the port was an important transit point for British soldiers, horses and materials headed to the front by railway. While no armed conflict took place within the city, many refugees from the war moved into the city and these included Boer women and children, who were interned by the British in a concentration camp
Port Elizabeth
–
City Hall, Market Square, Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth
–
Fort Frederick
Port Elizabeth
–
Horse Memorial
Port Elizabeth
–
The Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth, taken in September 2014. It portrays both the older and parts of the newer sections of the monument.
20.
Cape floral kingdom
–
The Cape Floristic Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom. Much of this diversity is associated with the fynbos biome, a Mediterranean-type, the economical worth of fynbos biodiversity, based on harvests of fynbos products and eco-tourism, is estimated to be in the region of R77 million a year. Thus, it is clear that the Cape Floristic Region has both economic and intrinsic value as a biodiversity hotspot. Covering 78,555 km², Cape Floristic Region hotspot is located entirely within the borders of South Africa and it is one of the five temperate Mediterranean-type systems on the hotspots list, and is one of only two hotspots that encompass an entire floral kingdom. Most of the region is covered with fynbos, a sclerophyllous shrubland occurring on acid sands or nutrient poor soils derived from Table Mountain Sandstones. Fynbos is home to a diversity of plant species including many members of the Protea family, Heath family. Other vegetation types are sandveld, a soft coastal scrubland found mostly on the west-facing coast of the Western Cape Province, small pockets of Afromontane forest can be found in humid and sheltered areas. According to Takhtajan, the families are endemic or subendemic to the region. The World Wildlife Fund divides the Cape floristic region into three ecoregions, the Lowland fynbos and renosterveld, Montane fynbos and renosterveld and the Albany thickets, the fynbos ecoregions are designated one of the Global 200 priority ecoregions for conservation. Conservation International declared the Cape floristic region to be a biodiversity hotspot and it is thought that the Cape Floristic Region is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of extinction in the world due to habitat loss, land degradation, and invasive alien plants
Cape floral kingdom
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
21.
Floral kingdom
–
A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a boundary, but rather a soft one. The region of overlap is called a tension zone. However, some prefer not to rank areas, referring to them simply as areas. Systems used to classify vegetation can be divided in two groups, those that use physiognomic-environmental parameters and characteristics and those that are based on floristic relationships. Several systems of classifying geographic areas where plants grow have been devised, most systems are organized hierarchically, with the largest units subdivided into smaller geographic areas, which are made up of smaller floristic communities, and so on. Phytochoria are defined as possessing a large number of endemic taxons. Floristic kingdoms are characterized by a degree of family endemism, floristic regions by a high degree of generic endemism. In the late 19th century, Adolf Engler was the first to make a map with the limits of distribution of floras. His Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien, from the third onwards, also included a sketch of the division of the earth into floral regions. Other important early works on floristics includes Augustin de Candolle, Schouw, Alphonse de Candolle, Drude, botanist Ronald Good identified six floristic kingdoms, the largest natural units he determined for flowering plants. Goods six kingdoms are subdivided into units, called provinces. The Paleotropical kingdom is divided into three subkingdoms, which are subdivided into floristic provinces. Each of the five kingdoms are subdivided directly into provinces. There are a total of 37 floristic provinces, almost all provinces are further subdivided into floristic regions. Armen Takhtajan, in a widely used scheme that builds on Goods work, identified thirty-five floristic regions, each of which is subdivided into floristic provinces, guide to Standard Floras of the World. An annotated, geographically arranged systematic bibliography of the principal floras, enumerations, checklists, 2nd ed. pp. xxiv,1100. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Floral kingdom
–
Floristic kingdoms
22.
Holarctic
–
These regions are further subdivided into a variety of ecoregions. Many ecosystems, and the animal and plant communities that depend on them, are found across continents in large portions of this realm. The continuity of these results from the shared glacial history of the realm. The floristic Boreal Kingdom corresponds to the Holarctic realm, within the Holarctic realm, there are a variety of ecosystems. The type of ecosystem found in an area depends on the latitude, in the far north, a band of arctic tundra circles the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The ground beneath this land is permafrost, frozen year-round, in these difficult growing conditions, few plants can survive. South of the tundra, the boreal forest stretches across North America and this land is characterized by coniferous trees. South of here, the ecosystems become more diverse, some areas are covered in temperate grassland, while others are covered in temperate forest, dominated by deciduous trees. The southern extent of the Holarctic typically reaches into the desert, a variety of animal species are distributed across continents, throughout much of the Holarctic realm. Some of these included the brown bear, grey wolf, red fox, wolverine, moose, caribou, golden eagle, the brown bear is found in mountainous and semi-open areas distributed throughout the Holarctic. It once occupied much larger areas, but has driven out by human development. Today it is found in remaining wilderness areas. The grey wolf is found in a variety of habitats from tundra to desert. The red fox is an adaptable predator. It has the widest distribution of any terrestrial carnivore, and is adapted to a range of habitats. Like the wolf, it is distributed throughout the majority of the Holarctic, the wolverine is a large member of the weasel family found primarily in the arctic and in boreal forests, ranging south in mountainous regions. It is distributed in areas throughout Eurasia and North America. The moose is the largest member of the deer family and it is found throughout most of the boreal forest through continental Eurasia into Scandinavia, eastern North America, and boreal and montane regions of western North America
Holarctic
–
Holarctic.
23.
Endemic (ecology)
–
The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, the word endemic is from New Latin endēmicus, from Greek ενδήμος, endēmos, native. Endēmos is formed of en meaning in, and dēmos meaning the people, the term, precinctive, has been suggested by some scientists, and was first used in botany by MacCaughey in 1917. It is the equivalent of endemism, precinction was perhaps first used by Frank and McCoy. That definition excludes artificial confinement of examples by humans in far-off botanical gardens or zoological parks, physical, climatic, and biological factors can contribute to endemism. The orange-breasted sunbird is found in the fynbos vegetation zone of southwestern South Africa. The glacier bear is found only in limited places in Southeast Alaska, political factors can play a part if a species is protected, or actively hunted, in one jurisdiction but not another. There are two subcategories of endemism, paleoendemism and neoendemism, paleoendemism refers to species that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that have arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization. Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct if their restricted habitat changes, particularly—but not only—due to human actions, there were millions of both Bermuda petrels and Bermuda cedars in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the seventeenth century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought extinct, cedars, already ravaged by centuries of shipbuilding, were driven nearly to extinction in the twentieth century by the introduction of a parasite. Bermuda petrels and cedars are now rare, as are species endemic to Bermuda
Endemic (ecology)
–
The
orange-breasted sunbird (Nectarinia violacea) is exclusively found in
fynbos vegetation.
24.
Erica
–
Erica is a genus of roughly 860 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The English common names heath and heather are shared by closely related genera of similar appearance. The genus Calluna was formerly included in Erica – it differs in having even smaller scale-leaves, Erica is sometimes referred to as winter heather to distinguish it from Calluna summer heather. The Latin word erica means heath or broom and it is believed that Pliny adapted erica from Ancient Greek ἐρείκη. The expected Anglo-Latin pronunciation, /ᵻˈraɪkə/, may be given in dictionaries, but /ˈɛrᵻkə/ is more commonly heard. Most of the species of Erica are small shrubs from 20–150 cm high, though some are taller, all are evergreen, with minute, needle-like leaves 2–15 mm long. Flowers are sometimes axillary, and sometimes borne in umbels or spikes. The seeds are small, and in some species may survive in the soil for decades. Dulfer published the last revision of the genus Erica, treating 605 species, many new species have subsequently been described and a further 83 have been included in Erica from former “minor genera”, such as Phillipia Klotzsch and Blaeria L. A more recent overview of Erica species is provided in an identification aid. A number of increasingly detailed phylogenetic hypotheses for Erica have been published based on nuclear ribosomal, the closest relatives of Erica are Daboecia and Calluna, representing the oldest surviving lineages of a, by inference, ancestrally Palearctic tribe Ericeae. The small number of European Erica species represent the oldest lineages of the genus, within which a single, order-of-magnitude more species rich, within the African clade, Cape and Madagascan/Mascarene species respectively represent monophyletic groups. Around 690 of the species are endemic to South Africa, the remaining species are native to other parts of Africa, Madagascar, the Mediterranean, and Europe. Like most Ericaceae, Erica species are mainly calcifuges, being limited to acidic or very acidic soils, in fact, the term ericaceous is frequently applied to all calcifuges, and to the compost used in their cultivation. Soils range from dry, sandy soils to extremely wet ones such as bog and they often dominate dwarf-shrub habitats, or the ground vegetation of open acidic woodland. Erica species are grown as landscape or garden plants for their floral effect and they associate well with conifers and are frequently seen in planting schemes as massed groundcover beneath varieties of dwarf conifers. They are capable of producing flower colour throughout the year and they can also be grown in tubs or window boxes to provide interest through autumn and into winter. Some species of sunbirds are known to visit and pollinate Erica, two such species are the southern double-collared sunbird and the orange-breasted sunbird
Erica
–
Erica
Erica
–
Heather Garden,
Ness Botanic Gardens
Erica
–
Erica arborea
Erica
–
Erica cinerea
25.
Species description
–
A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species which have been described previously. The species description often contains photographs or other illustrations of the type material, the publication in which the species is described gives the new species a formal scientific name. Today, some 1.9 million species have been described and named and it is customary for scientists to introduce all relevant new findings and research in a scientific manuscript, which is sent to other scientists for peer review. If accepted, it is published in a journal of the appropriate discipline or in a book. Descriptions and naming of a new species or other taxa follow the same process, a name of a new species becomes valid with the date of publication of its formal scientific description. A scientific species description must fulfill several formal criteria specified by the nomenclature codes, Species names are written in the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, but many species names are based on words from other languages, Latinized. Once the manuscript has been accepted for publication, the new name is officially created. Once a species name has been assigned and approved, it can not be changed except in the case of error. For example, a species of beetle was named by a German collector after Adolf Hitler in 1933 when he had become chancellor of Germany. It is not clear whether such a dedication would be considered acceptable or appropriate today, Species names have been chosen on many different bases. Most common is a naming for the external appearance, its origin. Examples would include a bat species named for the two stripes on its back, a named for its Bolivian origin, and an ant species dedicated to the actor Harrison Ford. A scientific name in honor of a person or persons is a known as a taxonomic patronym or patronymic, a number of humorous species names also exist. Literary examples include the genus name Borogovia, which is named after the borogove, a second example, Macrocarpaea apparata was named after the magical spell to apparate from the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, as it seemed to appear out of nowhere. For example, the genus Victoria was named in honour of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, more recently, a species of lemur was named after the actor John Cleese in recognition of his work to publicize the plight of lemurs in Madagascar. Non-profit ecological organizations may also allow benefactors to name new species in exchange for support for taxonomic research. A German non-profit organisation, BIOPAT - Patrons for Biodiversity has raised more than $450,000 for research, the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants discourages this practice somewhat, Recommendation 20A
Species description
–
Original title page of
Linnaeus 's
Systema Naturae, published in 1735.
26.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 5500 BC
Netherlands
–
Flag
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 500 BC
Netherlands
–
An oak figurine found in
Willemstad, North Brabant (4500 BC).
27.
Table Mountain (South Africa)
–
Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, the main feature of Table Mountain is the level plateau approximately 3 kilometres from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devils Peak to the east and by Lions Head to the west and this broad sweep of mountainous heights, together with Signal Hill, forms the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl and Table Bay harbour. The highest point on Table Mountain is towards the end of the plateau and is marked by Maclears Beacon. It is 1,086 metres above sea level, nou en about 19 metres higher than the station at the western end of the plateau. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a pirate called Van Hunks. When the table cloth is seen, it symbolizes the contest, immediately to the south of Table Mountain is a rugged plateau at a somewhat lower elevation than the Table Mountain Plateau, called the Back Table. The Back Table extends southwards for approximately 6 km to the Constantia Nek-Hout Bay valley, the Atlantic side of the Back Table, is known as the Twelve Apostles, which extends from Kloof Nek to Hout Bay. It is better known by the names of the areas on its the lower slopes, Groote Schuur Estate, Newlands Forest, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cecilia Forest. The upper approximately 600 m portion of the 1 km high table-topped mountain, or mesa, the Graafwater rocks can best be seen just above the contour path on the front of Table Mountain, and around Devils Peak. They can also seen in the cutting along Chapmans Peak Drive. These rocks are believed to have originated in shallow tidal flats, in which a few Ordovician fossils, the overlying TMS probably arose in deeper water, either as a result of subsidence, or a rise in the sea level. The Graafwater rocks rest on the basement consisting of Cape Granite, Devils Peak, Signal Hill, the City Bowl and much of the Cape Flats, however, rest on heavily folded and altered phyllites and hornfelses known informally as the Malmesbury shales. The Cape Granite and Malmesbury shales form the lower, gentler slopes of the Table Mountain range on the Cape Peninsula and they are of late Precambrian age, pre-dating the Graafwater rocks by at least 40 million years. The basement rocks are not nearly as resistant to weathering as the TMS, but significant outcrops of the Cape Granite are visible on the side of Lions Head. The weathered granite soil of the slopes of the Peninsula Mountain range are more fertile than the nutrient-poor soils derived from TMS. Most of the vineyards found on the Cape Peninsula are therefore found on granitic slopes of the Table Mountain range
Table Mountain (South Africa)
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Table Mountain
Table Mountain (South Africa)
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Table Mountain seen from
Lion's Head with low lying cloud cover over Cape Town.
Table Mountain (South Africa)
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Panorama from the top of Table Mountain. From left to right are visible
Lion's Head,
Signal Hill,
Robben Island, the
Cape Town city centre,
Table Bay, and
Devil's Peak.
Table Mountain (South Africa)
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Cape Peninsula and Table Mountain—
Landsat image over
SRTM Elevation. North is on the left of the image, and Table Mountain is in the foreground at the northern end of the peninsula.
28.
Cape Town
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Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
Cape Town
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Clockwise from top: Cape Town CBD,
Strand,
Clifton beach,
Table Mountain,
Port of Cape Town,
Cape Town City Hall
Cape Town
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Coat of arms
Cape Town
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Arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck in
Table Bay by
Charles Bell
Cape Town
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View of Table Bay with ships of the
Dutch East India Company, c. 1683
29.
Olifants River (Western Cape)
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The Olifants River is a river in the southwestern area of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The upper and main catchment area of the Olifants river is around Ceres, the Clanwilliam and Bulshoek dams are located on the river and provide water for the towns and farms along the watercourse. The river is approximately 285 km long with a catchment area of 46,220 km2, the Olifants River rises in the Winterhoek Mountains north of Ceres. The mainstem is about 265 km long, the river flows to the north-west through a deep, narrow valley that widens and flattens into a broad floodplain below Clanwilliam. The river eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean near Papendorp, at the mouth the Olifants river is split in two by an island that exhibits interesting rock formations. Its main tributary is the Doring River, changing name as Melkboom/Oudrif before it joins the Olifants. The tributaries flowing from the east, such as the Thee River, Noordhoek River, Boontjies River, Rondegat River and the Jan Dissels River are typically perennial, except for the Sout River. Those flowing from the west, such as the Ratels River, Elandskloof River, endemism in the rivers of the Olifants/Doring basin is unusually high for South Africa, with eight species endemic to the system. The upper Olifants River is one of the dwelling places of adult Sawfins. This local endemic is classified as Endangered by the IUCN, capeNature has done trials to adapt it for aquaculture or fishery, but this requires better conservation of the river ecosystem. It has been subject to some captive breeding effort and its stocks are in better shape, however, it may have gone extinct in the Olifants River, and at least is almost certainly gone from between Olifants Gorge and Clanwilliam Dam. Although in South Africa this relatively delicate fish is only Near Threatened, other species that occur in the Olifants riverine system include Austroglanis barnardi, Austroglanis gilli, Barbus erubescens, Pseudobarbus phlegethon, Barbus anoplus, and Labeo seeberi. The most severe threat to the rivers ecosystem is probably the Smallmouth Bass. Originally introduced for fishing, it has become something of a pest by depleting the stocks of other fish species. Its eradication is encouraged under the Cape Action for People and the Environment program, non-biological threats are mainly excessive removal of river water for irrigation, and the resultant toxic surface runoff from plantations
Olifants River (Western Cape)
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A view of the Olifants River as it runs through the
Cederberg mountain range a couple kilometers upstream from
Citrusdal
30.
Berg River
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The Berg River is a river located just north of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is approximately 294 km long with a catchment area of 7,715 km², about 65% of the Berg River area is under agriculture. The major towns in the Berg River area are Velddrif and Laaiplek near the coast, Piketberg, Hopefield, Moorreesburg and Darling further inland, the lead source of the Berg River is south of Franschhoek in the Drakenstein Mountains. Gabbema named the river the ‘Groot Berg Rivier’, in years to follow many of van Riebeeck’s men relied on the river waters and followed its winding course as they ventured northwards. Despite Gabbema’s visit, the Berg Catchment was not developed until Governor Simon van der Stel’s time, Wellington, Franschhoek and Tulbagh were established shortly after this as the farmlands expanded. By the mid-1700s, they had declined to such an extent that governor Tulbagh introduced a fine of 1000 guilders for anyone caught killing a hippo, despite this protection, their numbers continued to dwindle as human settlement altered and destroyed their habitat. By the early 1800s, perhaps only a dozen remained, sheltering in the region of Kersefontein, in 1829, only six hippos remained. The last known hippo was shot in 1869 by Martin Melck when it attacked and killed one of his employees. ”The Berg Rivers native fishes contain some species which are endemic to the such as the Cape galaxias. They have been affected by unsustainable human use of the water, but mainly by expanding stocks of exotic fishes. Most problematic among these is the predatory Smallmouth Bass, the Berg River Redfin has one of its last major populations in the Berg River, its decline there seems to have stopped or at least slowed, but it too is already listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Trout are also a problem in the upper Berg river, Berg River Dam 33. 90240°S19. 057000°E / -33.90240,19. Berg River catchment area Berg River Project River Health Programme reports Biodiversity, Alien trout, and the So what attitude
Berg River
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Berg River Dam
31.
Cape Flats
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The Cape Flats is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. To many people in Cape Town, the area is simply as The Flats. Described by some as apartheids dumping ground, from the 1950s the area home to people the apartheid government designated as non-White. The Flats have since then been home to much of the population of Greater Cape Town, most of the sand is unconsolidated, however, in some places near the False Bay coast the oldest sand dunes have been cemented into a soft sandstone. These formations contain important fossils of such as the extinct Cape lion. The area has a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and cool. It is generally exposed to the wind, both from the NW and SE, flooding can be a problem, especially in July and August. Cold wet spells, especially in August and September, can make life difficult for those living in sub-standard housing. The noted English naturalist, William John Burchell, remarked in 1811 that the sand of the Flats made travel by cart or wagon extremely difficult. The situation was aggravated by a shortage of firewood, causing fuel collectors to cut the relatively few indigenous shrubs. During the second half of the 19th century, the area was overrun by alien vegetation. The plants included hakeas and especially wattles, the principal reason for this infestation lay in decisions made by the colonial authorities. This made travel between Cape Town and the very difficult, particularly for the large ox-drawn wagons of the time. The authorities decided to try to stabilise the sand with plants native to the British colonies of New South Wales, the earliest importation of wattles was in 1827. Massive plantings were established in the 1840s and 1850s and the work continued well after 1875. At the time, the plan worked well enough, the march of the dunes was arrested, the price paid, in ecological terms, was that the Cape Flats was carpeted by invasive species. Serious efforts have in recent years been made to back this alien scourge. The Cape Flats has undergone change in the past half a century
Cape Flats
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Landsat image of Cape Town and environs, looking roughly east. Cape Peninsula in the foreground; Table Bay with Robben Island to the left; False Bay with
Seal Island (small white dot) to the right. The mountains of the Boland to the rear. The oval (long axis about 25km) roughly encompasses the Cape Flats.
Cape Flats
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Street scene in Bonteheuwel township
Cape Flats
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'West Side' & 'Thug Life' murals in the
Coloured township of Manenberg, in Hard Livings gang territory
Cape Flats
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Cape Flats train station
32.
Breede River
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The Breede River, also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from Cape Town, the runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed the first continental divide experienced by European settlers in the 18th century, the Titus River and Dwars River become the Breë River. The first catchment area of the river is in the Skurweberg mountain range close to Ceres, the head waters then runs through the modern day Mitchells Pass before plaining out on its middle course in the Worcester area. The river mouth is in an estuary at Port Beaufort on the Indian Ocean, on its course through the Breede River Valley, it is joined by the Holsloot and Smalblaar Rivers, from their catchment areas, the Du Toitskloof and Stettyn mountain ranges. The Hex River with its catchment area in the Hex River Mountains also joins the Breede River from the north-east, further downstream the Slang River and Buffeljags River drain the southern slopes of the Langeberg mountains before depositing their water in the Breede River. Near Swellendam the river is joined by the Riviersonderend, with its catchment area in the surrounding the Theewaterskloof Dam near Villiersdorp. The Greater Brandvlei Dam, completed in 1936 and fully extended by 1987, (also known as the Brandvlei Dam and the Kwaggaskloof Dam. In the catchment area are a few dams, Stettynskloof Dam on the Holsloot River tributary of the Breede River. Zwiegelaars Dam Theewaterskloof Dam both on the Riviersonderend River Elandskloof Dam on the Elands River a tributary of the Riviersonderend River, moordkuil Dam on the Hooks River a tributaty of the Breede River. Keerom Dam on the Nuy River a tributary of the Breede River, klipberg Dam on the Konings River itself a tributary of the Keisers River, a tributary of the Breede River. Pietersfontein Dam on the Pietersfontein River a tributary of the Kogmanskloof River, poortjieskloof Dam on the Groot River also flowing into the Kogmanskloof River Buffeljags Dam on the Buffeljags River a tributary of the Breede River. River Rafting, The Breede River is a location for river rafting tours. The gently flowing water and the absence of crocodiles, hippos, several tour operators launch about 20 km south of Swellendam in two-man blow-up boats. This and the nature of the rivers ecosystem in turn has led to a record of very few to no shark attacks on humans in the area. List of rivers of South Africa Skurweberg Pass Breede River Valley, Western Cape
Breede River
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The Breede River about 5km inland from its mouth.
Breede River
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Breede from Bontebok Park
Breede River
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Cable ferry at Malgas
Breede River
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Breede with
Langeberg backdrop
33.
Little Karoo
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The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. There is no definition of what constitutes the Karoo. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology, and climate — above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, the Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. Today it is still a place of great heat and frosts, however, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible. The eastern and north-eastern Karoo are often covered by large patches of grassland, the typical Karoo vegetation used to support large game, sometimes in vast herds. Today sheep thrive on the xerophytes, though each sheep requires about 4 hectares of grazing to sustain itself, the Great Karoo lies to the north of the Swartberg range, the Little Karoo is to the south of it. The only sharp and definite boundary of the Great Karoo is formed by the most inland ranges of Cape Fold Mountains to the south, the extent of the Karoo to the north is vague, fading gradually and almost imperceptibly into the increasingly arid Bushmanland towards the north-west. To the north and north-east it fades into the savannah and grasslands of Griqualand West, the boundary to the east grades into the grasslands of the Eastern Midlands. The Great Karoo is itself divided by the Great Escarpment into the Upper Karoo, a great many local names, each denoting different subregions of the Great Karoo, exist, some more widely, or more generally, known than others. In the Lower Karoo, going from west to east, they are the Tankwa Karoo, the Moordenaarskaroo, the Koup, the Vlakte and the Camdeboo Plains. The Hantam, the Kareeberge, the Roggeveld and Nuweveld are the better known subregions of the Upper Karoo, though most of it is known as the Upper Karoo. The Little Karoo’s boundaries are defined by mountain ranges to the west. The road between Uniondale and Willowmore is considered, by convention, to form the approximate arbitrary eastern extremity of the Little Karoo and its extent is much smaller than that of the Great Karoo. Locally, it is called the Klein Karoo, which is Afrikaans for Little Karoo. The Great Karoo straddles the 30° S parallel on the west of the continent and it is furthermore in the rainfall shadow of the Cape Fold Mountains along the western coastline. The western Lower Karoo contain remnants of the Cape Fold Mountains which give it a moderate hilly appearance, the Upper Karoo has been intruded by dolerite sills, creating multiple flat topped hills, or Karoo Koppies, which are iconic of the Great Karoo. The vegetation of the Upper and Lower Karoo is similar, so few people make a distinction between the two. Thereafter they gradually ascend the Great Escarpment along a valley to Three Sisters on the Central Plateau
Little Karoo
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Typical Karoo vegetation to the south of
Matjiesfontein, with the
Anysberg Mountains visible in the background
Little Karoo
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A view from the top of the
Great Escarpment in the
Karoo National Park near
Beaufort West, looking south across the plains of the Lower Karoo. Note the remnants of the former extent of the central plateau on the plain below the escarpment (see diagram on the right). Also note the
dolerite sills which top the escarpment and mountains in the middle distance, giving these structures their characteristic flat-topped appearance.
Little Karoo
Little Karoo
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Farmlands along the well-watered, fertile foothills of the more than 2000 m high
Swartberg Mountains (in the background) along the northern strip of the Little Karoo.
34.
Gamtoos River
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Gamtoos River or Gamptoos River is a river in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Kouga River and the Groot River and is approximately 645-kilometre long with a catchment area of 34,635 square kilometres, the Gamtoos river system is formed by the Groot, the Kouga and the Baviaanskloof Rivers. The latter is a tributary of the Kouga, although the rainfall in the catchment area is low, it supports a commercial irrigated agriculture in the lower catchment in which oranges, tobacco, citrus fruit and vegetables are grown. There is an estuary where the Gamtoos river enters the Indian Ocean and it is located between Jeffreys Bay and Port Elizabeth and the Gamtoos River Mouth Nature Reserve is in the area. The towns of Hankey, the oldest town situated in the Gamtoos river valley, further inland are the towns of Steytlerville, Joubertina, Uniondale, Willowmore and Murraysburg. Tributaries include the Loerie River, Klein River, Hol River, besides the Groot, saartjie Baartman - the Hottentot Venus - was born around 1789 in the vicinity of the Gamtoos river. In 1877 during a drought in the region, the Gamtoos River dried up completely. During the floods of October 1867, according to John Croumbie Brown, two bridges cross the Gamtoos close to its mouth in the Kouga. The original 180-metre bridge on the R102 was opened in 1895 in order to replace the ferry that had been in use up to that time, a modern concrete bridge was built during the construction of the N2 in the early 1970s. Presently this river is part of the Fish to Tsitsikama Water Management Area, until then it had been thought that its distribution was restricted to the area between the Keurbooms and the Olifants River. List of rivers of South Africa List of estuaries of South Africa Media related to Gamtoos River at Wikimedia Commons Birding - Gamtoos River Mouth IUCN Red List - Galaxias zebratus
Gamtoos River
–
Gamtoos River near its mouth into the
Indian Ocean between
Port Elizabeth and
Jeffreys Bay, with the R102 bridge in the foreground and the N2 bridge in the background.
Gamtoos River
–
Outcrop of Enon Conglomerate formed by Alluvial deposits in the Gamtoos Valley, on the R331 between
Patensie and the
Kouga Dam
35.
Peninsula Shale Fynbos
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Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos is a vegetation type that naturally occurs in the Cape Winelands of the Western Cape, South Africa. This vegetation type is found on mountain slopes and high. The loamy soils are poor, moist and slightly acidic. The vegetation consists of an array of Protea, Erica, geophyte and daisy species. In the moister areas, the Ericas predominate over the plant groups. This vegetation type is more vulnerable than other types of Mountain Fynbos, as it grows on lower slopes. An isolated patch of vegetation can also be found further to the west. Here it is known as Peninsula Shale Fynbos and occurs on the lower slopes of Devils Peak as far south as Newlands Forest. On the northern slopes of Devils Peak, it merges into Peninsula Shale Renosterveld and this ecosystem is usually classed as being a type of Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos, although there are differences. There is a forest of Silvertrees growing in this spot of Peninsula Shale Fynbos and this rare and enormous Protea is typically restricted to the Peninsula Granite Fynbos of Cape Town. It is not known why - in addition - it grows in the shale fynbos here, biodiversity of Cape Town Peninsula Shale Renosterveld Peninsula Granite Fynbos Cape Floristic Region Index, Fynbos - habitats and species
Peninsula Shale Fynbos
–
Protea flower in Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos.
Peninsula Shale Fynbos
–
Peninsula Shale Fynbos growing on Devils Peak, Cape Town
36.
Gladiolus alatus
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Gladiolus alatus is an Gladiolus species found from southern Namaqualand south to the Cape Peninsula and east to Caledon and Bredasdorp, South Africa. It is found growing on slopes with sandstone and granitic soils, the flowers bloom from August to October and are sweetly scented Dressler, S. Schmidt, M. & Zizka, G. Gladiolus alatus. African plants – a Photo Guide
Gladiolus alatus
–
Gladiolus alatus
Gladiolus alatus
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Gladiolus alatus in South African habitat
37.
Flora
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Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animal life is fauna, Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the gut flora or skin flora. The word flora comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, the distinction between vegetation and flora was first made by Jules Thurmann. Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately, plants are grouped into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be geographically distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland, floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments, Native flora, the native and indigenous flora of an area. The plants that are grown by humans. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants regarded as undesirable, many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various ecosystems. The flora of an area or time period can be documented in a publication also known as a flora. Floras may require specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness, traditionally they are books, but some are now published on CD-ROM or websites. It is said that the Flora Sinensis by the Polish Jesuit Michał Boym was the first book that used the name Flora in this meaning, however, despite its title it covered not only plants, but also some animals of the region. A published flora often contains diagnostic keys, often these are dichotomous keys, which require the user to repeatedly examine a plant, and decide which one of two alternatives given best applies to the plant
Flora
–
Plant species diversity
38.
Evergreen
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In botany, an evergreen is a plant that has leaves throughout the year, always green. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage during the winter or dry season. There are many different kinds of plants, both trees and shrubs. Deciduous trees shed their leaves, usually as an adaptation to a cold or dry/wet season, evergreen trees do lose leaves, but each tree loses its leaves gradually and not all at once. Most warm temperate climate plants are also evergreen, in cool temperate climates, fewer plants are evergreen, with a predominance of conifers, as few evergreen broadleaf plants can tolerate severe cold below about −30 °C. In areas where there is a reason for being deciduous, being evergreen is usually an adaptation to low nutrient levels, deciduous trees lose nutrients whenever they lose their leaves. In warmer areas, species such as pines and cypresses grow on poor soils. In Rhododendron, a genus with many broadleaf evergreens, several species grow in forests but are usually found on highly acidic soil where the nutrients are less available to plants. In taiga or boreal forests, it is too cold for the matter in the soil to decay rapidly, so the nutrients in the soil are less easily available to plants. These conditions favour the growth of more evergreens and make it difficult for deciduous plants to persist. In addition, the shelter provided by existing evergreen plants can make it easier for younger evergreen plants to survive cold and/or drought
Evergreen
–
A
Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves.
Evergreen
–
A
Southern Live Oak in winter.
39.
Proteaceae
–
The Proteaceae /ˌproʊtiˈeɪsiː/ are a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species, together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Proteales. Well-known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea, Hakea, Dryandra, Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentrations of diversity. This is an image, seeing as the family is known for its astonishing variety and diversity of flowers. The genera of Proteaceae are highly varied, with Banksia in particular providing an example of adaptive radiation in plants. This variability makes it impossible to provide a simple, diagnostic identification key for the family, Proteaceae are generally trees, rarely of more than 40 m in height, and are usually of medium height or low or perennial shrubs, except for some Stirlingia species that are herbs. They are facultatively deciduous, rarely acaulescent, the portion of the collar is often thickened. Indumentum of three-celled hairs, sometimes glandular, rarely absent, the cell is usually elongated, acute. Roots lateral and short, often grouped in bundles with very dense root hairs, Plants usually hermaphroditic, more rarely monoecious, dioecious or andromonoecious. Flowers are usually perfect, actinomorphic, or zygomorphic, hypogynous, frequently large, flat or oblique, sometimes forming a gynophore. Hypogynous disk present and extrastaminal or absent, hypogynous glands 1-4, squamiform or elongated, fleshy, free or fused forming a lunate or annular nectary over the receptacle. Chromosomal number, n =5,7, 10-14,26,28, sizes range from small to very big according to species. Generally speaking, the feature of Proteaceae is the compound flower head or, more accurately. In many genera, the most obvious feature is the large and often very showy inflorescences, even this character, however, does not occur in all Proteaceae, Adenanthos species, for example, have solitary flowers. In most Proteaceae species, the mechanism is highly specialised. It usually involves the use of a pollen-presenter, an area on the style-end that presents the pollen to the pollinator, the pistil initially passes along the inside of the perianth tube, so the stigma, too, is enclosed within the cup. As the flower develops, the pistil grows rapidly, since the stigma is trapped, the style must bend to elongate, and eventually it bends so far, it splits the perianth along one seam. The style continues to grow until anthesis, when the begin to produce nectar
Proteaceae
–
Proteaceae
Proteaceae
–
Inflorescence and leaves of the
pin-cushion hakea (Hakea laurina)
Proteaceae
–
Inflorescence of Protea caffra
Proteaceae
–
Fruit of Brabejum stellatifolium
40.
Protea
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Protea /ˈproʊtiːə/ is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes. In local tradition, the Protea flower represents change and hope, the genus Protea was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form at will, because they have such a wide variety of forms. The family Proteaceae to which proteas belong is an ancient one among angiosperms, evidence from pollen fossils suggest Proteaceae ancestors grew in Gondwana, in the Upper Cretaceous, 75-80 million years ago. Africa shares only one genus with Madagascar, whereas South America, most proteas occur south of the Limpopo River. However, Protea kilimanjaro is found in the zone of Mount Kenya National Park. 92% of the species only in the Cape Floristic Region. Proteas attracted the attention of visiting the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century. Many species were introduced to Europe in the 18th century, enjoying a unique popularity at the time amongst botanists, Proteas are currently cultivated in over 20 countries. Cultivation is restricted to Mediterranean and sub tropical climates, there are three categories of traits that has to be considered before developing a new cultivar. The yield or production capacity of the cultivar has to be considered, some Protea flower species, like the King Protea flower, are self-pollinating flowers. Other Protea species, however, like the Protea Cordata, Protea decurrens, the main vectors responsible for the transfer of pollen in Protea cultivation are birds, insects and wind. There are some Protea species which exhibit both self-pollination as well as cross-pollination as a method of reproduction, cross-pollination is however preferred as a method of reproduction because it provides genetic diversity in the population. When cultivating Proteas, breeders uses hand pollination as a method to transfer pollen from one flower to another. The flower should then again be covered with a bag and marked with a tag containing information regarding the seed. This step should be repeated until all the flowers are opened and pollinated, Proteas usually flower during spring time. The general structure of the Protea flower head consists of a mass of flowers on a woody receptacle. The common Protea plants, e. g. Protea, Leucospermum and Leucadendron are diploid organisms, leucodendron]] has a haploid chromosome number of 13 instead of 12 as in the case of Leucospermum. The four main methods for cultivating Protea plants are sexual reproduction, when Proteas are cultivated using seeds, the first step in the cultivation process is to disinfect the seeds by soaking in water maintained at 50 °C for 30 minutes
Protea
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Protea aka: sugarbushes
Protea
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Protea caffra, the Common protea
Protea
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Dried head of Protea madiensis, the Tall woodland sugarbush, shedding mature fruit
41.
Leucospermum
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They are evergreen shrubs growing to 0. 5-5 m tall. The leaves are arranged, tough and leathery, simple, linear to lanceolate, 2-12 cm long and 0. 5-3 cm broad. The flowers are produced in inflorescences, which have large numbers of prominent styles. The genus is related in evolution and appearance to the Australian genus Banksia. Leucospermum album Bond Leucospermum arenarium – Redelinghuis Pincushion Leucospermum attenuatum R. Br, Leucospermum cordatum – Heart-leaf Pincushion Leucospermum cordifolium Fourc. Br. Br. Buek ex Meisn. Br. – Ribbon Pincushion Leucospermum truncatulum – Oval-leaf Pincushion Leucospermum truncatum H. Buek ex Meisn
Leucospermum
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Leucospermum
Leucospermum
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Nodding Pincushion, Leucospermum 'Veldfire' flower bud
Leucospermum
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Leucospermum glabrum x L. tottum Scarlet Ribbon'
Leucospermum
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Leucospermum cordifolium,
Helderberg Nature Reserve,
South Africa
42.
Leucadendron
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Leucadendron is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, endemic to South Africa, where they are a prominent part of the fynbos ecoregion and vegetation type. Species in the genus Leucadendron are small trees or shrubs that are erect or creeping, most species are shrubs that grow up to 1 m tall, some to 2 or 3 m. A few grow into moderate-sized trees up to 16 m tall and this inspired the generic name Leucadendron, which literally means white tree. The flowers are produced in dense inflorescences at the tips, plants are dioecious. The seed heads, or infructescences, of Leucadendron are woody cone-like structures and this gave rise to their generic common name cone-bush. The seed morphology is varied and reflects subgeneric groupings within the genus, a few such as the Silvertree, Leucadendron argenteum have a silky-haired parachute, enabling the large round nut to be dispersed by wind. A few are rodent dispersed, cached by rats, and a few have elaiosomes and are dispersed by ants, about half the species store the seeds in fire-proof cones and release them only after a fire has killed the plant or at least the branch bearing the cone. Many such species hardly recruit naturally except after fires, Leucadendron plants are conventionally propagated through seedlings as well as cuttings. The seeds reach maturity over a duration of a year and this time of germination and emergence depends on the type of Leucadendron genus. When using cuttings as propagating material, the season as well as the type of material used can affect the rate of the cultivation. Cuttings are preferred as propagating material, because it provides uniform offspring whereas seedlings produces genetic variability in the offspring, the Leucadendron genus are more prone to genetic variation than a genus that tend to self-fertilize, because of their cross-pollinating nature. Steps for cultivation include soil evaluation, clearing, drainage, chemical correction, the selection criteria for cultivating Leucadendron genera is of great importance and should be based on the agricultural ability of the plant as well as the current market standards. The drive behind the production of new Leucadendron cultivars is the production of a constant supply of new, the Leucadendron genus is common amongst consumers due to its colourful bracts and long lasting vase life. Leucadendron hybrids are produced through interspecific hybridization, crosses made within the same subsection are generally more viable in the hybridization of Leucadendrons with the quantity of seed set relative to the taxonomic relatedness of the species. Intersectional hybridization produces hybrids that show a set of characteristics which are favoured by consumers. One example of a produced by two Leucadendron genera is the cultivar Rosette, a hybrid between L. laureolum and L. elimense. This interspecific hybrid is however completely sterile due to autopolyploidy and thus have no use in further cultivation, the main aim of interspecific hybridization is to produce large quantities of progeny seed from the best interspecific hybrid parents. Media related to Leucadendron at Wikimedia Commons
Leucadendron
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Leucadendron
Leucadendron
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Leucadendron salignum
Leucadendron
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Leucadendron loriense
Leucadendron
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Leucadendron pubescens
43.
Leucadendron argenteum
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Leucadendron argenteum is an endangered plant species in the family Proteaceae, which is endemic to a small area of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Most grow in and around the city of Cape Town, but outlying populations exist near Paarl and it is a protected tree in South Africa. The Silvertree is a evergreen tree, growing 5–7 m tall. It is erect and well-proportioned with a thick, straight trunk, the soft, silky leaves are shiny silver, lanceolate, 8–15 cm long and 2 cm broad, with their distinct silvery sheen produced by dense velvety hairs. The wind-pollinated flowers are produced in globose inflorescences 4–5 cm diameter. Like all Leucadendrons, this tree is dioecious, with male and female plants. The fruit is a woody cone, containing numerous seeds, each seed is a small nut with a silky-haired helicopter-like parachute. This enormous silver Protea is naturally confined to an area in. Its main population grows on the slopes of Table Mountain, notably the Lions Head area, above Rhodes Memorial, in addition there are two tiny outlying populations nearby, in Stellenbosch and Paarl. Historically, the Silvertree was more widespread on Table Mountain, covering much of its slopes in shimmering silver forests, however, early demand for timber led to much of these forests being felled and now the Silvertree is a rare and endangered species. Table Mountain is perhaps the place where these trees grow naturally, as the populations near Stellenbosch. In the face of development, inappropriate fire management, and invasive alien trees such as pines and gums. Mortality of these trees is negligible after a burn. During a longer term absence of burns however, sudden die-offs may occur and this is believed to be the combined result of berg winds and diseased roots which are weakened by Phytophthora root rot which inhibits their water absorption. An estimated 40 to 50 percent of the extant native population burned in the fire of 26 to 27 January 2006, as recruitment of seedlings only occurs naturally after fire, this was a necessary stage in the life-cycle of this Fynbos species, and the population has recovered totally. A major deterrent to propagation of the silver leaf tree is its life span. Seeds remain viable for at least 80 years, juveniles take 5–7 years to flower and set seed, whereafter the populations are ready to burn again. Tylized twigs of the tree appear in the arms of the South Peninsula Municipality of South Africa
Leucadendron argenteum
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Leucadendron argenteum
Leucadendron argenteum
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Adult specimen growing on the eastern slopes of
Table Mountain, near
Rhodes Memorial.
Leucadendron argenteum
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Seeds of Leucadendron argenteum
Leucadendron argenteum
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Silvertrees were nearly driven to extinction when their only natural habitat was cleared for commercial pine plantations.
44.
Rhamnaceae
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The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species, the Rhamnaceae have a worldwide distribution, but are more common in the subtropical and tropical regions. The earliest fossil evidence of Rhamnaceae is from the Eocene, leaves of Rhamnaceae family members are simple, i. e. the leaf blades are not divided into smaller leaflets. Leaves can be either alternate and spiraling, or opposite and these leaves are modified into spines in many genera, in some spectacularly so. Colletia stands out by having two axillary buds instead of one, one developing into a thorn, the one into a shoot. There are 5 separate sepals and 5 separate petals, the petals may be white, yellowish, greenish, pink or blue, and are small and inconspicuous in most genera, though in some the dense clusters of flowers are conspicuous. The 5 or 4 stamens are opposite the petals, the ovary is superior, with 2 or 3 ovules. The fruits are berries, fleshy drupes, or nuts. Some are adapted to wind carriage, but most are dispersed by mammals, chinese jujube is the fruit of the jujube tree and is a major fruit in China. The American genus Ceanothus, which has several showy ornamental species, has nitrogen-fixing root nodules, economic uses of the Rhamnaceae are chiefly as ornamental plants and as the source of many brilliant green and yellow dyes. The wood of Rhamnus was also the most favoured species to make charcoal for use in gunpowder before the development of modern propellants, modern molecular phylogenetics recommend the following clade-based classification of Rhamnaceae, Rhamnaceae of Mongolia in FloraGREIF
Rhamnaceae
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Buckthorn family
Rhamnaceae
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Flowers of
Ceanothus cuneatus
Rhamnaceae
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Bisexual flower of
Helinus, with five sepals and petals, and a yellow, annular nectary disk. The small, clawed petals embrace the stamens.
Rhamnaceae
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Flowers of
Ziziphus mucronata
45.
Fabaceae
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The Fabaceae, Leguminosae or Papilionaceae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, the five largest of the genera are Astragalus, Acacia, Indigofera, Crotalaria and Mimosa, which constitute about a quarter of all legume species. The ca.19,000 known legume species amount to about 7% of flowering plant species, Fabaceae is the most common family found in tropical rainforests and in dry forests in the Americas and Africa. Recent molecular and morphological evidence supports the fact that the Fabaceae is a monophyletic family. These studies confirm that the Fabaceae are a group that is closely related to the Polygalaceae, Surianaceae and Quillajaceae families. Along with the cereals, some fruits and tropical roots a number of Leguminosae have been a human food for millennia. A number of species are also weedy pests in different parts of the world, including, Cytisus scoparius, Robinia pseudoacacia, Ulex europaeus, Pueraria lobata, the name Fabaceae comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included in Vicia. The term faba comes from Latin, and appears to simply mean bean, Leguminosae is an older name still considered valid, and refers to the fruit of these plants, which are called legumes. Fabaceae range in habit from giant trees to small annual herbs, plants have indeterminate inflorescences, which are sometimes reduced to a single flower. The flowers have a short hypanthium and a single carpel with a short gynophore, the Leguminosae have a wide variety of growth forms including trees, shrubs or herbaceous plants or even vines or lianas. The herbaceous plants can be annuals, biennials or perennials, without basal or terminal leaf aggregations and they are upright plants, epiphytes or vines. The latter support themselves by means of shoots that twist around a support or through cauline or foliar tendrils, plants can be heliophytes, mesophytes or xerophytes. The leaves are alternate and compound. Most often they are even- or odd-pinnately compound, often trifoliate and rarely palmately compound, in the Mimosoideae and they always have stipules, which can be leaf-like, thorn-like or be rather inconspicuous. Leaf margins are entire or, occasionally, serrate, both the leaves and the leaflets often have wrinkled pulvini to permit nastic movements. In some species, leaflets have evolved into tendrils, many species have leaves with structures that attract ants that protect the plant from herbivore insects. Extrafloral nectaries are common among the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae, and are found in some Faboideae. In some Acacia, the modified hollow stipules are inhabited by ants and are known as domatia, many Fabaceae host bacteria in their roots within structures called root nodules
Fabaceae
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Fabaceae Temporal range:
Palaeocene –
Recent
Fabaceae
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The fruit of
Gymnocladus dioicus
Fabaceae
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A flower of
Wisteria sinensis, Faboideae. Two petals have been removed to show stamens and pistil
Fabaceae
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Legume of
Vicia angustifolia
46.
Geraniaceae
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Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus Geranium, the family includes both the genus Geranium and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus Pelargonium, along with other related genera. The family comprises 830 species in five to seven genera, numerically, the most important genera are Geranium, Pelargonium and Erodium. The Sarcocaulon are succulent, but other members of the family generally are not, leaves are usually lobed or otherwise divided, sometimes peltate, opposite or alternate and usually have stipules. The flowers are regular, or symmetrical. They are hermaphrodite, actinomorphic or slightly zygomorphic, the calyx and the corolla are both pentamerous, petals are free while sepals are connate or united at the base. The androecium consists in two whorls of five each, some of which can be unfertile, the pistil consists of five merged carpels. The linear stigmas are free, and the ovary is superior, flowers are usually grouped in cymes, umbels or, more rarely, spikes. Geraniaceae are normally pollinated by insects, but self-pollination is not uncommon, when the fruit is mature the style breaks into five hygroscopically active bristles that curl, causing the achenes to be released. Geraniaceae, with Francoaceae are the two families included in the order Geraniales under the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification, there has been some uncertainty in the number of genera to be included. Stevens gives seven genera listed here, while Christenhusz and Byng state five genera, stevens also lists four synonyms of Geranium, Geraniopsis Chrtek Neurophyllodes O. Some authors separate Hyspeocharis as a monogeneric family Hypseocharitaceae, while older sources placed it in the Oxalidaceae, the genus Rhynchotheca has also been separated into the Vivianiaceae. The Geraniaceae have a number of features unique amongst angiosperms, including highly rearranged plastid genomes differing in gene content, order. Most species are found in temperate or warm temperate regions, though some are tropical, Pelargonium has its centre for diversity in the Cape region in South Africa, where there is a striking vegetative and floral variation
Geraniaceae
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Geraniaceae
Geraniaceae
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Herbarium specimen of Geranium rotundifolium showing mature fruits
Geraniaceae
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Actinomorphic flowers of Geranium pratense
Geraniaceae
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Zygomorphic flowers of a garden geranium (genus Pelargonium)
47.
Ericaceae
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The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acid and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, the many well-known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron, and various common heaths and heathers. The Ericaceae contain a diverse range of taxa, including herbs, dwarf shrubs, shrubs. Their leaves are alternate or whorled, simple and without stipules. Their flowers are hermaphrodite and show considerable variability, the petals are often fused with shapes ranging from narrowly tubular to funnelform or widely bowl-shaped. The corollas are usually symmetrical, but many flowers of the genus Rhododendron are somewhat bilaterally symmetrical. Adanson used the term Vaccinia to describe a family. The name comes from the type genus Erica, which appears to be derived from the Greek word ereike, the exact meaning is difficult to interpret, but some sources show it as meaning heather. Historically, the Ericaceae included both subfamilies and tribes, within tribe Rhodoreae, five genera were described, Rhododendron L. Therorhodion Small, Ledum L. Tsusiophyllum Max. Menziesia J. E. Smith, that were transferred into Rhododendron. The move significantly increased the morphological and geographical range found within the group, the Ericaceae have a nearly worldwide distribution. They are absent from continental Antarctica, parts of the high Arctic, central Greenland, northern and central Australia, the family is largely composed of plants that can tolerate acidic, infertile conditions. Like other stress-tolerant plants, many Ericaceae have mycorrhizal fungi to assist with extracting nutrients from infertile soils and this trait is not found in the Clethraceae and Cyrillaceae, the two families most closely related to the Ericaceae. Most Ericaceae form a distinctive accumulation of mycorrhizae, in which grow in and around the roots. The Pyroloideae are mixotrophic and gain sugars from the mycorrhizae, as well as nutrients, in many parts of the world, a heath or heathland is an environment characterised by an open dwarf-shrub community found on low-quality acidic soils, generally dominated by plants in the Ericaceae. A common example is Erica tetralix and this plant family is also typical of peat bogs and blanket bogs, examples include Rhododendron groenlandicum and Kalmia polifolia. In eastern North America, members of this family grow in association with an oak canopy. Some evidence suggests eutrophic rainwater can convert ericoid heaths with species such as Erica tetralix to grasslands, nitrogen is particularly suspect in this regard, and may be causing measurable changes to the distribution and abundance of some ericaceous species
Ericaceae
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Ericaceae
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Media related to Fynbos at Wikimedia Commons
