Cape Provinces

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WGSRPD areas of South Africa; CPP = Cape Provinces WGSRPD South Africa regions.svg
WGSRPD areas of South Africa; CPP = Cape Provinces

The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". [1] It includes the South African provinces of the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape and the Western Cape, [1] together making up most of the former Cape Province.

Contents

The area includes the Cape Floristic Region, the smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world, an area of extraordinarily high diversity and endemism, home to more than 9,000 vascular plant species, of which 69 percent are endemic. [2]

WGSRPD codes [1]

27 Southern Africa

  • CPP Cape Provinces
    • CPP-EC Eastern Cape Province
    • CPP-NC Northern Cape Province
    • CPP-WC Western Cape Province

See also

Related Research Articles

Northern Province or North Province may refer to:

Biogeographic realm Broadest biogeographic division of Earths land surface

A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into ecoregions, which are classified based on their biomes or habitat types.

Macaronesia Collection of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Europe and Africa

Macaronesia is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coasts of the continents of Europe and Africa. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands, which are formed by seamounts on the ocean floor and have peaks above the ocean's surface. Some of the Macaronesian islands belong to Portugal, some belong to Spain, and the rest belong to Cape Verde. Politically, the islands belonging to Portugal and Spain are part of the European Union. Geologically, Macaronesia is part of the African tectonic plate. Some of its islands - the Azores - are situated along the edge of that plate at the point where it abuts the Eurasian and North American plates.

Malesia

Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions split off Papuasia in its 2001 version.

A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both regions overlap. The region of overlap is called a vegetation tension zone.

Cape fox Species of carnivore

The Cape fox, also called the asse, cama fox or the silver-backed fox, is a small fox, native to southern Africa. It is also called a South African version of a fennec fox due to its big ears. It is the only true fox occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, and it retains primitive characteristics of Vulpes because it diverged early in the evolutionary history of the group.

Northern America Northernmost subregion of North America

Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America. The boundaries may be drawn slightly differently. In one definition, it lies directly north of Middle America. Northern America's land frontier with the rest of North America then coincides with the Mexico–United States border. Geopolitically, according to the United Nations' scheme of geographic regions and subregions, Northern America consists of Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States.

Zoogeography Science of the geographic distribution of animal species

Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution of animal species.

Cape Floristic Region Smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world

The Cape Floristic Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.

The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) is a biogeographical system developed by the international Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) organization, formerly the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases. The WGSRPD standards, like other standards for data fields in botanical databases, were developed to promote "the wider and more effective dissemination of information about the world's heritage of biological organisms for the benefit of the world at large". The system provides clear definitions and codes for recording plant distributions at four scales or levels, from "botanical continents" down to parts of large countries. Current users of the system include the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), and the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP).

Wildlife of South Africa The flora and fauna of the country

The wildlife of South Africa consists of the flora and fauna of this country in southern Africa. The country has a range of different habitat types and an ecologically rich and diverse wildlife, vascular plants being particularly abundant, many of them endemic to the country. There are few forested areas, much savanna grassland, semi-arid Karoo vegetation and the fynbos of the Cape Floristic Region. Famed for its national parks and big game, 297 species of mammal have been recorded in South Africa, as well as 858 species of bird and over 20,000 species of vascular plants.

Namaqua National Park A South African national park in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape

Namaqua National Park is a South African national park situated approximately 495 km north of Cape Town and 22 km northwest of Kamieskroon. It has an area of more than 1300 km2. The park is part of Namaqualand, an area covering 55,000 km2 located within the semi-desert Succulent Karoo biome. This biome is a biodiversity hotspot with the largest concentration of succulent plants in the world. The park also has an arid environment with succulent plants. The park was created to protect its flowers. During the spring, wildflowers bloom there in a spectacular fashion. The park's main tourist attraction is this abundant spring bloom of brightly coloured wildflowers.

Papuasia

Papuasia is a Level 2 botanical region defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in the Melanesia ecoregion of Oceania and Tropical Asia.

Eastern Asia (WGSRPD)

Eastern Asia is one of the regions of temperate Asia defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) for use in recording the distribution of plants. It is very much smaller than common definitions of East Asia. It consists of the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Taiwan. Some islands belonging to Japan politically, such as Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-shima), have greater floristic affinity with similar Pacific islands and are placed in the botanical continent of the Pacific.

Northern Provinces

The Northern Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "TVL". It includes the South African provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West, together making up an area slightly larger than the former Transvaal Province.

The Central American Pacific Islands is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. It has the Level 3 code "CPI". It consists of a number of islands off the western coast of Central America in the Pacific Ocean: Clipperton Island, Cocos Island and Malpelo Island.

<i>Curio articulatus</i> Species of flowering plant

Curio articulatus, syn. Senecio articulatus, which is also known as candle plant, pickle plant and hot dog cactus, is a deciduous succulent plant that is native to South Africa.

<i>Curio muirii</i> Species of flowering plant

Curio muirii is a succulent plant in the daisy family that is native to South Africa.

Richard Kenneth "Dick" Brummitt was a British botanist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brummitt (2001), p. 38.
  2. Odendaal, L.J.; Haupt, T.M.; Griffiths, C.L. (2008), "The alien invasive land snail Theba pisana in the West Coast National Park: Is there cause for concern?", Koedoe, 50 (1): 93–98, doi: 10.4102/koedoe.v50i1.153

Bibliography