Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland is a

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

vegetation type of the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Environment

This type of riparian vegetation and its accompanying ecosystem is found in the

, on freshwater floodplains, along the lower stretches of rivers and around seasonal

vlei A vlei (; ) is a shallow minor lake, mostly of a seasonal or intermittent lake, intermittent nature. It even might refer to seasonal ponds or marshy patches where frogs and similar marsh dwellers breed. Commonly, vleis vary in their extent, or e ...

s and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

. The terrain is typically flat and the soil is rich and silty. It is restricted to a winter rainfall area. This used to be one of the major ecosystems on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

of Cape Town. The Cape Flats used to have a great many

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s and seasonal

s, but these have largely been drained and built over for housing. A few remain at places such as

Rondevlei The Rondevlei Nature Reserve is located in Grassy Park, Zeekoevlei and Lavenderhill, suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. The bird sanctuary covers approximately of mostly permanent wetland and consists of a single large brackish lagoon. The ...

Ecology

The flora consists of a range of species of tall reed (e.g. ''

Phragmites australis ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. It is a wetland grass that can grow up to tall and has a cosmopolitan distribution worldwide. Description ''Phragmites australis' ...

'', ''

Typha capensis ''Typha capensis'' is an aquatic plant known from southern and eastern Africa as far north as ''Uganda''. It has also been reported from Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. I ...

''),

Restios The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV system, APG IV (2016): the fami ...

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

s, grasses, floating aquatics and a great many species of shrub. Plant cover is very high. Sedgelands predominate on the floodplains, floating aquatics grow in the open pools, taller shrubs and small trees grow in drier soils (e.g. ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * Erica (plant), ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * Erica (video game), ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * Erica (spider), ' ...

'' and '' Restio'' sp.) and the taller, bigger reed-beds dominate on the fringes of permanent water. Some of the most noticeable and dominant species are '' Senecio halimnifolius'', ''

Paspalum vaginatum ''Paspalum vaginatum'' is a species of grass known by many names, including seashore paspalum, biscuit grass, saltwater couch, silt grass, and swamp couch.Pennisetum macrourum'', '' Triglochin bulbosa'', '' Bolboschoenus maritimus'' and '' Juncus krausii''. Plant species which are endemic to this vegetation type include: '' Passerina paludosa'', '' Aponogeton angustifolius'', '' Aponogeton distachyos'', and '' Cotula myriophylloides''. This ecosystem is not particularly rich in

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

s (by

Cape Floristic Region The Cape Floral Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province. The Cap ...

standards) but is an exceptionally rich and important habitat for the

Waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s and

Frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s of the Cape. It is also the breeding ground of the endangered Western Leopard Toad.

Threats and Conservation

These ecosystems are threatened by invasive alien plants such as Kikuyu grass,

Water Hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive species, invasive outside its native rang ...

('' Eichornia crassipes''), Red River Gum ('' Eucalyptus cladocalyx'') and

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

(''

Acacia saligna ''Acacia saligna'', commonly known by various names including coojong, golden wreath wattle, willow wattle, orange wattle, blue-leafed wattle, Western Australian golden wattle, and, in Africa, Port Jackson willow, is a small tree in the family ...

''), as well as the draining and diversion of water for agricultural reasons and development. A significant proportion of these wetlands have now been transformed and lost and the ecosystem as a whole is now classed as endangered. All remaining wetlands are protected by national legislation. File:Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland South Africa 5 restios.JPG, File:Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetlands in Cape Town 6.JPG, A surviving patch of Cape Freshwater Wetlands in the city of Cape Town. File:Aponogeton distachyos.jpg, The "Waterblommetjie"(''Aponogeton distachyos''), a plant

to Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland. File:Bufo pantherinus - Western leopard toad.JPG, The critically endangered Western Leopard Toad breeds in Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland. File:Cape Wetlands - western cape SA.JPG,

References

{{Cape Town, natural Ecoregions of Africa . Vegetation types of Cape Town

Environment

Ecology

Threats and Conservation

See also

References