The resurrection of the traditional socio-ecological knowledge system as a complimentary biodiversity conservation tool for poorly performing protected areas has fueled a new debate on what drives resource use behavior in forest landscapes. Using ecological assessment and ethno-botanical techniques, we tested whether culture or the ecological abundance of resources can sufficiently explain the use behavior of traditional society for various livelihood-related utilities. Data were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric tests. The two communities of the Vhavenda people had homogenous cultural values, despite the fact that they reside in different forest conditions. The use value of habitats increases along the land use intensity gradient, as defined by cultural norms and taboos. However, despite the presumed strictness of rules related to state-protected indigenous forest, it had the same use value as with open access resource use zones. Almost no resource harvesting from culturally protected (sacred) forests was reported. Species abundance did not sufficiently explain their use value. Generally, the findings show that culture plays a predominant role in explaining use behavior. Neither is resource use decision random nor is the concept of protected areas a new concept to traditional society. Hence, capitalizing on the benefits of cultural assets in conservation action, through genuine partnership and the empowerment of local people, will ensure the sustainability of global biodiversity initiatives.

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Using landscape moderation insurance and Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) as frameworks, this study assessed the response of local assemblage among different land use regimes (mean β-diversity), using the Jaccard dissimilarity matrix in contrasting Human Modified Forest Landscapes (HMFLs). The study was conducted at the relatively simplified Mafhela Forest Reserve and the complex Thathe Vondo Forest Reserve in South Africa. The patterns of overall β-diversity between HMFL and State-protected Indigenous Forests (SIF) were compared and the leading change drivers were then untangled. This study found that human disturbance affects mean β-diversity of local assemblages among land use regimes between the two HMFLs in an ecologically contrasting manner. The HMFL in Mafhela Forest Reserve had distinct local assemblages among land use regimes and did not conform to the expectation of IDH. On average, HMFL had the same average local species richness as SIF, mainly due to change in species composition (species replacement) induced by land use disturbance. Land use intensity gradient was the leading change driver to explain the overall β-diversity of the Mafhela Forest Reserve. The findings in the Thathe Vondo Forest Reserve were in contrast with the Mafhela Forest Reserve. Although on average the HMFL had the same local species richness as SIFs, this was mainly due to a trade-off of species gain in trees along the rivers and streams and species loss in Culturally Protected Areas (sacred forests) (CPA) as expected by IDH. The contrasting findings imply that the effectiveness of any alternative conservation strategy is context-dependent. The resilience of local assemblages and conservation value of HMFL depends on the condition of the overall forest landscape complexity and cannnot be captured by one theory, nor by one species diversity matrix (e.g., β-diversity or Richness). It thus demands the application of complementary theoretical frameworks and multilevel modeling.Land 2020, 9, 4 2 of 19 surprising considering that "vulnerability," and "representativeness" of species diversity have been the two guiding criteria for setting priority areas for the protection of biodiversity hotspots [4]. Hence, it is counterintuitive to presume that human modified landscapes, under different land use disturbance intensity, can be an alternative or complementary form of biodiversity conservation.Despite the negative connotation of the literal meaning of disturbance as a disruptive force on different biological organizations [5], some have argued that the higher species diversity in the tropical forests is the result of the concurrent effect of natural and anthropogenic disturbance [6]. Without disturbance, the tropical forests would have been associated with poorer species diversity [7]. Others have counterargued that the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on species diversity is idiosyncratic [8], and adversely affects vulnerable tropical forest biodiversity [9].Considering that only a few fragments of tropical forests have rem...