1. ENDEMISM The endemism of vascular plants in southern Africa is exceptionally high, and more like what you expect on an oceanic island. This is attributable to diverse ecological conditions that has resulted in high speciation within genera (species to genus ratio is 9.6) paralleling the product of adaptive radiation occurring on oceanic islands. Genera with many species are mostly found in Fynbos and Succulent Karoo biomes. Compared to the global flora the southern African flora comprises a distinct phylogenetic sequence.

2. The southern African flora contains most of the world's species of Mesembryanthemumaceae (now Azoaceae), Ericaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Iridaceae, and Restionaceae, as well as high proportions of Geraniaceae, Proteaceae and Rutaceae. The southern African flora has 13 endemic or near endemic families (with the revised classification – in press – this is reduced to 6 or 7). Most of the endemic families are/were monogeneric, and mostly all are restricted to the winter rainfall regions (the CFR). Biodiversity is not evenly distributed e.g. CFR covering 3.5% of the region has 41% of the species.

3. CountryEndemism % CountryEndemism % New Zealand82Ecuador21 Southern Africa80United Status21 Australia80Costa Rica15 New Caledonia80Greece15 Madagascar68Mexico14 Indonesia67Panama14 China56Algeria8 Papua New Guinea55Mozambique4 Chile51Nigeria4 Zaire29Zambia4 Sri Lanka28Zimbabwe2 Argentina25Germanyless than 1 Angola24Swedenless than 1

4. CENTRESArea km 2 # of spp. End. (%) Rain mm yr -1 Rainfall Season Vegetation Wolkberg5 9802 7004500-2000SummerTemp. & Subtropical Grassland Maputaland26 7341 10015600-1200SummerSavanna Eastern Mountain 40 0001 750301500-2000SummerTemperate Grassland Pondoland1 8801 50081000-2000SummerSubtropical Grassland Albany22 5002 00010350-750All yearSubtropical Thicket Succulent Karoo 1112124 7503520-300Winter- all year Succulent Shrubland Cape90 0008 60068250-3000Winter- all year Sclerophyll Shrubland Kaokoveld70 0009521210-300SummerDeciduous Shrubland

5. Endemism, based on the IUCN centre of plant diversity project, ranges from 4% to 68% - which compares with tropical rainforest of 44%. The Cape with 6 000 endemic spp. is the hottest hotspot, and the Succulent Karoo with 1 600 endemic spp. is the only semi-arid area that is a global hot spot. 8830 endemic spp. and exceptionally high spp. to genus ratios of southern Africa is one of the most important areas for biodiversity conservation action.

6. CONSERVATION STATUS The protected area network in South Africa is not optimally located with respect to hotspots, plant diversity and endemism. Reasonably large conservation areas exist for Wolkberg and Maputaland. Mountain areas of the Cape are well conserved. The succulent Karoo is desperately poor as are the lowlands of the Cape Floristic region. Conserved areas and number of Red Data Book (RDB) taxa in southern African centres follow …

7. CENTREArea conserved % RDB extinct RDB other Wolkberg13.3032 Maputaland10.0?? Eastern Mtns. 5.5 0 27 Pondoland7.0033 Albany6.5151 Succulent Kar. 2.018978 Cape Lowlands 3.0291406 Cape Mtns.50.0?? Kaokoveld7.0??

8. Major threats to southern African hot-spots CENTRE Threats Wolkberg Afforestation, invasive plants, overgrazing Maputaland Afforestation, agric., invasives, mining, overgrazing, harvesting, tourism, urbanization Eastern Mountain Afforestation, agric., invasives, overgrazing, plant harvesting PondolandAgric., invasives, harvesting, population growth, overgrazing, burning Albany Agric., invasives, overgrazing, urbanization Succulent KarooAgric., mining, plant harvesting, overgrazing CapeAgric. (lowlands), mining, harvesting, overgrazing, urbanization KaokoveldOvergrazing, harvesting, tourism

9. MEASUREMENTS OF PLANT BIODIVERSITY α = within plot/site/stand biodiversity. E.g. CFNR plots for species area, i.e. the number of spp. in one sample of a community. β = within community biodiversity. E.g. Between several plots in the same community/stand, i.e. the number of spp. in the whole community, or the rate of change as one moves through the community (within community change- over). γ = within landscape biodiversity. E.g. Taking plots from the whole of the CFNR, or along an altitudinal gradient, i.e. the rates of spp. change over from one community to another in the same landscape. δ = between landscapes e.g. Comparing the Cape Peninsula and Kogleberg, i.e. beween geographic regions.

10. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/floralkingdoms.html

11. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/map.html

12. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/temperature.html

13. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/rainfall.html

14. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/temperature.html

15. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/biomes1.html

16. http://www.plantzafrica.com/vegetation/vegimages/biomes800.jpg

17. http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/conservationareas.html