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Biodiversity Of Cape Town
The Biodiversity of Cape Town is the variety and variability of life within the geographical extent of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, excluding the Prince Edward Islands. The terrestrial vegetation is particularly diverse and much of it is endemic to the city and its vicinity. Terrestrial and freshwater animal life is heavily impacted by urban development and habitat degradation. Marine life of the waters immediately adjacent to the city along the Cape Peninsula and in False Bay is also diverse, and while also impacted by human activity, the habitats are relatively intact. Floristic region (phytochorion) The City of Cape Town lies within the Cape Floristic Kingdom, by far the smallest and most diverse of the earth's six floristic kingdoms, an area of extraordinarily high diversity and endemism, and home to over 9,000 vascular plant species, of which 69 percent are endemic. Much of this diversity is associated with the fynbos biome, a Mediterranean-type, fire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Town Vegetation Types 1 - Original Vegetation
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. They have had periodic returns to fashion - for example, in nineteenth-century Europe. Roman Catholic clergy wear a type of cape known as a ferraiolo, which is worn for formal events outside a ritualistic context. The cope is a liturgical vestment in the form of a cape. Capes are often highly decorated with elaborate embroidery. Capes remain in regular use as rainwear in various military units and police forces, in France for example. A gas cape was a voluminous military garment designed to give rain protection to someone wearing the bulky gas masks used in twentieth-century wars. Rich noblemen and elite warriors of the Aztec Empire would wear a tilmàtli; a Mesoamerican cloak/cape used as a symbol of their upper status. Cloth and clothing w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetation Type
Vegetation classification is the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the earth's surface. Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource management, resource and environmental management, environmental management. Many different methods of vegetation classification have been used. In general, there has been a shift from structural classification used by forestry for the mapping of timber resources, to floristic community mapping for biodiversity management. Whereas older forestry-based schemes considered factors such as height, species and density of the woody canopy, floristic community mapping shifts the emphasis onto ecological factors such as climate, soil type and floristic associations. Classification mapping is usually now done using geographic information systems (GIS) software. Classification schemes Following, some important classification schemes. Köppen (1884) Although this scheme is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swartland Alluvium Fynbos
Swartland Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs on the high plains and mountains in the far south-west of the Western Cape, South Africa. Only 6% of this type of fynbos remains and it has been declared critically endangered. It can still be found in the Western Cape, between the towns of Stellenbosch and Porterville, with a tiny portion extending into the city of Cape Town.http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnvironmentalResourceManagement/publications/Documents/Biodiv_fact_sheet_5_LourAlluvFyn_2010-06.pdf See also * Biodiversity of Cape Town * Cape Floristic Region * Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that is endemic to Cape Town. Though closest to Fynbos, it has characteristics of both Fynbos and Renosterveld vegetation and is thus actually a unique hybrid vegetation type. ... * :Fynbos - ''habitats and species''. References {{Cape Town, natural Fynbos ecosystems . Vegetati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peninsula Shale Renosterveld
Peninsula Shale Renosterveld (PSR) is a unique vegetation type that is found only on the slopes of Signal Hill and Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa. It is critically endangered and exists nowhere else. Habitat This unique type of Renosterveld is indigenous and endemic to the Cape Town City Bowl but, due to the growth of this city, it now survives only on the slopes of Signal Hill and Devil's Peak. It is subject to very frequent fires, and is therefore dominated by a wide variety of grass and bulb species. There are a large variety of tall shrubs such as the Wax Karee, but the Renosterbos bush (the signature plant of Renosterveld) is relatively less common. At its southern boundary, this vegetation type gradually merges into Fynbos. The critically endangered blue-eyed uintjie (''Moraea aristata'') flower is totally endemic to this vegetation type and occurs nowhere else. Soils and climate The soils in this area are composed predominantly of hard, fertile clay that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos
Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is a unique and endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town. This type of Mountain Fynbos occurs on very poor, acidic soils but is incredibly rich in biodiversity with an enormous number of plant species – many of which occur nowhere else. Due to its poor soils and steep, inaccessible location, it has not been developed for farming or houses, and consequently it is relatively well conserved. Description The plant life is a special kind of Fynbos, containing a vast mix of species from all of the principal components of Fynbos vegetation. A great many of these species are endemic and can be found nowhere else in the world, including around 33 endemic Ericas. (There is even a unique species of aloe, the Table Mountain Aloe, which is also endemic to Table Mountain's Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos.) The variety of tall Protea species are particularly striking and noticeable and are especially common growing in the rough sand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peninsula Granite Fynbos
Peninsula Granite Fynbos is an endangered Fynbos vegetation type which is endemic to the city of Cape Town and occurs nowhere else. It is a unique type of tall, dense and diverse scrubland, scattered with trees. It can be found all along the belt of granite that encircles Table Mountain. Natural Distribution This unique vegetation type occurs only within the city of Cape Town, particularly in a band that encircles the Table Mountain range – following the stratum of the Cape Granite Suite. It occurs from Lion's Head in the north, to Hout Bay and Muizenberg in the south. There is also an isolated patch near Simonstown, further to the south. It grows on the gentler, lower slopes of Table Mountain, over rolling hills and valleys - in rich, deep soils formed from eroded granite. Because of the rich soils and gentle terrain, most of this ecosystem has been destroyed to make way for vineyards, wealthy suburbs and commercial pine plantations. In fact, the largest patches of exposed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos
Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that is endemic to Cape Town. Though closest to Fynbos, it has characteristics of both Fynbos and Renosterveld vegetation and is thus actually a unique hybrid vegetation type. Distribution This ecosystem occurs only in what is now the eastern corner of the city - in and around the suburbs of Somerset West and Strand, Western Cape, Strand. It is located at the juncture between the mountain ranges in the east and the Cape Flats lowlands, and has a unique geology influenced by the underground flow of water from the mountains and the presence of a special kind of silt soil. Restionaceae, Restio and Asteraceae, Asteraceous (daisy) species are most common, with Proteaceae, Proteas and Ericaceae, Ericas being relatively rarer. There are spots which are home to an unusually enormous variety and density of bulbs. Taller shrubs proliferate along the banks of streams. Conservation This was one of the earliest of the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type occurring in the far south of the Western Cape, South Africa. This type of mountain fynbos contains an extremely high number of threatened species and a great number of the plants that occur here can be found nowhere else on earth. It naturally occurs from the eastern outskirts of Cape Town, eastwards through the Kogelberg and Hottentots-Holland mountains, as far as Kleinmond, and it is conserved within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. This particular vegetation grows on rough, mountainous, sandstone terrain. It was extensively planted with commercial timber plantations of invasive pine trees. These trees pose a major threat to the unique and endangered biodiversity and have yet to be completely removed. See also * Biodiversity of Cape Town * Cape Floristic Region * Kogelberg Mountains * Kogelberg Nature Reserve * Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is a unique and endangered vegetatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hangklip Sand Fynbos
Hangklip Sand Fynbos is an endangered vegetation type that occurs in the southern coastal portion of the Western Cape, South Africa. This particular fynbos ecosystem naturally occurs along the southern coast of the Western Cape, South Africa, between Agulhas and Pringle Bay. There is also an isolated remnant of it far to the west in the Fish Hoek Valley on the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town. See also * Biodiversity of Cape Town The Biodiversity of Cape Town is the variety and variability of life within the geographical extent of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, excluding the Prince Edward Islands. The terrestrial vegetation is particularly diverse and m ... * Fish Hoek Valley * Cape Flats Sand Fynbos * Atlantis Sand Fynbos * Cape Floristic Region * Index: Fynbos - ''habitats and species''. References {{Cape Town, natural Fynbos ecosystems . Vegetation types of Cape Town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos
Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos is a vegetation type that naturally occurs in the Cape Winelands (or " Boland") of the Western Cape, South Africa. This vegetation type is found on lower mountain slopes and high, rolling plains in the Western Cape Boland of South Africa. The loamy soils are naturally poor, moist and slightly acidic but the biodiversity is rich. The vegetation consists of a diverse array of Protea, Erica, geophyte and daisy species, as well as some endemic species. In the moister areas, the Ericas predominate over the other plant groups. This vegetation type is more vulnerable than other types of mountain fynbos, as it typically grows on lower slopes, which tend to be developed for housing or cultivated for farming. Peninsula Shale Fynbos An isolated patch of this vegetation can also be found further to the west, within the city of Cape Town. Here it is usually known as Peninsula Shale Fynbos and occurs on the lower slopes of Devils Peak as far south as Newlands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Flats Sand Fynbos
Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (CFSF), previously known as Sand Plain Fynbos, is a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs only within the city of Cape Town. Less than 1% of this unique lowland fynbos vegetation is conserved. Description This is the richest and most diverse type of Sand Fynbos. It also has the highest number of threatened plant species. It is the wettest and coolest of all West Coast Sand Fynbos, growing primarily in deep, white, acidic sands. It is dominated by Proteoid and Restioid fynbos, but Ericaceous fynbos also occurs in wetter areas and Asteraceous fynbos in drier spots. In winter, seasonal wetlands appear in many areas, and mists often cover the landscape. Threats and conservation Lying as it does entirely within the limits of Cape Town, over 85 percent of what was once Cape Town's commonest vegetation type is now destroyed and covered by urban sprawl. Half of what remains is badly infested with invasive alien plants (Acacia saligna, Acacia cyclop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is an endangered vegetation type. This is a unique type of Cape Strandveld that is endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town, including the Cape Flats. Habitat ''Strandveld'' means “beach scrub” in the Afrikaans language. It covers and stabilises sand dunes on the beaches around Cape Town, and is incredibly colourful in spring when it bursts into flower. It supports a very high biomass of browsing animals, and in the past it was grazed by large herds. The strongly alkaline, calcareous dune sand of the coast lies over a base of older limestone. In some places, this limestone juts out of the dune sand, and forms impressive beach cliffs. Succulents form a high proportion of Strandveld plants, consequently, fires are much less common in Strandveld than in the neighbouring Fynbos vegetation. Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is endangered. More than half of the Cape’s Strandveld has been lost to urbanisation and the building of beach resorts, and only 14 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
