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Vachellia Reficiens
''Vachellia reficiens'' (, ), commonly known as red-bark acacia, red thorn, false umbrella tree, or false umbrella thorn, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the pea family (Fabaceae) native to southern Africa, often growing in an upside-down cone shape and with a relatively flat crown. Taxonomy The Austrian naturalist Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee described ''Vachellia reficiens'' (as ''Acacia reficiens'') in 1859. It forms a species complex with '' V. luederitzii'', also from central and southern Africa. Two subspecies exist: ''V. reficiens'' subspecies ''reficiens'', which found in Angola and southwestern Africa, and has affinities to ''V. luederitzii'', and ''V. reficiens'' subsp. ''misera'' which is found in eastern Africa, from Sudan and Somalia through Kenya and into Uganda, and has affinities to '' V. etbaica''. With the re-typification of the genus ''Acacia'' this species was placed in ''Vachellia''. Description ''Vachellia reficiens'' can grow up to in he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Wawra Von Fernsee
Heinrich Wawra Ritter von Fernsee (born Jindřich Blažej Vávra; 2 February 1831 – 24 May 1887) was a Czechs, Czech-Austrians, Austrian ship surgeon, botanist and explorer. Biography Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee was born on 2 February 1831 in Brno, Moravia. The youngest of five sons of a miller, he studied medicine and botany at the University of Vienna from 1849 to 1855. Upon graduating he joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Austro-Hungarian Imperial Navy on 6 December 1855. The commander of the fleet at this time was the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. Wawra von Fernsee retired from the navy in 1878 to work on his extensive collections. He died on 24 May 1887 in Baden bei Wien, Baden, at the age of 56. The plant genus ''Fernseea'' was named after him.Genaust, Helmut (1976). ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen'' Expeditions *1856: Ship surgeon on the schooner ''Saida'' to the Mediterranean Sea, Western Mediterranean. *1857–1858: Ship surgeon on the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region, lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied equatorial climate. , it has a population of 49.3 million, of whom 8.5 million live in the capital and largest city, Kampala. Uganda is named after the Buganda, Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south, including Kampala, and whose language Luganda is widely spoken; the official language is English. The region was populated by various ethnic groups, before Bantu and Nilotic groups arrived around 3,000 years ago. These groups established influential kingdoms such as the Empire of Kitara. The arrival of Arab trade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forages
Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's Fitness (biology), fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Optimal foraging theory, Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment where the animal lives. Behavioral ecologists use economic models and categories to understand foraging; many of these models are a type of optimal model. Thus foraging theory is discussed in terms of optimizing a payoff from a foraging decision. The payoff for many of these models is the amount of energy an animal receives per unit time, more specifically, the highest ratio of energetic gain to cost while foraging. Foraging theory predicts that the decisions that maximize energy per unit time and thus deliver the highest payoff will be selected for and persist. Key words used to describe foraging behavior include ''resources'', the elements necessary fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicinal Plants Of Africa
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others. Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, and for most of this time it was an art (an area of creativity and skill), frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trees Of Africa
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only plants that are usable as lumber, or only plants above a specified height. But wider definitions include taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos. Trees are not a monophyletic taxonomic group but consist of a wide variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some trees reaching several thousand years old. Trees evolved around 400 million years ago, and it is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world currently. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported clear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture In Africa
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farms in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giriama People
The Giriama (also called Giryama) are one of the nine ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda (which literally translates to "nine towns"). The Mijikenda occupy the coastal strip extending from Lamu in the north to the Kenya/Tanzania border in the south, and approximately 30 km inland. The Giriama are among the largest of these ethnic groups. They inhabit the area bordered by the coastal cities of Mombasa and Malindi, and the inland towns of Mariakani and Kaloleni. The Giriama is one of the largest groups of the Mijikenda people in the back-up area of the Northeast coast of Kenya. The Giriama are subdivided into clans which include Thoya, Mweni, Nyundo, Nyale and so on. The Giriama are a peaceful people who practiced active resistance against the British. In recent years, the Giriama have extended their living space down to the coast. They are now a big part of service employees in the growing tourism centres. Education programmes initiated by the state included buildin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaokoveld
The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern Namibia and southern Angola. Setting The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Namibian savanna woodlands to the east, and the Namib Desert to the south. It includes the Moçâmedes Desert of southern Angola. The Kaokoveld is a harsh desert of drifting sandunes and rocky mountains. It receives most of its rainfall during summer, which distinguishes it from the adjacent Namib Desert to the south, which receives most of its rain during winter. The Kunene River is the only permanent watercourse but many dry riverbeds (including the Hoanib, Hoarusib and Khumib Rivers) carry moisture through the desert and are home to animals including elephants, black rhinos, and giraffe. Other than those the area is ancient desert sand, moistened by occasional coastal fog. Flora The Kaokoveld is home to the '' Welwitschia mirabilis'', a plant that has n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Kudu
The greater kudu (''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'') is a large woodland antelope, found throughout East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory (animal), territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas due to declining habitat, deforestation, and poaching. The greater kudu is one of two species commonly known as kudu, the other being the lesser kudu, ''T. imberbis''. Etymology Kudu ( ), or koodoo, is the Khoikhoi name for this antelope. ''Trag-'' (Greek) denotes a goat and ''elaphos'' (Greek) a deer. ''Strepho'' (Greek) means 'twist', and ''strepsis'' is 'twisting'. ''Keras'' (Greek) refers to the horn of the animal. Physical characteristics Greater kudus have a narrow Anatomy, body with long legs, and their coat (animal), coats can range from brown/bluish grey to reddish brown. They possess between 4 and 12 vertical white stripes along their torso. The head tends to be darker in colour than the rest of the body, and exhibits a small ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woody Plant Encroachment
Woody plant encroachment (also called woody encroachment, bush encroachment, shrub encroachment, shrubification, woody plant proliferation, or bush thickening) is a natural phenomenon characterised by the area expansion and density increase of woody plants, bushes and shrubs, at the expense of the herbaceous layer, grasses and forbs. It refers to the expansion of native plants and not the spread of alien invasive species. Woody encroachment is observed across different ecosystems and with different characteristics and intensities globally. It predominantly occurs in grasslands, savannas and woodlands and can cause regime shifts from open grasslands and savannas to closed woodlands. Causes include land-use intensification, such as overgrazing, as well as the suppression of wildfires and the reduction in numbers of wild herbivores. Elevated atmospheric CO2 and global warming are found to be accelerating factors. To the contrary, land abandonment can equally lead to woody encroac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkana District
The Turkana District was an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It was the northwesternmost district in the country and is bordered by Uganda to the west; South Sudan and Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ... (including the disputed Ilemi Triangle) to the north and northeast; and Lake Turkana to the east. To the south and east, neighbouring districts in Kenya include West Pokot, Baringo, and Samburu, while Marsabit District lies on the opposite (eastern) shore of Lake Turkana. The territory of Turkana District was separated from the Uganda Protectorate in two stages—the southern section in 1902 and the northern region in 1926. In 2013, Turkana County was formally established with boundaries corresponding to those of the fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's List of African countries by area, third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum, secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum. The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan ( 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture ( 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian ( 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture ( 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
