Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland is a critically endangered vegetation type of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

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 countri ...

Environment

This type of riparian vegetation and its accompanying ecosystem is found in the

, on freshwater floodplains, along the lower stretches of rivers and around seasonal

vlei A vlei () is a shallow minor lake, mostly of a seasonal or intermittent nature. It even might refer to seasonal ponds or marshy patches where frogs and similar marsh dwellers breed. Commonly, vleis vary in their extent, or even in the presence ...

s and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

. 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 The Cape Flats ( af, Die Kaapse Vlakte) is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lie ...

of Cape Town. The Cape Flats used to have a great many

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s and seasonal

s, but these have largely been drained and built over for housing. A few remain at places such as

Rondevlei The Rondevlei Nature Reserve is located in Grassy Park, Zeekoevlei and Lavenderhill, suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. The bird sanctuary covers approximately of mostly permanent wetland and consists of a single large brackish lagoon. The natu ...

Ecology

The flora consists of a range of species of tall reed (e.g. ''

Phragmites australis ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...

'', ''

Typha capensis ''Typha capensis'' is an aquatic plant known from southern and eastern Africa as far north as ''Uganda''. It has also been reported from Brazil. The rhizomes of ''Typha capensis'' are used medicinally in southern Africa. It is reported to improv ...

''),

Restios The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV (2016): the family now includes the former famil ...

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

s, 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 open pools, taller shrubs and small trees grow in drier soils (e.g. ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus * Eric ...

'' and ''

Restio ''Restio'' is a genus of flowering plants within the family Restionaceae, described in 1772.Rottbøll, Christen Friis. 1772. Descriptiones Plantarum Rariorum 9 The entire genus is endemic to South Africa (Cape Province and KwaZulu-Natal). In c ...

'' sp.) and the taller, bigger reed-beds dominate on the fringes of permanent water. Some of the most noticeable and dominant species are '' Senecio halimnifolius'', ''

Paspalum vaginatum ''Paspalum vaginatum'' is a species of grass known by many names, including seashore paspalum, biscuit grass, saltwater couch, silt grass, and swamp couch.Pennisetum macrourum ''Pennisetum'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. They are known commonly as fountaingrasses (fountain grasses).Triglochin bulbosa'', ''

Bolboschoenus maritimus ''Bolboschoenus maritimus'' is a species of flowering plant from family Cyperaceae. Common names for this species include sea clubrush, cosmopolitan bulrush, alkali bulrush, saltmarsh bulrush, and bayonet grass. It is found in seaside wetland ha ...

'' and '' Juncus krausii''. Plant species which are endemic to this vegetation type include: ''

Passerina paludosa The genus ''Passerina'' is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not directly related to buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings (the North American Emberizidae are ...

'', ''

Aponogeton angustifolius The Aponogetonaceae (the Cape-pondweed family or aponogeton family) are a family of flowering plants in the order Alismatales. In recent decades the family has had universal recognition by taxonomists. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (20 ...

'', ''

Aponogeton distachyos Aponogeton distachyos or ''Aponogeton distachyum'', also known as waterblommetjie (''lit. trans.'' water-floret), Cape-pondweed, water hawthorn, vleikos and Cape pond weed is an aquatic flowering plant. Origin Native to South Africa's Western C ...

'', and ''

Cotula myriophylloides ''Cotula'' is a genus of flowering plant in the sunflower family. It includes plants known generally as water buttons or buttonweeds. The species within this genus can vary extensively in their habit, leaf division, involucre, receptacle and ...

''. This ecosystem is not particularly rich in

endemic 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 elsew ...

s (by Cape Floristic Region standards) but is an exceptionally rich and important habitat for the

Waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s and

Frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s of the Cape. It is also the breeding ground of the endangered

Western Leopard Toad The western leopard toad (''Sclerophrys pantherina'') is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The species is endemic to the low-lying areas of the Cape Peninsula, the Cape Flats and the Agulhas flats of the Western Cape, South Africa. Popu ...

Threats and Conservation

These ecosystems are threatened by invasive alien plants such as

Kikuyu grass The tropical Poaceae, grass species ''Cenchrus clandestinus'' (previously Pennisetum clandestinum) is known by several common names, most often kikuyu grass, as it is native to the highland regions of East Africa that is home to the Kikuyu peop ...

Water Hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.Eichornia crassipes''),

Red River Gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

(''

Eucalyptus cladocalyx ''Eucalyptus cladocalyx'', commonly known as sugar gum, is a species of eucalypt tree found in the Australian state of South Australia. It is found naturally in three distinct populations - in the Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula and on Kangar ...

'') and

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

(''

Acacia saligna ''Acacia saligna'', commonly known by various names including coojong, golden wreath wattle, orange wattle, blue-leafed wattle, Western Australian golden wattle, and, in Africa, Port Jackson willow, is a small tree in the family (biology), fami ...

''), as well as the draining and diversion of water for agricultural reasons and development. A significant proportion of these wetlands have now been transformed and lost and the ecosystem as a whole is now classed as endangered. All remaining wetlands are protected by national legislation. File:Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland South Africa 5 restios.JPG, File:Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetlands in Cape Town 6.JPG, A surviving patch of Cape Freshwater Wetlands in the city of Cape Town. File:Aponogeton distachyos.jpg, The "Waterblommetjie"(''Aponogeton distachyos''), a plant

to Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland. File:Bufo pantherinus - Western leopard toad.JPG, The critically endangered

breeds in Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland. File:Cape Wetlands - western cape SA.JPG,

References

{{Cape Town, natural Ecoregions of Africa . Vegetation types of Cape Town

Environment

Ecology

Threats and Conservation

See also

References