Fundamental niche is the full range of environmental

conditions under which an organism can exist.

Realised niche is the actual environment that a species
is forced to occupy as a result of interspecific
competition and other interactions.
Endemic is a species that occurs in only one geographic
place and nowhere else.
Near endemic is the species that is marginally present
elsewhere.
Paleoendemic is the species that was formerly
widespread but is now restricted to a small area.
Neo endemic is the species that has recently arisen.
Holoendemic is the species that is confined to a small
geographic area due to the restricted range of its
specific habitat.
Disjunct is a distribution pattern in which closely
related species occur in multiple but widely separated
regions.
Cosmopolitan distribution is the distribution pattern in
which a species is present all throughout the world.
Species diversity is the number of species occurring
within a community or area in conjunction with their
relative abundance.
Species evenness is the relative abundance of each
species occurring within a community or area.
Species richness is the number of different species
occurring within a community or area.
Spatial resolution is the ability to separate closely
spaced objects in an image or map.
Ecotone is the transitional zone between two or more
communities.
Map scale represents the ration of the distance/size on
the map to the size/distance on the ground.

Endemic distribution pattern- very narrow

Cosmopolitan-very wide
Disjunct-widely separate
Factors influencing distribution patterns.
 Environmental: light, water availability,
temperature, and wind.
 Geomorphic: slope steepness, relief, aspect of the
slope.
 Edaphic (soil related): water holding capacity,
nutrient content of the soil.
 Species interaction: competition-occurs when
species compete for a limited resource like water,
light, nutrients.
 Predation- where one species feed on another.
Parasitism- where one species gains nutrients from
another species.
 Disturbances which are infrequent catastrophic
events that modify, destroy, or destruct the habitat
like floods, fire, volcanic eruptions, storms, and
high winds.

Species may be rare because:

 Loss of genetic diversity
 Extreme environmental conditions like droughts
 Adverse human activities like pollution, poaching,
overexploitation, land degradation

Species may be common because they have:

 Large population size
 Wide habitat tolerance
 Less threatened by extinction
 Broad geographic range

Data may be unreliable because of ecological

fallacy.
 Sampling bias which may result in
misrepresentation of reality on the ground.
 Map boundaries
 Inadequate resolution
Small scale map shows a relatively large
geographic area with relatively low level of detail.
Large scale map shows a relatively small
geographic area with relatively high level of detail.
Images or maps in which only large features are
visible is said to have a coarse or low resolution.
Images or maps that also have small visible
features have a fine or high resolution.

Fynbos biome
 Endemic to cape town south Africa, cape
floristic region.
 Winter rainfall region
 Vegetation evergreen, sclerophyllous,
microphyllous, ericoid.
 Oligotrophic soil: nutrient poor soil, does not
support herds of large mammals, does not have
enough nitrogen for protein requirement of
large mammals.
 Fire-driven or fire adapted ecosystem
 Dominant taxa: Proteaceae, Ericaceae,
restionaceae
 Vegetation stages: juvenile phase, transitional
phase, mature phase and senescent phase.
 Fire needed: to kill off senescent individuals,
to remove pests and diseases, to trigger seed
germination, to control alien invasives.
 Fire adaptations: serotiny, plants store seeds in
fire-proof cones so when the parent plant dies,
the seeds are released and germinate after fire
(reseeders).
Mymercochory, ants bury seeds in fire proof
ant nests and the seeds germinate due to higher
temperatures above when fire has removed
vegetation.
High water content of the leaves lowers their
flammability.
Some have a short life cycle, they live and die
before fire.
Some stems have many underground buds that
remain undamaged during fire and they
resprout (resprouters).
 Threats: climate change, alien invasives, poor
fire management.
 Conservation method: controlled burns should
not be too frequent, too infrequent, on the
wrong season. Controlled burns should be at
the right season (late summer), at a correct
interval 12-30 years. Remove alien invasives.
 Conservation importance: unesco world
heritage site, has high species diversity,
contains 65% of south africas rare and
threatened plant species, has endemic species
 Vacant tree niche- trees do not occur naturally
and it is vulnerable to alien trees because the
niche is empty.

Succulent karoo
Arid biome
Winter rainfall desert
Extreme summer aridity
Dwarf shrubland dominated by leaf
succulents.
Vegetation has thick, fleshy stems and
leaves for water storage.
Threats: diamond mining, mining for
heavy metal, overgrazing, illegal
collection of succulents and bulbs.
To conserve: identify priority areas for
conservation, expand partnerships, link
livelihoods, capitilise on climate change
and renewable energy, raise awareness,
involve mining sector.
Why conserve: one of the only two arid
ecosystems to earn hotspot status, is the
richest succulent flora on earth. Has
vascular plant species that are endemic.
Has endemic reptiles.

Desert biome
o Extremely arid biome
o Harsh environmental conditions
o High levels of summer aridity
o Droughts adapted
o Drought adaptations: drought escape;
Dormancy-plants set seeds and
remain dominant as seeds that
germinate when the conditions are
favourable
Diapause- animal life cycle pause as
cysts and eggs that hatch when the
conditions are favourable.
Aestivation- temporary hibernation/
animal dormancy
Avoidance- relocating to areas that
are less subject to water lapse.
Seasonal migration of large mammals
and birds
Retreating, they adapt to current
environmental conditions.
Morphological: leaf rolling, succulent
bodies for water sotrage, changing
leaf orientation to the sun to reduce
evapotranspiration.
Physiological:anti-denaturising
substances within the cells of some
species.
 CAM photosynthetic pathway-plants
collect and store co2 at night for use
in photosynthesis the next day.
C4 photosynthetic pathway-stomata
opens slightly, low light intensity,
reduced water loss.
Different growth forms: therophyte-
seeds germinate when conditions are
favourable
Hemicryptophyte-new buds growth in
the first few centimetres of the soil

Grassland biome
 Largest biome
 Grass is dominant supported by frost, fire,
grazing
 Trees do not occur due to grazing, frost and
fire.
 Sweetveld- low fibre, palatable to livestock,
maintain nutrients in leaves in winter, sensitive
to overgrazing.
 Sourveld, high in fibre, unpalatable to
livestock, withdraws nutrients from leaves in
winter, in high rainfall areas, acidic.
 Fire-adapted
 Threats: climate change, habitat transformation
for agriculture, forestry, production of dairy,
wool and beef, overgrazing.
 Why conserve: extremely high biodiversity,
one of the richest biomes in south Africa in
terms of plant species. It contains many
endangered animal and plant species.

Nama karoo
 Semi-desert
 Third largest biome
 Droughts are common
 Soils are highly erodible
 Lime rich soils weakely developed over
rock.
 Vegetation is open dwarf shrubland with
some grasses
 Shrubs increases and grasses decrease
with an increase in aridity.
 Very hot summers
 Very cold winters
 Threats: mining and fracking, pet trade,
overgrazing, alien invasives, problematic
agricultural practices and climate change.
 How to conserve: promote sound
agricultural practices, environmental
stewardship is the best option, elimination
 of low strand electric fencing and small
unit game fencing, reinvest in land
restoration and soil conservation.
 Sound agricultural practices: friendly
predator control, power lines, transformers
and poison bait safety, eliminate burning
for grazing purposes as it causes erosion.
 Why conserve: has few rare or red data
plant species, has important reptiles like
karoo dwarf chameleon and boulenger’s
padloper. Has one strictly endemic small
mammal, visagies’ golden mole, has
vulnerable and endangered vertebrate,
riverine rabbit.

Albany thicket
Clumping of vegetation
Dense, spiny shrubs and small trees.
Drought resistant
Does not support frequent fires
Drought adaptations: thorns,
succulence, cam photosynthesis,
underground storage organs for
burrowing like earthworms, termites,
moles.
Threats: climate change, land
degradation due to cultivation,
 overgrazing, urban development,
industrial development, medicinal
harvesting, forestry.
How to conserve: establishment of
private game reserves and training.
Why conserve: it forms southwerstern
component for maputoland,
pondoland Albany biodiversity
hotspot.
Albany centre of endemism.

Forest biome
 Second most diverse biome after fynbos
 Patchy distribution
 Threats: illegal harvesting for medicinal use, illegal
timber harvesting.

Savanna biome
 Grassy ground layer and upper woody layer
 Fire adapted
 Threats: rhino poaching, hunting
 Why conserve: the presence of many national
parks, important for tourism and big game
hunting, it is the center of wildlife tourism in
south Africa.
 How to save rhinos: remove horns, stricter
fines and sentences, increase security. Prohibit
all kinds of hunting, poison the horns, raise
awareness through campaigns, legalise trade.
Indian ocean coastal belt
 Summer rainfall is dominant but winter
rainfall contributes 40% on the northern
parts.
 Second most diverse hotspot.
 Exotic timber plantations
 Threats: alien invasives, mining,
agriculture, forestry and urban
development.
 Why conserve: it forms part of the
maputaland pondoland Albany hotspot