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Indian Ocean Coastal Belt
The Indian Ocean coastal belt is one of the nine recognised biomes of South Africa. They are described in terms of their vegetation and climatic variations. Location and description The Indian Ocean coastal belt is a region of coastal dunes and coastal grassy plains in KwaZuluNatal and the Eastern Cape, from sea level to an altitude of about 600 m Mean annual rainfall ranges from 819 to 1,272 mm, and falls throughout the year, peaking in summer. The mean annual temperature ranges from 19.1 °C near the Mbhashe River in the southwest to 22 °C in the north east near the Mozambican border, with hot summers and mild, frost-free winters. The belt is about 800 km long and narrow, with a maximum width of about 35 km in the north to less than 10 km in parts of the wild coast, and the total area is relatively small. The relief of the region varies between flat in Maputaland, rolling hills with deeply incised valleys between Richards Bay and Port Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest Cover
Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canopy forest accounting for 4 - 5 billion hectares of land. Forests provide many ecosystem services that humans and animals cannot survive without, but anthropogenic actions and climate change are threatening global forest cover in potentially irreversible ways. Global Patterns Forest Cover By The Numbers According to the FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, the world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion hectares (10.0 billion acres), which is 31% of the total land area. More than one-third of the world's forest cover is primary forest: naturally regenerated forests with native species and no visible indication of human activity. More than half (54%) of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada, Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Effects Of Climate Change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level, as well as weather and climate extreme events. The changes in climate are not uniform across the Earth. In particular, most land areas have warmed faster than most ocean areas, and the Arctic is warming faster than most other regions. The regional changes vary: at high latitudes it is the average temperature that is increasing, while for the oceans and tropics it is in particular the rainfall and the water cycle where changes are observed. The magnitude of future impacts of climate change can be reduced by climate change mitigation and adaptation. Climate change has degraded land by raising temperatures, drying soils and increasing wildfire risk. Recent warming has strongly affected natural biological systems. Species worldwide are mig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrotropical Realm
The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopian Zone or Ethiopian Region. Major ecological regions Most of the Afrotropic, with the exception of Africa's southern tip, has a tropical climate. A broad belt of deserts, including the Atlantic and Sahara deserts of northern Africa and the Arabian Desert of the Arabian Peninsula, separate the Afrotropic from the Palearctic realm, which includes northern Africa and temperate Eurasia. Sahel and Sudan South of the Sahara, two belts of tropical grassland and savanna run east and west across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ethiopian Highlands. Immediately south of the Sahara lies the Sahel belt, a transitional zone of semi-arid short grassland and vachellia sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecoregions Of South Africa
The following is a list of ecoregions in South Africa, as identified by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). Terrestrial ecoregions Listed by major habitat type Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests * * * * Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands * * * Montane grasslands and shrublands * * * * Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub * * * Deserts and xeric shrublands * * * Tundra * Mangroves * Freshwater ecoregions by bioregion Zambezi * * Southern Temperate * Amatole-Winterberg Highlands * Cape Fold * Drakensberg-Maloti Highlands * Karoo * Southern Kalahari * Southern Temperate Highveld * Western Orange Marine ecoregions * * * * * References * Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D’Amico Hales, Emma Underwood (2004). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment''. Island Press, Washington DC. * Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geography Of South Africa
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment (Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is . It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of . The South African central plateau contains only two major rivers: the Limpopo (a stretch of which is shared with Zimbabwe), and the Orange (with its tributary, the Vaal) which runs with a variable flow across the central ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
