Unravelling the taxonomy and distribution of two problematic small mammal genera in the Karoo biome

Main, Devon C; Tensen, Laura; Gihring, Katharina; Bronner, Gary N.; Nadine, Aboul-Hassan; Blanckenberg, Michelle; Vuuren, Bettine Jansen van

doi:10.1080/15627020.2019.1628661

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 45 publications

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“…Moreover, this region has few public roads and is largely lacking in human visitation. Here, we recommend that an approach emulating the Karoo Biogaps project led by SANBI (Main et al 2019) should be implemented, in which specific grid cells are selected as sites in which to extensively collect occurrence records on the basis of a statistical sampling design. This method of grid cell selection would involve the use of a statistical algorithm (such as Latin hypercube sampling) that seeks to maximise coverage across the region although minimising the total number of grid cells to be sampled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling bias in reptile occurrence data for the Kruger National Park

Barends

Pietersen

Zambatis

et al. 2020

Koedoe

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o effectively conserve and manage species, it is important to (1) understand how they are spatially distributed across the globe at both broad and fine spatial resolutions and (2) elucidate the determinants of these distributions. However, information pertaining to the distributions of many species remains poor as occurrence data are often scarce or collected with varying motivations, making the resulting patterns susceptible to sampling bias. Exacerbating an already limited quantity of occurrence data with an assortment of biases hinders their effectiveness for research, thus making it important to identify and understand the biases present within species occurrence data sets. We quantitatively assessed occurrence records of 126 reptile species occurring in the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, to quantify the severity of sampling bias within this data set. We collated a data set of 7118 occurrence records from museum, literature and citizen science sources and analysed these at a biologically relevant spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km. As a result of logistical challenges associated with sampling in KNP, approximately 92% of KNP is data deficient for reptile occurrences at the 1 km × 1 km resolution. Additionally, the spatial coverage of available occurrences varied at species and family levels, and the majority of occurrence records were strongly associated with publicly accessible human infrastructure. Furthermore, we found that sampled areas within KNP were not necessarily ecologically representative of KNP as a whole, suggesting that areas of unique environmental space remain to be sampled. Our findings highlight the need for substantially greater sampling effort for reptiles across KNP and emphasise the need to carefully consider the sampling biases within existing data should these be used for conservation management decision-making. Modelling species distributions could potentially serve as a short-term solution, but a concomitant increase in surveys across the park is needed.Conservation implications: The sampling biases present within KNP reptile occurrence data inhibit the inference of fine-scale species distributions within and across the park, which limits the usage of these data towards meaningfully informing conservation management decisions as applicable to reptile species in KNP.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling bias in reptile occurrence data for the Kruger National Park

Barends

Pietersen

Zambatis

et al. 2020

Koedoe

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Micromammals and the Late Quaternary of southern Africa

Avery

2021

South African Journal of Geology

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Improvements in excavation methods, dating, analytical techniques and statistical applications have all led to a substantial increase in recoverable environmental evidence from micromammals. Because these animals are so small the information they provide is on a smaller geographical scale than that afforded by most other lines of evidence. However, with increasing amounts of data and greater interpretational precision in all spheres, the chances are improving of being able to mesh information from different scales. Blombos, Pinnacle Point and Klasies River on the southern coast of South Africa have clearly demonstrated that micromammalian data can contribute to multidisciplinary interpretations of past conditions, in this case during MIS 5 and 6. Little attention has been paid to the generally small samples from Iron Age sites but the presence of the House rat Rattus rattus may provide important information about human movements and may also contribute to our understanding of the Anthropocene once this has been formally defined. Micromammals have not yet been used as chronostratigraphic indicators in southern Africa but it may be possible to develop biochronologies using them and to incorporate this material into African Land Mammal Ages.

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Unravelling the taxonomy and distribution of two problematic small mammal genera in the Karoo biome

Cited by 2 publications

References 45 publications

Sampling bias in reptile occurrence data for the Kruger National Park

Sampling bias in reptile occurrence data for the Kruger National Park

Micromammals and the Late Quaternary of southern Africa

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