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Types of vegetation

The types and abundance of vegetation in an area are largely determined by its climate, substrate and soils. The mix and wealth of plants, in turn, determine the products and services the vegetation offers and the profusion and forms of animal life it supports. Deciduous woodlands, for example, sustain forms of life different to those in grasslands, shrublands or floodplains. Having a knowledge of how vegetation varies from one place to another and the assemblage, structure and cover of plants found in various vegetation types is therefore useful. In pursuit of this, maps of vegetation at two scales are presented in the pages ahead: biomes and vegetation types.

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Photo: N Pallett

Welwitschia mirabilis, an enigmatic plant restricted to the Namib Desert in Namibia and Angola.

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Photo: J Pallett

Aloe erinacea, the 'spiny hedgehog', is endemic to southern Namibia.

 
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Photo: J Mendelsohn

Bushman grass, the common name for a few Stipagrostis species, sprouts and matures within weeks after good rain.

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Photo: C Roberts

!Nara plants (Acanthosicyos horridus) mostly grow in deep sand close to ephemeral rivers in the Namib Desert.

 
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Photo: P van Schalkwyk

Lichens are not plants, but symbiotic composites of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria.

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Photo: O Ernst & H Baumeler

The camel-thorn (Acacia erioloba) is a prominent icon in arid landscapes in southern and western Namibia.

6.01 Biomes in Africa1

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Biomes are broad ecological units that share similar plant life, climate, soils, geomorphology and animal life. Africa can be divided into 13 biomes. North and south of the warm, humid and mostly forested equatorial central region, the biomes become progressively drier and the vegetation sparser with more deciduous, succulent and thorny plants, in line with decreasing rainfall and increasing evaporation. Generally, rain falls in the summer months – from April to October in the northern hemisphere, and from October to April in the southern hemisphere.

Biomes are broad ecological units that share similar plant life, climate, soils, geomorphology and animal life. Africa can be divided into 13 biomes. North and south of the warm, humid and mostly forested equatorial central region, the biomes become progressively drier and the vegetation sparser with more deciduous, succulent and thorny plants, in line with decreasing rainfall and increasing evaporation. Generally, rain falls in the summer months – from April to October in the northern hemisphere, and from October to April in the southern hemisphere.

6.02 Biomes and vegetation types in Namibia2

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Five of Africa's 13 biomes are found in Namibia (figure 6.01); these five can be divided into 28 vegetation types. Two factors do much to determine the nature and boundaries of the biomes and vegetation types. First is the availability of water (which is largely an outcome of the competing effects of rainfall and evaporation), while the second is the type of soil. For example, Tree-and- Shrub Savanna can be broadly divided into two biomes in Namibia, where tall, broadleaved trees predominate in the wetter and sandy northeastern parts of the country, and acacias dominate the more arid southeastern areas. Taller trees and shrubs give way to shorter shrubs in the even drier southern and western areas of Namibia. Similarly, only grasses, shrubs and small trees do well on the shallow soils that cover hills in the central, southern and western highlands.

Few plants can root themselves in the shifting sands that make up much of the Namib Desert. Other more stable, stony or rocky parts of the Namib support various bulbs, herbs, grasses and small shrubs, while trees line ephemeral river courses that make their way westwards to the Atlantic Ocean.

Diverse communities of plants are supported by the Nama Karoo's various soils and geological substrates. These include dwarf shrubs, succulents and perennial grasses, and taller shrubs and trees along ephemeral drainage lines.

The great variety of plant species and subspecies – many of them endemic – found in the Succulent Karoo give this biome substantial importance for conservation. Succulents from diverse families are found in its many separate habitats, which include inselbergs, ranges of hills and plains of sand, gravel and gypsum.

Liambezi and the group of Omadhiya lakes are Namibia's only freshwater lakes in the Lakes and Saltpans Biome, but there are many saltpans on the coastal plain and clustered around Namibia's largest pan, Etosha which covers some 4,800 square kilometres. The few specialised plants that grow on the saltpans can withstand their very saline soils.

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Photo: F Vassen

1 Central Desert

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Photo: H Dillmann

2 Northern Desert

 
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Photo: JB Dodane

3 Southern Desert

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Photo: J Pallett

4 Succulent Steppe

 
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Photo: P Lambrecht

5 Pans

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Photo: P Lambrecht

6 Central-Western Escarpment and Inselbergs

 
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Photo: S Rankl

7 Desert – Dwarf Shrub Transition

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Photo: J Pallett

8 Dwarf Shrub Savanna

 
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Photo: P Cunningham

9 Dwarf Shrub – Southern Kalahari Transition

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Photo: M Serfling

10 Etosha Grassland and Dwarf Shrubland

 
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Photo: J Mendelsohn

11 Karas Dwarf Shrubland

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Photo: J Haylett

12 Northwestern Escarpment and Inselbergs

 
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Photo: H Baumeler

13 Central Kalahari

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Photo: J Mendelsohn

14 Cuvelai

 
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Photo: JB Dodane

15 Highland Shrubland

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Photo: F Wiese

16 Karstveld

 
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Photo: JB Dodane

17 Mopane Shrubland

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Photo: O Ernst & H Baumeler

18 Southern Kalahari

 
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Photo: JB Dodane

19 Thornbush Shrubland

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Photo: JB Dodane

20 Western Highlands

 
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Photo: JB Dodane

21 Western Kalahari

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Photo: J Mendelsohn

22 Northeastern Kalahari Woodland

 
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Photo: H Denker

23 Northern Kalahari

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Photo: J Mendelsohn

24 Okavango Valley

 
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Photo: J Mendelsohn

25 Omatako Drainage

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Photo: H Baumeler

26 Riverine Woodlands and Islands

 
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Photo: Gondwana Collection

27 Zambezi Floodplains

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Photo: J Mendelsohn

28 Zambezi Mopane Woodland

6.03 Dominant types of soils, structure of plants and landscapes for Namibia's 28 vegetation types

Vegetation type Dominant soils Dominant structure Dominant landscape
1 Central Desert Gypsisols and Calcisols Sparse shrubs and grasses Mainly Central-Western Plain
2 Northern Desert Various Sparse grasslands Mainly Central-Western Plain
3 Southern Desert Arenosols Grasslands and dwarf shrublands Namib Sand Sea
4 Succulent Steppe Mainly Leptosols and Arenosols Succulent shrubs Coastal Plain
5 Pans Mainly Solonchaks Pans and grasslands Etosha Saltpans
6 Central-Western Escarpment and Inselbergs Various Varied shrublands and grasslands Central-Western Plain
7 Desert – Dwarf Shrub Transition Mainly Regosols and Leptosols Low shrubs and grasslands Coastal Plain, Nama Karoo Basin
8 Dwarf Shrub Savanna Mainly Regosols and Leptosols Low shrubs Nama Karoo Basin
9 Dwarf Shrub – Southern Kalahari Transition Mainly Arenosols and Leptosols Grasslands and shrublands Nama Karoo Basin
10 Etosha Grassland and Dwarf Shrubland Mainly Calcisols Grasslands and low shrubs Kalahari Sandveld
11 Karas Dwarf Shrubland Leptosols, Calcisols and Regosols Grasslands and low shrubs Various
12 Northwestern Escarpment and Inselbergs Mainly Leptosols Varied shrublands and grasslands Kaokoveld Hills
13 Central Kalahari Arenosols Open acacia woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
14 Cuvelai Cambisols and Calcisols Floodplain grasslands or woodlands Cuvelai
15 Highland Shrubland Leptosols and Regosols Shrubs and low trees Khomas Hochland
16 Karstveld Calcisols and Leptosols Mixed woodlands Karstveld
17 Mopane Shrubland Mainly Cambisols Mopane shrublands and woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
18 Southern Kalahari Arenosols Open acacia woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
19 Thornbush Shrubland Mainly Cambisols and Regosols Acacia shrublands Mainly Central-Western Plain
20 Western Highlands Leptosols and Regosols Grasslands and scattered trees Various
21 Western Kalahari Arenosols Broadleaved woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
22 Northeastern Kalahari Woodland Arenosols Broadleaved woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
23 Northern Kalahari Arenosols Broadleaved woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
24 Okavango Valley Fluvisols and Gleysols Floodplain grasslands or woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
25 Omatako Drainage Cambisols Floodplain grasslands or woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
26 Riverine Woodlands and Islands Fluvisols Tall woodlands Kalahari Sandveld and Northeastern Wetlands
27 Zambezi Floodplains Cambisols and Fluvisols Floodplain grasslands Northeastern Wetlands
28 Zambezi Mopane Woodland Cambisols Grasslands or woodlands Kalahari Sandveld
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Photo: R Droker

Armoured crickets (also called koringkrieke or Gobabis prawns) cool themselves in the gentle wind blowing through the tips of this Damara milkbush (Euphorbia damarana), a plant restricted to northwestern Namibia. Its latex is extremely poisonous to many animals and bacteria, but oryx and black rhino readily feed on the plants.

6.04 Land cover3

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The mapping of vegetation types is one way of reflecting variation in plant life. There are other ways too, for example by mapping plant production, endemic plants and floristic areas and land cover.

Assessments of land cover over large areas are made using satellite images. There are many such assessments, as any internet search will demonstrate. All have strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps the best one for Namibia was produced recently using images captured by Sentinel satellites of the European Union's Copernicus Programme. This is shown here, but it too has inaccuracies. The extent of croplands is exaggerated in this set of land cover data, which serves as a reminder to check the accuracy of the many sets of mapped and other data now available on the World Wide Web. With few exceptions, publicly available data have reliable and useful aspects, but also unintended errors.

Despite these weaknesses, the map here accurately shows that much of Namibia is covered by bare ground in the most arid areas, and bush and shrubs in the remaining semi-arid areas. In the northern regions there are significant areas of woodland, and cultivated land that has been cleared of woodland and bush.

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Photo: GIZ Bush Control and Biomass Utilisation Project

The starkest changes in land cover are often in farmland. This is where, for example, adjoining areas have been cleared for crops or used for grassland pastures (right half of photo), or allowed to become densely bushed (left).