Succulent Karoo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Succulent Karoo is a desert ecoregion of South Africa and Namibia.
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[edit] Setting
The Succulent Karoo stretches along the coastal strip of southwestern Namibia and South Africa's Northern Cape Province, where the cold Benguela Current offshore creates frequent fogs. The ecoregion extends inland into the uplands of South Africa's Western Cape Province. It is bounded on the south by the Mediterranean climate fynbos, on the east by the Nama Karoo, which has more extreme temperatures and variable rainfall, and on the north by the Namib Desert.
[edit] Flora
The Succulent Karoo is notable for the world's richest flora of succulent plants, and harbors about one-third of the world’s approximately 10,000 succulent species. The region is also extraordinarily rich in geophytes, harboring approximately 630 species.
[edit] Fauna
[edit] Conservation
The ecoregion has been designated a biodiversity hotspot by Conservation International.
[edit] External links
- Succulent Karoo (World Wildlife Fund)
- Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot (Conservation International)
- Succulent Karoo (PlantZAfrica.com)
