Small mammal diversity and density on the Bokkeveld escarpment, South Africa – implications for conservation and livestock predation

O’Farrell, Patrick J.; Donaldson, John S.; Hoffman, Margaret; Mader, André

doi:10.3377/1562-7020(2008)43[117:smdado]2.0.co;2

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…By contrast, the community composition of small mammals at SBNR consisted of species that are more commonly associated with rocky habitats (e.g. M. namaquensis, M. granti, E. myurus) from areas to the west of the SMC (Bond et al 1980;Nel et al 1980;Rautenbach and Nel 1980;Stuart et al 1987;Eccard et al 2000;O'Farrell et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…When compared to the Cape Fold Mountains, more small mammal species were captured in the SMC than on the Swartberg Mountains, Baviaanskloof Mountains and Bokkeveld Escarpment (Bond et al 1980;O'Farrell et al 2008;Appendix Tables 8, 9). However, small mammal species richness in the Kammanassie and Cederberg Mountains are similar to the SMC (Nel et al 1980;Rautenbach and Nel 1980;Appendix Tables 8, 9).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In addition, preliminary genetic analyses suggest that the Table 7). In general, live trapping at high altitudes in South Africa (Rowe-Rowe and Meester 1982;Bowland and Perrin 1993; Table 6 Best-ranked second order Akaike information criterion (AIC c ) regression models (the models whose cumulative Akaike weight, W i AIC c , B0.95) investigating the effect of environmental variables on four diversity measurements; number of individuals caught, species richness, Shannon diversity index and Simpson index of diversity Variables in the regression were % cover percentage cover, % rock percentage rock cover, veg H overall height of vegetation and TR(-1) total rainfall one year prior to the research Armstrong and van Hensbergen 1996;O'Farrell et al 2008) has provided higher trap success than removal trapping methods (Nel et al 1980;Rauthenbach and Nel 1980;Avenant 1997; Appendix Table 8). The highest trap success at high altitude in South Africa was obtained by Bowland and Perrin (1993) using live trapping (17.3 %; Appendix Table 8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most studies focussing on small mammal diversity at high altitude in South Africa have been conducted in the Cape Fold and central Drakensberg Mountains ( Fig. 1; Bond et al 1980;Nel et al 1980;Rauthenbach and Nel 1980;Rowe-Rowe and Meester 1982;Bowland and Perrin 1993;Armstrong and van Hensbergen 1996;Avenant 1997;O'Farrell et al 2008) The Sneeuberg Mountain Complex (SMC), situated between the Cape Fold Mountains and the Drakensberg Mountains, is part of the southern Great Escarpment (Clark et al 2009) and the small mammal communities that occur at high altitudes ([1,700 m) within the SMC have never been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…extinctions, speciation and migration; Hawkins and Porter 2003;Hortal et al 2008). Local processes include temperature, precipitation, habitat heterogeneity, altitude, area, fire history, grazing and competition (August 1983;O'Farrell et al 2008;Rowe 2009). When working at smaller scales, small mammal diversity is more likely to be affected by local factors than regional factors (Hortal et al 2008;Rowe 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Life on high: the diversity of small mammals at high altitude in South Africa

2012

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The Great Escarpment is the major mountain system in South Africa, yet very few biological surveys have been conducted outside of the well-known Drakensberg section. This is surprising given the important role that mountains play in local and global biodiversity patterns. In this study, small mammal diversity and community composition were estimated at three high altitude ([1,700 m) sites within the Sneeuberg Mountain Complex (SMC) of the Great Escarpment, South Africa from June 2009 to May 2010. The influences of selected environmental variables on diversity were also tested. Of 423 livecaptures, a total of 292 unique individuals of 12 small mammal species (one shrew, one elephant shrew and 10 rodents) were identified during 5,280 trap nights. No single environmental variable could account for the variation observed in diversity measurements but vegetation height appeared to be the most important factor to influence the number of individuals captured. It is hypothesised that the high species richness and diversity of small mammals observed in the SMC compared to other parts of the Great Escarpment is due to the SMC being located in a transition zone of the Grassland and Nama-Karoo biomes. Our results suggest that the SMC could be important in conserving small mammal species from western and eastern assemblages across South Africa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Life on high: the diversity of small mammals at high altitude in South Africa

2012

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The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

Hudson

Newbold

Contu

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

218

227

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The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

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