Plant Diversity of the Cape Region of Southern Africa

By P. Goldblatt, J. Manning. 2002

496 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Comprising a land area of ca. 90,000 km 2 , less than one twentieth (5%) the land area of the southern African subcontinent, the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is, for its size, one of the world's richest areas of plant species diversity. A new synoptic flora for the Region has made possible an accurate reassessment of the flora, which has an estimated 9030 vascular plant species (68.7% endemic), of which 8920 species are flowering plants (69.5% endemic). The number of species packed into so small an area is remarkable for the temperate zone and compares favorably with species richness for areas of similar size in the wet tropics. The Cape region consists of a mosaic of sandstone and shale substrata with local areas of limestone. It has a highly dissected, rugged topography, and a diversity of climates with rainfall mostly falling in the winter months and varying from 2000 mm locally to less than 100 mm. Ecological gradients are steep as a result of abrupt differences in soil, altitude, aspect, and precipitation. These factors combine to form an unusually large number of local habitats for plants. Sandstone-derived soils have characteristically low nutrient status, and many plants present on such soils have low seed dispersal capabilities, a factor promoting localized distributions. An unusual family composition includes Iridaceae, Aizoaceae, Ericaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Proteaceae, Restionaceae, Rutaceae, and Orchidaceae among the 10 largest families in the flora, following Asteraceae and Fabaceae, as the most speciose families. Disproportionate radiation has resulted in over 59.2% species falling in the 10 largest families and 77.4% in the largest 20 families. Twelve genera have more than 100 species and the 20 largest genera contribute some 31% of the total species. Species richness of the Cape flora is hypothesized to be the result of geographic and parapatric radiation in an area with a mosaic of different habitats due to local soil, climate, and altitudinal differences that combine to produce steep ecological gradients. Also contributing to the diversity has been a relatively stable geological history since the end of the Miocene that saw the establishment of a semi-arid and extreme seasonal climate at the southwestern part of southern Africa.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b8d4198aafc37b298bd71ef0517bd64dba380fe2

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

In Plant Science

Citations in the corpus

Ecology and evolution of plant diversity in the endangered campo rupestre: a neglected conservation priority (2015, background): “The low proportion of annual species (Le Stradic et al. 2015a) is also found in fynbos (Goldblatt and Manning 2002) and kwongkan (Pignatti et al. 1993;Mucina et al. 2014).”
Leaf wax n-alkane distributions in arid zone South African flora: Environmental controls, chemotaxonomy and palaeoecological implications (2014, background): “It exhibits some of the highest levels of plant diversity and endemism in the world (Goldblatt and Manning, 2002) and is characterised by A.”
Coastal South Africa and the Coevolution of the Modern Human Lineage and the Coastal Adaptation (2011, background): “1), a thin strip of land stretching from the east to the west coast, has many special characteristics (Cowling 1992; Goldblatt 1997; Cowling and Lombard 2002; Goldblatt and Manning 2002).”
Climate‐driven rampant speciation of the Cape flora (2011, background): “Even though the crown clades are older, much of the extant diversity of the Cape flora probably evolved during the Late Miocene and Pliocene (Goldblatt & Manning, 2002; Goldblatt et al., 2002).”
Mechanical Properties of Plant Underground Storage Organs and Implications for Dietary Models of Early Hominins (2008, background): “Western and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa, a region of celebrated geophyte diversity ( Goldblatt and Manning 2002; Proches ¸ et al. 2005, 2006).”
Global State of Biodiversity and Loss (2003, background): “Goldblat P, Manning JC. 2002.”
Reconstruction of historical pollination rates reveals linked declines of pollinators and plants (2011, background): “The climate is Mediterranean, and the vegetation is a fine-leafed, fire-prone shrubland (Goldblatt and Manning 2002).”
Geographical affinities of the Cape flora, South Africa (2006, background): “Not only are almost 70% of the species endemic to this region (Goldblatt & Manning, 2002), but the dominant families and vegetation structure of the region are very different from those in surrounding areas (Bolus, 1886; Adamson, 1958; Goldblatt, 1978).”
The endemic and near-endemic angiosperms of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre (2006, background): “The DAC is regarded as being the only true alpine region in southern Africa (Linder, 1990), and, in conjunction with the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) (Goldblatt and Manning, 2002; Linder, 2003), has been proposed as the southern (Gondwanan) source of the temperate flora of Africa (Hilliard and Burtt,”
The partitioning of Africa: statistically defined biogeographical regions in sub‐Saharan Africa (2012, background): “The mediterranean scrub of the southernmost tip of Africa has one of the richest endemic floras in the world (Goldblatt, 1978; Cowling et al., 1992; Goldblatt & Manning, 2002; Linder, 2003).”
OCBIL theory: towards an integrated understanding of the evolution, ecology and conservation of biodiversity on old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (2009, background): “Where in the Greater Cape region have recurrent episodes of speciation occurred? Several genera in the Cape flora have remarkable numbers of species— Erica (Ericaceae) with 658, Aspalathus (Fabaceae) with 272, Moraea (Iridaceae) with 250, Pelargonium (Geraniaceae) with 148 etc (Goldblatt and Manning”
Monographs of invasive plants in Europe: Carpobrotus (2018, background): “Rainfall pattern shows dramatic variations in quantity, dropping from 2000 mm per year in the mountains facing the coast to 200 mm in the areas closest to the coast (Goldblatt 1997; Goldblatt and Manning 2002).”