Life Sciences
Grade 10
TOPIC: BIOMES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Compiled by Mr Mthuki L
Biomes
1. The succulent Karoo
2. The Arid Karoo
3. The grassland
4. The savannah
5. The forest
6. Fynbos
7. thicket
2.3.1 The Savanna biome (Mpumalanga and Limpopo province)
o ‘Savanna’ refers to vegetation that is mixed grassland and trees.
o 46% of South Africa is savanna.
o The Savanna biome has the following features:
o infertile, porous soil, which allows water to drain away quickly
o summer rainfall; extremely hot temperatures in summer; cold winters with
little rain
o wild animals such as antelope, lion, buffalo, leopard, cheetah, hippo, giraffe,
zebra and elephant
o livestock such as cattle graze the grasses
o many types of birds such as hornbills, flycatchers, woodpeckers and shrikes
o baobab, marula, mopane and acacia trees.
2.3.2 The Grassland biome (Mpumalanga and Free State)
• Grasses are the main vegetation. Woody plants are either absent or rare.
• This biome covers 24% of South Africa’s surface area.
• It has the following features:
• high rainfall; thunderstorms and hail common in summer; frost common in winter
• deep and dark soils with fertile upper layers
• mainly ‘sweet’ grass for grazers
• many kinds of antelope – blesbok, black wildebeest, rietbok, grey rhebok, eland, springbok –
are common, plus big cats such as lion
• rich variety of birds such as the blue crane, black korhaan and helmeted guinea fowl
• maize farming, dairy farming, beef and wool production
• a number of perennial rivers such as the Orange, Vaal and Pongola.
• The biggest threat to the Grassland biome is commercial forestry. Very large areas have been
replaced by plantations of pine trees.
2.3.3 The Nama Karoo biome
• The Nama Karoo is an area of transition between the Cape flora in the
south, and the tropical Savanna in the north.
• It has the following features:
• warm, dry, semi-desert climate
• sandy soil with little nutrition
• plants such as sweet-thorn, stone plant and blue Karoo daisy
• sheep-farming is the main agricultural activity
• a rich variety of rodents, plus fox, jackal, ostrich and reptiles
• endemic or near-endemic bird species such as the Sclaters lark.
2.3.4 The Succulent Karoo biome (northern cape)
• The Succulent Karoo is in the western part of South Africa, stretching all the way up the West Coast.
It has the following features:
• winter rainfall and very hot and dry summers
• sandy soil with little nutritional value
• succulent plants, which have thick fleshy leaves to store water and others with small leaves and thorns
to reduce water loss through transpiration
• annual plants that survive the dry period by germinating, growing, flowering and setting seeds during
the moist winter and spring; they evade the dry periods by being stored as seeds
• animals such as the dassie rat, Namaqua dune mole-rat, barking gecko and the Cape horseshoe bat
• large areas of colourful Namaqualand daisies that bloom for a short time, and other interesting flowers.
Damage to the Nama Karoo and Succulent Karoo biome is mainly caused by sheep over-grazing. Other
problems are over-collection of the endemic plants and badly-managed tourism (e.g. trampling of plants).
2.3.5 The Fynbos biome
• ‘Fynbos’ refers to the small shrubs with fine leaves found in this biome.
• Fynbos occurs almost only in the south-western and southern parts of the Western Cape Province. ©Via Afrika » Life Sciences Grade
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• The biome is a World Heritage Site. With at least 8 570 species of flowering plants, it is one of the most diverse floras in the world.
• It has the following features:
• cold, wet winters and hot, dry summers with strong winds and regular fires
• sandy and alkaline coastal soil, further inland it becomes more acidic; in the lowlands the soil is more fertile and neutral
• evergreen plants
• low shrubs with fine leaves, such as ericas, and leafless, tufted, grass-like plants such as restios are the main plants; proteas can grow
into large bushes
• trees are rare and grasses are a small part of the vegetation
• the fynbos plants only reproduce through seeds; they depend on small mammals or birds, such as the Cape sugarbird, for pollination
• it has 68% endemic plants, many found only in very small areas
• fauna includes the leopard, grysbok, Cape mountain zebra and geometric tortoise.
• Fynbos vegetation is used for grazing small stock and for collecting and selling wild flowers, proteas, rooibos tea, buchu, veld flowers
and thatching-reed, and for growing table and wine grapes, wheat, fruit and olives.
• Threats to the Fynbos biome include: development and agriculture; plantations of alien trees; uncontrolled fires; take-over of alien
plants; draining of wetlands; collecting firewood; picking too many wild flowers.
2.3.6 The Forest biome (southern and
eastern cape, KwaZulu-Natal)
• Indigenous evergreen and semi-deciduous closed forests are found in coastal lowlands and
escarpment slopes.
• With a few exceptions, forests are small (usually taking up less than 1 000 hectares).
• The biome’s features are:
• high rainfall areas
• small area but relatively high number of different organisms
• trees of different heights, so reduced light beneath the canopy
• species such as tree ferns and vines common in the shade
• animals such as bushbuck, bush pig and blue duiker
• birds include the Knysna lourie, woodpecker and rameron pigeon.
• Forests are threatened by the felling of trees for wood, collecting firewood, and collecting bark,
roots and bulbs for traditional medicines.
2.3.7 The Thicket biome
• Most Thicket is found in river valleys where there is water and a thick
layer of rich soil.
Its features include:
• dune sands, sandy and clay soils
• different types of vegetation: from shrubs, evergreen forests to succulents
• many plants with spines to protect them from grazers, for example the
Euphorbia
• small animals like monkeys and squirrels are common, and large animals
such as black rhino, elephant and kudu occur.
