Dinteria Nr. 24

Contributions to the Flora and Vegetation of Namibia
Strohbach, Ben J. (Hrsg.)
05-di-24-1994
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€19.95 *
Dinteria Nr. 24

Editor: Ben J. Strohbach
Publisher: Namibia Scientific Society
Windhoek, 1994
Soft-cover, 17x24 cm, 36 pages, some tabellas


Content:

- Seeds at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew - from field to bank for users and the future. H.D.V. Prendergast

- Effect of polyphenolics on the nutritional value of Namibian range forage. PJ. Strydom and WA. Smith

- A contribution to the algal phytogeography of the southern African west coast -a case study at Elizabeth Bay, Namibia. Antje Gunster


From "A contribution to the algal phytogeography of the southern African west coast - a case study at Elizabeth Bay, Namibia":

Antje Gunster

ABSTRACT: The diversity of the macroalgal flora at Elizabeth Bay was determined at relatively undisturbed sites to serve as baseline data for further monitoring of a possible impact of mine tailings disposal. Twenty-two species had never been recorded at Elizabeth Bay before, which is attributed to the poor sampling record.

INTRODUCTION: The Namibian coastline is known for its diverse fauna and flora, caused by the cold Benguela current and regular upwelling (Andrews & Hutchings 1980; Branch & Griffiths 1988). Although the general biogeography of the Namibian seaweed flora has been studied (Lawson et al. 1990; Engledow et al. 1992), detailed surveys are lacking for most of the coastline (Bolton 1986; Molloy 1990). The area south of Liideritz is of special interest, since it is (a) affected by a centre of strong upwelling and (b) because of the abundance of diverse rocky habitats with different degrees of exposure to wave action which offer a variety of niches for seaweed species (Molloy 1990; Engledow et al. 1992). Seaweed species had been collected in 1957 at Elizabeth Bay, about 30 km south of Liideritz (Lawson et al. 1990), but only 45 species were identified.

Today, the bay is used to dispose fine tailings ( 1.4 mm) remaining after extracting diamonds. There has been considerable concern that the tailings affect the marine flora and fauna in the vicinity of the bay. The aim of this study was to describe the seaweed flora in relatively undisturbed habitats with exposure to different degrees of wave action similar to those in the impacted bay.

This survey focuses on the diversity of the macroalgal flora, thus complementing a study of intertidal rocky shores at Elizabeth Bay (Bustmante et al. 1993). In addition, the algal collections provide phytogeographical data to contribute to the ongoing discussion whether or not the west coast flora of southern Africa is cold temperate (Brown & Jarman 1978) or warm temperate (Bolton 1986). [...]