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Centre Of Endemism
A Centre of Endemism is an area in which the ranges of restricted-range species overlap, or a localised area which has a high occurrence of endemics. Centres of endemism may overlap with biodiversity hotspots which are biogeographic regions characterized both by high levels of plant endemism ''and by serious levels of habitat loss''. The exact delineation of centres of endemism is difficult and some overlap with one another. Centres of endemism are high conservation priority areas. Examples of Centres of Endemism Tanzania A local centre of endemism is focussed on an area of lowland forests around the plateaux inland of Lindi in SE Tanzania, with between 40 and 91 species of vascular plants which are not found elseware. Southern Africa There are at least 19 centres of plant endemism,Van Wyk and Smith, (2001) ''Regions of Floristic Endemism'' including the following: * Albany Centre of Plant Endemism * Barberton Centre of Plant Endemism * Cape Floristic Region * Drakensberg Alpi ... [...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] |
Biodiversity Hotspots
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the concept was revised following thorough analysis by Myers and others into “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions” and a paper published in the journal ''Nature'', both in 2000. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers' 2000 edition of the hotspot map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (more than 0.5% of the world's total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation. Globally, 36 zones qualify under this definition. These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a high share of those species as endemics. Some of these hotspots support up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservation Priority
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management. The conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology. Origins The term conservation biology and its conception as a new field originated with the convening of "The First International Conference on Research in Conservation Biology" held at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California, in 1978 led by American biologists Bruce A. Wilcox and Michael E. Soulé with a group of leading university and zoo researchers and conservationists including Kurt Benirschke, Sir Otto Frankel, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jared Diamond. The meeting was prompted due to concern over tropical deforestation, disappearin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albany Centre Of Plant Endemism
The Albany Centre of Plant Endemism is situated in the coastal region of South Africa at the eastern end of the Eastern Cape Province. It is named after the district of Albany and falls within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. It is notable for its biodiversity and unique, endemic flora and fauna. The Albany area is of extreme ecological importance because of its unique indigenous vegetation, composed of deep, lush " Albany thickets". Albany thicket is an ecoregion and biodiversity hotspot of dense woodland, containing many endemic species. Ecologically it forms part of the greater Cape Floristic Region. The coastal belt has a temperate climate, with winter rainfall of per annum or more. In the interior, the terrain is mostly dry Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barberton, Mpumalanga
Barberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, which has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region. It is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Makhonjwa Mountains. It is south of Mbombela and east of Johannesburg. Barberton was the seat of the Umjindi Local Municipality until the day of the 2016 Municipal Elections, when the Umjindi Local Municipality was merged into the Mbombela Local Municipality. History Prehistoric The mountains around Barberton are amongst the oldest in the world, dating back 3.5 billion years, and these mountains include some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet. These volcanic rocks, which scientists call the Barberton Greenstone Belt, have given direct evidence of the conditions of life on the surface of the very early Earth. In the satellite image, the bare rocks of mountain peaks appear as a pale gray-green, accentuated by the sharp relief of sunlit slopes and their shadows. Deeper shades of green ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within the border region of South Africa and Lesotho. The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for more than from the Eastern Cape Province in the South, then successively forms, in order from south to north, the border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape and the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal Province. Thereafter it forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and next as the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga Province. The escarpment winds north from there, through Mpumalanga, where it includes features such as the Blyde River Canyon, Three Rondavels, and God's Window. It then extends farther north to Hoedspruit in southeastern Limpopo where it is known as 'Klein Drakensberg' by the Afrikaner. From Hoedspruit i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaokoveld
The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern Namibia and southern Angola. Setting The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Namibian savanna woodlands to the east, and the Namib Desert to the south. It includes the Moçâmedes Desert of southern Angola. The Kaokoveld is a harsh desert of drifting sandunes and rocky mountains. It receives most of its rainfall during the summer, which distinguishes it from the adjacent Namib Desert to the south, which receives most of its rain during the winter. The Kunene River is the only permanent watercourse but many dry riverbeds (including the Hoanib, Hoarusib and Khumib Rivers) carry moisture through the desert and are home to animals including elephants, black rhinos, and giraffe. Other than those the area is ancient desert sand, moistened by occasional coastal fog. Flora The Kaokoveld is home to ''Welwitschia mirabilis'', a plant that has n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maputaland Centre Of Plant Endemism
The Maputaland Centre of Plant Endemism is situated in the coastal region of South Africa in the northern part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and also includes the southernmost part of Mozambique. It forms part of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. It is notable for its biodiversity and unique, Endemism, endemic flora and fauna. References Flora of South Africa Geography of South Africa Maputaland coastal forest mosaic {{SouthAfrica-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pondoland Centre Of Plant Endemism
The Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism is situated in the coastal region overlapping the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape in South Africa. It is named after Pondoland and falls within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. The region consists of grassy plateaus incised by forested ravines and gorges. The main substrate in the area is Natal Group Sandstone, which was formed by sediments laid down about 500 million years ago in a rift underlying the eastern Agulhas Sea in the ancient continent of Gondwana. The region is about 18,800 hectares in extent, and lies along the coastline stretching about 15 kilometres inland with a maximum altitude of about 400 to 500 metres above sea level. The region is essentially a transition zone between sub-tropical and temperate climates. Endemics Some notable endemic plants include Sanderson’s Bladderwort (''Utricularia sandersonii''), the Pondo Coconut ('' Jubaeopsis caffra''), the Pondoland Ghost Bush ('' Raspalia trigyna''), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sekhukhuneland
Sekhukhuneland or Sekukuniland ( af, Sekoekoeniland) is a natural region in north-east South Africa, located in the historical Transvaal zone, former Transvaal Province, also known as Bopedi (meaning “land of Bapedi”). The region is named after the 19th-century King, Sekhukhune I. Geography This region is mainly covered by grassland and was inhabited traditionally by the Bapedi in an area stretching across central and northern Transvaal. Sekhukhuneland lies in present-day Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, between the Olifants River (Lepelle) and its tributary the Steelpoort River (Tubatse); bordered on the east by the Drakensberg Range, and crossed by the Thaba Ya Sekhukhune in the southeast and the Leolo Mountains in the north. History At the height of the Pedi power under Thulare, about 1790–1820, historical Sekhukhuneland included an area stretching from the site of present-day Rustenburg in the west to the Lowveld in the east, and ranging as far south as the Vaal r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soutpansberg
The Soutpansberg, (formerly ''Zoutpansberg'') meaning "Salt Pan Mountain" in Afrikaans, is a Mountain range, range of mountains in far northern South Africa. It is located in Vhembe District Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo. It is named for the Salt pan (geology), salt pan ( ve, Thavha ya muno, or "place of salt") located at its western end. The mountain range reaches the opposite extremity in the Matikwa Nature Reserve, some due east. The range as a whole had no Venda language, Venda name, as it was instead known by its sub-ranges which include Dzanani, Hanglip, Songozwi and others. Of late it is however known as Tha vhani ya muno, meaning "mountain of salt". The Soutpansberg forms part of the 'Vhembe Biosphere Reserve', which was designated as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2009. The latter reserve also includes the Blouberg Range, Kruger National Park, Makgabeng Plateau, Makuleke Wetlands and the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. Geography The mountain is intersected by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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