Evaluation of Afforestable Montane Grasslands for Wildlife Conservation in the North-Eastern Cape, South Africa. Part 1. Methods

Armstrong, Adrian J.; Hensbergen, H. J. van; Geertsema, H.

doi:10.1080/00382167.1994.9629845

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Studies of the effects of conversion of South African shrubland to pine plantations (Armstrong & van Hensbergen, 1994;Armstrong et al, 1996) have demonstrated changes in bird, insect and plant assemblages. These changes reflected the change in vegetation structure from shrubland to woodland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian assemblages in native Acacia and alien Prosopis drainage line woodland in the Kalahari, South Africa

Dean

Anderson²,

Milton

et al. 2002

Journal of Arid Environments

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian assemblages in native Acacia and alien Prosopis drainage line woodland in the Kalahari, South Africa

Dean

Anderson²,

Milton

et al. 2002

Journal of Arid Environments

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“…Eighteen flora sampling sites were selected. Sampling was carried out between January and February 2011 (Armstrong, van Hensbergen & Geertsema ), through a fixed‐grid sampling design, where sampling is taken at fixed intervals along a determined gradient (Whalley & Hardy ). This design is relatively easy to perform in the field and has been shown to obtain data rapidly on species distribution and abundance within a study area (Tucker et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). Within this design, we used point intercept line transects, as this method has been shown as relevant and insightful for biodiversity studies in these grasslands (Everson & Clarke ; Armstrong, van Hensbergen & Geertsema ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the mesofilter concept has not to date received much attention as an operational scale in conservation planning. Many studies have shown certain habitat elements or landscape features to be important indicators of diversity, emphasizing that conservation of these elements leads to protection of a diversity of species (Armstrong, van Hensbergen & Geertsema ; Armstrong & van Hensbergen ; Wessels, Freitag & van Jaarsveld ; Hewitt et al . ; Overton, Schmitz & Casazza ; Barton et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In South African montane grasslands, Armstrong, van Hensbergen & Geertsema () provided some evidence that rockier landscapes had higher plant and butterfly species richness. Here, we assess the value of mesofilters for conservation planning by looking at this rocky mesofilter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the mesofilter as a novel operational scale in conservation planning

Crous

Samways

Pryke

2012

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary1. Increased emphasis is being placed on developing effective biodiversity conservation tools for practical conservation planning. The mesofilter is such a biodiversity planning tool, but has yet to be fully explored to appreciate its effectiveness. The key premise of the mesofilter is that ecosystems contain certain physical elements that are specifically associated with a diversity of species. Identifying such mesofilters could therefore complement existing conservation planning tools such as coarse and fine filters. 2. To explore the value of the mesofilter as an operational scale in conservation planning, we studied 18 remnant patches of endangered montane grassland in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using the physical landscape feature of patch rockiness as an abiotic surrogate for biodiversity. The objective was to determine whether the mesofilter of rockiness can predict variation in species richness and composition for three dominant grassland taxa (plants, butterflies and grasshoppers) at the landscape scale. 3. Variable levels of rockiness had significant interactions with all three focal taxa. Higher species richness of all taxa was closely associated with higher levels of rockiness in a patch. The rocky mesofilter only predicted significant differences in species composition for butterflies. Elevation was also important, possibly another mesofilter for plants and grasshoppers in this landscape. 4. Synthesis and applications. The results indicate that the use of an abiotic surrogate such as rockiness can predict biodiversity value across multiple taxa. The mesofilter is therefore a valuable surrogacy and congruency tool for practical biodiversity conservation across this landscape and would likely have similar value if explored elsewhere. It also has value in the design and management of protected areas.

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Conflicts between conservation goals and land use for exotic forest plantations in South Africa

Stewart

Joubert

1998

Multicriteria Analysis for Land-Use Management

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Evaluation of Afforestable Montane Grasslands for Wildlife Conservation in the North-Eastern Cape, South Africa. Part 1. Methods

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

Avian assemblages in native Acacia and alien Prosopis drainage line woodland in the Kalahari, South Africa

Avian assemblages in native Acacia and alien Prosopis drainage line woodland in the Kalahari, South Africa

Exploring the mesofilter as a novel operational scale in conservation planning

Conflicts between conservation goals and land use for exotic forest plantations in South Africa

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