Temporal biodiversity change in transformed landscapes: a southern African perspective

Abstract

Landscape transformation by humans is virtually ubiquitous, with several suggestions being made that the world's biomes should now be classified according to the extent and nature of this transformation. Even those areas that are thought to have a relatively limited human footprint have experienced substantial biodiversity change. This is true of both marine and terrestrial systems of southern Africa, a region of high biodiversity and including several large conservation areas. Global change drivers have had substantial effects across many levels of the biological hierarchy as is demonstrated in this review, which focuses on terrestrial systems. Interactions among drivers, such as between climate change and invasion, and between changing fire regimes and invasion, are complicating attribution of change effects and management thereof. Likewise CO 2 fertilization is having a much larger impact on terrestrial systems than perhaps commonly acknowledged. Temporal changes in biodiversity, and the seeming failure of institutional attempts to address them, underline a growing polarization of world views, which is hampering efforts to address urgent conservation needs.

Biological diversity in a changing world

“…However, current rates and sources of change pose scientists and people in general with new challenges (Chown 2010;Jackson 2010). We must incorporate change into the way we view biodiversity, and learn to distinguish between necessary change and change we should aim to avoid or at the very least mitigate.…”

“…Explorers could find regions and even continents that were essentially untouched. The contrast with today is marked and, as Chown (2010) makes clear, the imprint of our species on natural landscapes is substantial. Indeed, Chown points out that so-called 'anthropogenic biomes' now cover over 75 per cent of ice-free land, and human activities affect even those few remaining 'wild areas'.…”

Past, present, and future distribution of Afromontane rodents (Muridae: Otomys) reflect climate-change predicted biome changes

“…This is a naïve assumption as national land-cover maps (Driver et al 2012) have demonstrated rapidly accelerating anthropogenic habitat transformation in South Africa in recent years, and this is set to accelerate even further in the near future and to have an impact on biodiversity (Chown 2010). For example, maps presented by Driver et al (2012) for the KwaZuluNatal Province between 1994 and 2008 reveal considerable transformation particularly in the coastal areas, with the prediction that no natural cover will persist outside of protected areas by 2050.…”

Livestock Grazing in Afromontane Grasslands in the Northern Bale Mountains, Ethiopia: Implications for Bird Conservation

“…The degradation and destruction of natural habitats induced actions are major causes of global 2006; Chown, 2010). This is expected to be increasing in future in developing Tropical countries like Ethiopia, coupled to the everincreasing rate of population growth, where there is a high demand for extensive arable land and grazing areas to r basic life needs (Mckee, 2005;Chown, 2010).…”

“…This is expected to be increasing in future in developing Tropical countries like Ethiopia, coupled to the everincreasing rate of population growth, where there is a high demand for extensive arable land and grazing areas to r basic life needs (Mckee, 2005;Chown, 2010). Understanding the associated threats these actions cause and the way in which plants and animals respond to them is thus important for efficient and effective conservation s (Bleher et al, Grazing by livestock has been considered to be one of such major factors that lead to habitat alteration in different ecosystems worldwide (e.g.…”