Browsing by Subject "habitat"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Alien plant species list and distribution for Camdeboo National Park, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
    (2009) Masubelele, Mmoto L; Foxcroft, Llewellyn C; Milton, Suzanne J
    Protected areas globally are threatened by the potential negative impacts that invasive alien plants pose, and Camdeboo National Park (CNP), South Africa, is no exception. Alien plants have been recorded in the CNP since 1981, before it was proclaimed a national park by South African National Parks in 2005. This is the first publication of a list of alien plants in and around the CNP. Distribution maps of some of the first recorded alien plant species are also presented and discussed. To date, 39 species of alien plants have been recorded, of which 13 are invasive and one is a transformer weed. The majority of alien plant species in the park are herbaceous (39%) and succulent (24%) species. The most widespread alien plant species in the CNP are Atriplex inflata (= A. lindleyi subsp. inflata), Salsola tragus (= S. australis) and cacti species, especially Opuntia ficus-indica. Eradication and control measures that have been used for specific problematic alien plant species are described.
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    Identity and distribution of southern African sciaenid fish species of the genus Umbrina
    (2005) Hutchings, K; Griffiths, M H
    Two Umbrina species, U. canariensis Valenciennes 1843 and U. robinsoni Gilchrist and Thompson 1908, are recognised from southern Africa. The latter species was hitherto believed to be a synonym of Umbrina ronchus Valenciennes 1843 (type locality Canary Islands). U. canariensis is distributed along the South Africa eastern seaboard from Cape Point to Sodwana Bay and U. robinsoni is known from False Bay to Madagascar and Oman. African Umbrina taxonomy has, however, been hindered by geographic samples that were either too few or consisted of specimens of disparate length; and as a result the identification and distribution of South African Umbrina species was confused. Morphological comparison of a large number of South African Umbrina with specimens from the type locality (Canary Islands) confirmed the identity of South African U. canariensis and allowed for an expanded description of the species. However, differences between specimens of U. ronchus and those of the second South African species (n = 251) led us to resurrect U. robinsoni (Gilchrist and Thompson 1908) as a valid name for this species. U. robinsoni differs from U. ronchus in having a smaller supraoccipital crest and thus a less steep pre-dorsal profile; a shallower preorbital bone (13–21% head length [HL] vs 21% HL); and a shorter nostril-orbit distance (2.4–6.9% HL vs 7.8–8.5% HL). Colour patterns also differ between the two species, with U. ronchus lacking the oblique, wavy, white stripes evident on the flanks of U. robinsoni. U. ronchus does not occur in South African waters, and is an eastern Atlantic species occurring from Gibraltar to Angola. Specimens from the east coast of Africa (Moçambique to Gulf of Oman) that were previously identified as U. ronchus are U. robinsoni. Differences between U. robinsoni and U. canariensis include: a lower modal number of soft dorsal fin rays, (22–27 vs 24–30); less deep body depth, (26–36% standard length [SL] vs 33–39% SL); shorter pectoral fin length (15–21% SL vs 20–25% SL); longer caudal peduncle length (26–34% SL vs 21–28% SL) and snout length (27–38% HL vs 23–32% HL); and smaller orbit diameter (14–33% HL vs 23–34% HL). Otoliths of U. robinsoni differ from those of U. canariensis in being smaller, less elongate, lacking a massive post-central umbo and having a post-dorsal spine remnant. The body colour and nature of the striping pattern on the flanks differs markedly between the species: in U. robinsoni the oblique stripes are thin, wavy, white lines; in U. canariensis the oblique stripes are thicker, nearly straight and brown; U. robinsoni also lacks the triangleshaped mark on the outer operculum and the dark pigmentation of the inner operculum that is found on U. canariensis. Spatial analysis of South African specimens collected with a variety of gear revealed U. robinsoni to be a shallow-water species found from the surf-zone to 40m, whereas U. canariensis occurs predominantly from 40 to 100m depth. Although both species occur throughout the South African eastern seaboard, U. canariensis is most common west of the Kei River, where the shelf is wider. Examination of three specimens of U. steindachneri Cadenat 1950 confirmed the presence of a fourth sub-Saharan Umbrina species that is limited to tropical West African waters from Senegal to Angola. U. steindachneri differs from the other African Umbrina in having a high number of soft dorsal rays (28–29), a greater 3rd dorsal spine length (25–27% SL) and a very pronounced and convoluted striping pattern on the flanks.
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    Penguin Watch
    (2011) Department of Zoology
    This website is designed to contain up-to-date news and information about the issues facing penguins in their natural habitat, specifically the African Penguin. Penguin Watch is designed to disseminate up to date information about the issues facing penguins in the wild, especially the African penguin. It is a resource aimed firstly at the global African Penguin community from individuals working to conserve the species within its native range of South Africa and Namibia to everyone worldwide who is concerned about the welfare of penguins in the wild.
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    The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project
    (2017) Hudson, Lawrence N; Choimes, Argyrios; Jung, Martin; Kemp, Victoria; Kirkpatrick, Lucinda; Martin, Callum D; Pan, Yuan; Pask-Hale, Gwilym D; Pynegar, Edwin L; Robinson, Alexandra N; Sanchez-Ortiz, Katia; Senior, Rebecca A; Simmons, Benno I; White, Hannah J; Zhang, Hanbin; Aben, Job; Abrahamczyk, Stefan; Adum, Gilbert B; Aguilar-Barquero, Virginia; Aizen, Marcelo A; Albertos, Belén; Alcala, E L; del Mar Alguacil, Maria; Alignier, Audrey; Ancrenaz, Marc; Andersen, Alan N; Arbeláez-Cortés, Enrique; Armbrecht, Inge; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Aumann, Tom; Axmacher, Jan C; Azhar, Badrul
    KA