A burning issue: Fire overrides grazing as a disturbance driver for South African grassland bird and arthropod assemblage structure and diversity

Little, Ian T.; Hockey, Philip A. R.; Jansen, Raymond

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.09.017

Cited by 43 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Regional studies that link species abundance to habitat do not take into account detection (e.g. Jansen et al 1999;Little et al 2013Little et al , 2015b. The same is true about the studies from north eastern African high-elevation grasslands (Mamo et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Management factors affecting densities of common grassland birds of high elevation grasslands of eastern South Africa: Ingula as a case study

et al. 2017

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Background: World-wide grassland birds are in decline due to habitat loss and degradation resulting from intensive agricultural practices. Understanding how key grassland habitat attributes determine grassland bird densities is required to make appropriate conservation decisions. We examine drivers of bird densities in a South African grassland area that has been managed for biodiversity conservation with reduced grazing pressure. Methods:We estimated the density of the eight most common grassland bird species encountered in our area to evaluate the effects of recent grassland management changes on the avifauna. We collected data on birds and habitat from the austral summers of 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2010/2011. We used hierarchical distance sampling methods to estimate density of birds relative to two main habitat variables, i.e., grass cover and height. In addition, we used regression splines within these distance sampling models as a more flexible description of suitable ranges of grass height and cover for each species.Results: For most species, density is related to grass height and cover as expected. The African Quailfinch (Ortygospiza atricollis) and Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) preferred relatively short and open grass. The Yellow-breasted Pipit (Anthus chloris), African Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) and Red-capped Lark (Calandrella cinerea) preferred short and relatively dense grass, while the Wing-snapping Cisticola (Cisticola ayresii) preferred grass of intermediate height and cover. The Cape Longclaw (Macronyx capensis) and Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) preferred tall and dense grass. Our results agree with previous studies that grass height combined with grass cover are the most important habitat features that managers should manipulate in order to increase the density of target species. The regression splines show that the effect of these two habitat variables on density is well described by linear relationships for most species. Conclusions: This study supports previous studies suggesting that grazing and fire are important tools for management to use in order to create a mosaic of grass height and cover that would support high densities of desired species. We suggest that conservation managers of these grasslands combine fire and grazing as management tools to create suitable habitats for grassland birds in general.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The few studies that exist, examine the effect of burning and grazing on a single species (Parr and Chown 2003) and do not account for the observation process (e.g. Jansen et al 1999;Little et al 2013). Burning is the main management tool in agricultural lands and conservation areas in this region (Parr and Chown 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management factors affecting densities of common grassland birds of high elevation grasslands of eastern South Africa: Ingula as a case study

et al. 2017

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“…Heavy grazing and frequent fires improve yields among cattle and other livestock, but create a homogeneous landscape with reduced vegetative structure (Fuhlendorf et al 2006;McNew et al 2014). Changes in habitat structure can affect bird distributions and community assemblages by negatively impacting species that require tall herbaceous vegetation, while favoring species that use shortgrass habitats (Reside et al 2012, Little et al 2013. Heterogeneous landscapes may promote biodiversity if habitat requirements of individual species vary among life-stages, or if community assemblages are a mixture of specialist and generalist species (Fuhlendorf et al 2006;Powell 2006;Azpiroz et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Effects of grazing and prescribed fire on resource selection and nest survival of upland sandpipers in an experimental landscape

et al. 2014

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Context Conservation of grassland vertebrates requires a mechanistic understanding of the effects of landscape heterogeneity on habitat selection and demographic performance. Objectives Our goal was to investigate the effects of rangeland management on resource selection and nest survival of upland sandpipers (Bartramia longicauda). Methods We conducted our project at Konza Prairie, a Long-Term Ecological Research site. The station has 60 experimental units with replicated grazing and fire treatments that create a heterogeneous landscape of different habitat patches. We radio-tracked sandpipers for two breeding seasons (2003-2004, n = 37 birds) and monitored sandpiper nests for eight seasons (2001-2008, n = 246 nests). We used resource utilization functions to examine resource selection with respect to five landscape features. Results Home ranges of sandpipers were large in contiguous prairie (" x ¼ 8:4 km 2 ) and explain areasensitive occurrence in fragmented prairie. Upland sandpipers selected grazed and burned sites with short vegetation within their home range. In contrast, nest site selection was influenced by fire frequency and birds selected infrequently burned sites with greater vegetative structure. Settlement decisions affected fitness because nest survival was low in burned and grazed sites (0.068), but higher in unburned and ungrazed sites (0.201-0.247). Conclusions Our results raise concerns for conservation because private rangelands managed for livestock production are often homogeneous landscapes with Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (heavy grazing and frequent fires. Rotational grazing and fire could be used to restore heterogeneity to grasslands but the duration of rotation, patch size, and optimal configuration require further investigation.

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“…This means that for ENs to be effective in conserving invertebrates, corridors need to be wide enough to provide natural habitat not affected by edges [11]. Recent work has shown that natural spatial heterogeneity [12], control of alien plants [13], and appropriate fire and grazing management that mimic natural cycles [14] are also vital considerations when planning ENs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Herbivore Grazing Enhances Insect Diversity over Livestock Grazing in an African Grassland System

2016

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Southern Africa’s grassland biodiversity is threatened by habitat transformation such as commercial forestry. Ecological networks (ENs) have been instigated to alleviate the pressure of habitat transformation on local biodiversity. ENs are large scale webs of corridors and patches of natural vegetation criss-crossing production landscapes that can simulate conditions in protected areas (PAs). Many ENs have lost many native large mammal species, which have been replaced by domestic livestock to retain natural grazing dynamics, which could have an impact on the long-term value of ENs for insects. Here we compared dung beetle, butterfly and grasshopper diversity in ENs across a landscape mosaic of timber plantations, where 1) wild megaherbivores were maintained, 2) in ENs where these herbivores were replaced by livestock and, 3) in a nearby World Heritage PA which retained its natural complement of megaherbivores. Sites in the PA far from any plantation were similar in composition to those in the wild grazed EN. Presence of the wild grazers improved the alpha- and beta-diversity of all focal insect taxa when compared to domestic grazing. Furthermore, species composition shows significant differences between the two grazing systems indicating that an assemblage of native large mammals facilitates insect diversity conservation. We support the maintenance or introduction of large native mammals in ENs or similar conservation areas in production landscapes to simulate the ecological conditions and natural heterogeneity in nearby PAs.

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A burning issue: Fire overrides grazing as a disturbance driver for South African grassland bird and arthropod assemblage structure and diversity

Cited by 43 publications

References 83 publications

Management factors affecting densities of common grassland birds of high elevation grasslands of eastern South Africa: Ingula as a case study

Management factors affecting densities of common grassland birds of high elevation grasslands of eastern South Africa: Ingula as a case study

Effects of grazing and prescribed fire on resource selection and nest survival of upland sandpipers in an experimental landscape

Wild Herbivore Grazing Enhances Insect Diversity over Livestock Grazing in an African Grassland System

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