The rehabilitation program conducted by Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) of areas exposed to opencast surface mining of sand dunes north of Richards Bay (28°43'S, 32°12'E) on the coast of northern KwaZulu‐Natal Province commenced 16 years before this study and has resulted in the development of a series of known‐aged stands of vegetation. By assuming that these spatially separated stands develop along a similar pathway over time, instantaneous sampling should reveal successional or other changes usually associated with aging and should provide an opportunity to evaluate the success of rehabilitation. We compare relative densities of pioneer and secondary species, species richness, and a similarity index of the herbaceous layer, tree, beetle, millipede, bird, and small‐mammal communities of rehabilitating areas of known age with those of 30‐year‐old unmined forests and unmined forests of unknown age adjacent to the rehabilitating area. Species richness for all but the mammalian taxa increased with increasing age of rehabilitating stands. For all taxa but the mammals and herbaceous layer, the unmined stands harbored more species than the mined rehabilitating stands. The relative densities of pioneer species of all the taxa decreased with an increase in the age of rehabilitating stands, whereas those of the secondary species increased with an increase in habitat age. Similarity between unmined stands and rehabilitating stands of different ages increased with increasing regeneration age of rehabilitating stands, suggesting that rehabilitating communities, in terms of species composition and relative densities, are developing towards the status of unmined communities. Rehabilitation based on RBM's management program of limited interference is occurring and may result in the reestablishment of a coastal dune forest ecosystem. But rehabilitation resulting from succession depends on the availability of species sources from which colonization can take place. In the Richards Bay mining operation the present mining path is laid out so that such refuges are present.
A review of the snake diversity of Phong Nha Ke Bang, central Truong Son, Vietnam is given. As the result of recent field work, we add nine species to the region's karst forest snake fauna: Amphiesma sp., Calamaria thanhi, Gonyosoma prasinum, Liopeltis frenatus, Lycodon cf. ruhstrati, Lycodon sp., Pareas hamptoni, P. macularius, and Pseudoxenodon macrops. The evidence of Calamaria thanhi from within the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park's borders in addition represents the second finding of this recently described and barely known species as well as the first male recorded. A topical list of the 59 snake species recorded from the area is presented (two Typhlopidae, two Xenopeltidae, two Pythonidae, five Elapidae, five Crotalidae, and 43 colubrid snakes) and compared with the snake fauna known from Tam Dao mountain ridge in northern Vietnam. Species being expected in the future to be recorded within the Phong Nha Ke Bang region are introduced and zoogeographical aspects of the regional snake's fauna composition are discussed. Besides an overview of the spatial and temporal niche segregation of the Phong Nha Ke Bang snake community we show the snake species abundances based on own field surveys in the period between 1998 and 2006. Finally, we provide an identification key to the snake species recorded from Phong Nha Ke Bang and adjacent provinces in central Vietnam.
We studied the status and distribution of the diurnal primates in the Phong Nha -Ke Bang National Park (PNKB NP) from April to August 2007. In the past, researchers reported 9 primate species and subspecies for the karst forests of PNKB NP, which constitutes the most important protected area for the endangered Hatinh langur (Trachypithecus hatinhensis) in Vietnam. All 9 primate taxa are threatened due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. We applied line transect sampling in 4 areas. During a total of 117 transect inspections along 12 different transect routes, we confirmed 5 primate taxa and the analysis of population densities resulted in 2143 (±467) Hatinh langurs, 1316 (±871) red-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix nemaeus), 930 (±489) stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides), 986 (±883) eastern Assamese macaques (M. a. assamensis), and 18 (±18) southern whitecheeked crested gibbons (Nomascus siki) in the whole PNKB NP, which covers an area of ca. 85,000 ha. We could not detect the 2 nocturnal lorises, Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) and pygmy slow lorises (N. pygmaeus), as well as Int rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and northern pig-tail macaques (M. leonina). The distribution of the primates predominantly depended on human impact. We could not recognize a correlation between habitat constitution and abundance of primates. The population density estimates showed a much higher density of the Hatinh langur than previously assumed. Thus the importance of the PNKB NP for the conservation of this endangered langur increased significantly.
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