|
Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area
Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area is a nature reserve, situated in the centre of Kenilworth Racecourse, in Cape Town, South Africa. Due to its location, it has been left undisturbed for more than 100 years, making it now the best preserved patch of “ Cape Flats Sand Fynbos” in the world. The reserve contains indigenous fynbos and wetlands – both permanent and seasonal. Among the hundreds of plant species that can be found here, at least 20 are threatened with extinction. There are also endemic species, and two plants (''Erica verticillata'' and ''Erica turgida'') are listed as extinct in the wild, but have recently been re-introduced here. The reserve is home to the critically endangered Micro Frog (''Microbatrachella capensis'') along with other small but healthy populations of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. Invasive alien vegetation is a severe problem, especially Port Jackson willow (''Acacia saligna'') and domestic garden escapees. See also * Biodiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest (after Johannesburg). Colloquially named the ''Mother City'', it is the largest city of the Western Cape province, and is managed by the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The other two capitals are Pretoria, the executive capital, located in Gauteng, where the Presidency is based, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital in the Free State, where the Supreme Court of Appeal is located. Cape Town is ranked as a Beta world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. The city is known for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is home to 66% of the Western Cape's population. In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves. History Cultural practices that roughly equate to the establishment and maintenance of reserved areas for animals date bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenilworth Racecourse
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon north-east of the town. At the 2021 Census, the population was 22,538. The town is home to the ruins of Kenilworth Castle and Kenilworth Abbey. History Medieval and Tudor A settlement existed at Kenilworth by the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, which records it as ''Chinewrde''. Geoffrey de Clinton (died 1134) initiated the building of an Augustinian priory in 1122, which coincided with his initiation of Kenilworth Castle. The priory was raised to the rank of an abbey in 1450 and suppressed with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Thereafter, the abbey grounds next to the castle were made common land in exchange for what Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester used to enlarge the castle. Only a few walls and a sto ... [...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] |
Fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it. Overview and history The word fynbos is often confusingly said to mean "fine bush" in Afrikaans, as "bos" means "bush". Typical fynbos foliage is ericoid rather than fine. The term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, ''fynbosch'', was recorded by Nob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland
Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland is a critically endangered vegetation type of the Western Cape, South Africa. Environment This type of riparian vegetation and its accompanying ecosystem is found in the Western Cape, South Africa, on freshwater floodplains, along the lower stretches of rivers and around seasonal vleis and estuaries. The terrain is typically flat and the soil is rich and silty. It is restricted to a winter rainfall area. This used to be one of the major ecosystems on the Cape Flats of Cape Town. The Cape Flats used to have a great many wetlands, rivers and seasonal vleis, but these have largely been drained and built over for housing. A few remain at places such as Rondevlei. Ecology The flora consists of a range of species of tall reed (e.g. ''Phragmites australis'', ''Typha capensis''), Restios, sedges, grasses, floating aquatics and a great many species of shrub. Plant cover is very high. Sedgelands predominate on the floodplains, floating aquatics grow in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erica Verticillata
''Erica verticillata'' is a species of ''Erica'' that was naturally restricted to the city of Cape Town but is now classified as extinct in the wild. Distribution It formerly grew only in certain areas of the Cape Flats on the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Habitat It grew in Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, a fynbos type that is threatened by urban sprawl and fragmentation. It preferred damp sandy soils such as those that were naturally found around Wynberg, Kenilworth and Zeekoevlei. Conservation Although the species became functionally extinct due to agricultural and urban development of its habitat in the early 20th century, cuttings from several plants discovered in the wild in the later 20th century have ensured that the species will continue in cultivation. 1984 saw the introduction of cuttings from two specimens, one in Protea Park, Pretoria and another in Kew. The former were collected by Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden scholar David von Well after he recognized the plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erica Turgida
''Erica turgida'', the showy heath or Kenilworth heath, is a species of ''Erica'' that was naturally restricted to the city of Cape Town, South Africa, but is now classified as Extinct in the Wild. This small, delicate erica produces thin, willowy stems, covered in velvety hair. It produces masses of bright-pink, cup-shaped flowers. This ''Erica'' used to grow naturally in the area that is now beneath the Cape Town suburbs of Rondebosch, Kenilworth and Wynberg. It was therefore an endemic to the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation type. Soon before the last wild population died out at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area, a woman named Elsie Esterhuizen took cuttings to Kirstenbosch gardens and thus saved the species from permanent extinction. Along with its fellow extinct-in-the-wild heath, ''Erica verticillata ''Erica verticillata'' is a species of ''Erica'' that was naturally restricted to the city of Cape Town but is now classified as extinct in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microbatrachella Capensis
The micro frog (''Microbatrachella capensis''), or Cape Flats frog, is a species of frog less than long in the family Pyxicephalidae, in the monotypic genus ''Microbatrachella''. Its color varies from rufous brown with dark mottling, to tan or green, depending on the population. It is endemic to the south-western Cape area of South Africa, with a single population found on the Cape Flats of Cape Town and several populations on the eastern side of False Bay. It typically lives in wetlands in coastal fynbos habitats, but its total area of occupancy is very small, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being " critically endangered". Description The micro frog is a very small frog with a rounded snout and smooth skin. At around long, it is one of the smallest regional species. The dorsal surface is dark brown speckled with pale brown, and there is a pale band of color running down each flank. There is a dark bar between the eyes and a narrow pale lin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Endemism")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Extinct")