Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2021 |
Outros Autores: | , , , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49804 |
Resumo: | South Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small- and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups’ abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry. |
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Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscapenon-invasive samplingecological modellingmanagement optionsconservationSouth Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small- and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups’ abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry.MDPIRepositório da Universidade de LisboaC. Afonso, BeatrizSwanepoel, Lourens H.Rosa, BeatrizMarques, Tiago A.Rosalino, L. M.Santos-Reis, MargaridaCurveira-Santos, Gonçalo2021-10-06T18:57:35Z2021-092021-09-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/49804engAfonso, B.C.; Swanepoel, L.H.; Rosa, B.P.; Marques, T.A.; Rosalino, L.M.; Santos-Reis, M.; Curveira-Santos, G. Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape. Animals 2021, 11, 2618. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani110926182076-261510.3390/ani11092618info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-08T16:53:44Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/49804Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T22:01:21.811033Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
title |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
spellingShingle |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape C. Afonso, Beatriz non-invasive sampling ecological modelling management options conservation |
title_short |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
title_full |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
title_fullStr |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
title_full_unstemmed |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
title_sort |
Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape |
author |
C. Afonso, Beatriz |
author_facet |
C. Afonso, Beatriz Swanepoel, Lourens H. Rosa, Beatriz Marques, Tiago A. Rosalino, L. M. Santos-Reis, Margarida Curveira-Santos, Gonçalo |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Swanepoel, Lourens H. Rosa, Beatriz Marques, Tiago A. Rosalino, L. M. Santos-Reis, Margarida Curveira-Santos, Gonçalo |
author2_role |
author author author author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
C. Afonso, Beatriz Swanepoel, Lourens H. Rosa, Beatriz Marques, Tiago A. Rosalino, L. M. Santos-Reis, Margarida Curveira-Santos, Gonçalo |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
non-invasive sampling ecological modelling management options conservation |
topic |
non-invasive sampling ecological modelling management options conservation |
description |
South Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small- and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups’ abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry. |
publishDate |
2021 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2021-10-06T18:57:35Z 2021-09 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49804 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49804 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Afonso, B.C.; Swanepoel, L.H.; Rosa, B.P.; Marques, T.A.; Rosalino, L.M.; Santos-Reis, M.; Curveira-Santos, G. Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape. Animals 2021, 11, 2618. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092618 2076-2615 10.3390/ani11092618 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
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MDPI |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
MDPI |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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