Predictors of mammal species richness in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Ramesh, Tharmalingam; Kalle, Riddhika; Downs, Colleen T.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.07.011

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(97 reference statements)

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“…Our results demonstrate conspicuous relationships between landscape attributes and macroscopic patterns of mammal species richness in sub‐Saharan Africa and continental China, supporting the previous hypothesis that the strength of local landscape attributes can scale up to biogeographical levels, substantially shaping macroscopic biodiversity patterns (Martins et al, ; Ramesh et al, ; Xu et al, ). Importantly, we show that their strength depends to a considerable extent on both spatial and thematic resolutions of land cover data.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Typical of the traditional view, earlier work has reported that they have rather weak effects (except for the long-recognized effects of landscape heterogeneity in terms of topography; e.g., Kerr & Packer, 1997;Nichols, Killingbeck, & August, 1998;Reino et al, 2018;Thuiller, Araujo, & Lavorel, 2004;White & Miller, 1988). However, recent studies suggested that they have strong power that cannot be neglected, shaping macro-scale biodiversity patterns in areas with strong anthropogenic landscape modifications (Martins, Proença, & Pereira, 2014;Ramesh, Kalle, & Downs, 2016;Xu et al, 2014). To ascertain whether landscape attributes are indeed the "unusual suspect" (a metaphor used by Martins et al, 2014), we need to understand what underlies these two contradictory lines of evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The resolution‐dependent role of landscape attributes in shaping macro‐scale biodiversity patterns

Qiu

Teng

Zhang

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim The aim was to assess whether and to what extent the role of local landscape attributes in shaping macroscopic biodiversity patterns is sensitive to spatial and thematic resolutions of land cover data. Location Sub‐Saharan Africa and continental China. Time period Early 21st century. Taxa studied Terrestrial mammals. Methods We conducted spatial and thematic scaling analyses to generate land cover datasets of different spatial (0.3, 0.5, 1.0 and 9.0 km) and thematic (two, three and five classes) resolutions. We calculated landscape metrics based on the resulting land cover maps and examined the power of landscape metrics for explaining species richness patterns, using non‐spatial (OLS) and spatial (SAR) linear models and random forest (RF) models. We systematically assessed the resolution dependence of explanatory power for different geographical regions, different scaling approaches and different model types. We also compared the explanatory power of landscape attributes with that of macroclimate. Results Collectively, local landscape attributes generally had strong explanatory power for species richness. For the African system, the largest explanatory power was c. 60% based on the OLS models and random forest models and c. 30% based on the non‐spatial components of the SAR models. For the Chinese system, the largest explanatory power was c. 35% based on the OLS models and c. 40% based on the SAR and random forest models. We observed a linear scaling relationship, which is robust to studied systems, scaling approaches and model types. In contrast, the scaling relationship varies substantially among single landscape metrics. At coarse resolutions, the addition of landscape attributes collectively would not improve climate‐envelope models significantly, whereas at finer resolutions, landscape attributes collectively have explanatory power that is close to or even exceeds climate. Main conclusions Local landscape attributes play an important role in shaping macroscopic biodiversity patterns. However, their strength is highly sensitive to both spatial and thematic resolutions of land cover data, with stronger explanatory power detected at finer resolutions. Strong sensitivity to spatial and thematic resolutions makes landscape attributes highly plastic determinants, leading to contrasting conclusions if based on greatly different resolutions of land cover data. Scaling analyses are needed to examine such cross‐scale effects of macroecological determinants systematically.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The resolution‐dependent role of landscape attributes in shaping macro‐scale biodiversity patterns

Qiu

Teng

Zhang

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…These studies did not explore the same variables as in this study. They found that vegetation type, climate and altitude are important correlates of native mammal distribution in South Africa (Ramesh, Kalle, & Downs, ; Rowe‐Rowe & Taylor, ). Despite the focus on different variables, it is possible that successful alien mammals and native ones occupy different habitats to avoid competition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Updating the correlates of alien mammal invasion intensity in South Africa: The basal metabolic rate matters

Ndenda

Yessoufou

2019

Afr J Ecol

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“…This is especially the case with respect to their size. Size is a major factor limiting conservation capacity (Halpern, 2003;Ramesh et al, 2016), both with respect to the number of species that can be supported in the long-term and in the length of time an extinction debt can be sustained following isolation (Fig. 4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the conservation value of Sacred Natural Sites

Avtzis¹,

Stara

Sgardeli

et al. 2018

Biological Conservation

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Many have asserted that Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) play an important role in nature protection but few have assessed their conservation effectiveness for different taxa. We studied sacred groves in Epirus, NW Greece, where a large number of such SNS have been identified. Based on historical, ethnographic and ecological criteria, we selected eight of these groves and matching control sites and in them we studied fungi, lichens, herbaceous plants, woody plants, nematodes, insects, bats and passerine birds. Our results reveal that the contribution of SNS to species conservation is nuanced by taxon, vegetation type and management history. We found that the sacred groves have a small conservation advantage over the corresponding control sites. More specifically, there are more distinct sets of organisms among sacred groves than among control sites, and overall biodiversity, diversity per taxonomic group, and numbers of species from the European SCI list (Species of Community Interest) are all marginally higher in them. Conservationists regard the often small size of SNS as a factor limiting their conservation value. The sizes of SNS around the globe vary greatly, from a few square meters to millions of hectares. Given that those surveyed by us (ranging from 5 to 116 ha) are at the lower end of this spectrum, the small conservation advantage that we testified becomes important. Our results provide clear evidence that even small-size SNS have considerable conservation relevance; they would contribute most to species conservation if incorporated in networks.

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Predictors of mammal species richness in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Cited by 20 publications

References 75 publications

The resolution‐dependent role of landscape attributes in shaping macro‐scale biodiversity patterns

The resolution‐dependent role of landscape attributes in shaping macro‐scale biodiversity patterns

Updating the correlates of alien mammal invasion intensity in South Africa: The basal metabolic rate matters

Quantifying the conservation value of Sacred Natural Sites

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