Cowling's work has had a major impact on our understanding of the ecology, evolution and conservation of the Fynbos, Succulent Karoo, and Subtropical Thicket Biomes of South Africa.During his long and prodigious career Richard has travelled widely within the sub-continent either collecting data or simply photographing landscapes, plants and people to be used later in his teaching and research activities. Between the mid-1970s and early 2000s (before he switched to digital photography) Richard took several thousand 35 mm colour slides. Many of the nearly 2,000 images that are presented in this database reflect Richards ecological interpretation or reading of the landscape and most are botanically highly informative. There are also many images, however, which simply reflect the beauty and diversity of southern Africa landscapes that have provided the inspiration for much of his work.
