The Effect of Multi-Use Landscapes on Mammal Assemblages and Its Implication for Conservation

Abstract

It has become clear that state-owned protected areas (PAs) are insufficient in preserving the world’s spatially heterogenous biodiversity. Private land conservation could contribute significantly to national conservation goals, without further burdening state resources. In South Africa, legislation has been introduced to incentivise private landowners to contribute to national biodiversity goals. In this study, we used camera trap arrays and hierarchical multi-species occupancy modelling to evaluate the impact of land-use on mammal (body mass >0.5 kg) diversity in the drylands of South Africa. Four hundred and fifty-one camera traps were deployed across a statutory PA, private PA and a neighbouring group of farmlands, covering ~2096 km2. Although trophic species richness were similar across all three land-uses, occurrence and detection probabilities of larger (>20 kg) species were low in the farmlands and highest in the private PA. In contrast, smaller species had higher occurrence probabilities in the farmlands, where large predators and megaherbivores have been extirpated. Differences in species-specific occurrence probabilities were primarily driven by land-use context, as opposed to fine-scale habitat attributes. These results highlight how a land-use matrix incorporating statutory PAs, private PAs and well-managed rangelands can benefit wildlife conservation, as long as these land-uses are included in carefully developed regional conservation planning.

Terrestrial vertebrate fauna in a multifunctional landscape in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

“…This variation in species composition results from the differences in vegetation structure, canopy height, and plant density that affect the available microhabitats, microclimatic conditions, and resources (Terán-Juárez et al 2021;Thiel et al 2021;Bitani et al 2023). Variation in species composition in areas with multiple habitat types and along disturbance gradients had also been observed for herpetofauna (Gojo Cruz et al 2016Sanguila et al 2020;Supsup et al 2020); birds (Amoroso et al 2018;Pabico et al 2020;Duco et al 2021), and mammals (Rickart et al 2021;Woodgate et al 2023). In this study, endemic species are often encountered within forested areas, along forest edges, and less disturbed sites.…”

Small-livestock farmers’ perceived effectiveness of predation control methods and the correlates of reported illegal poison use in the South African Karoo

“…That poison use was negatively associated with TRI seems somewhat counter-intuitive as jackals on Karoo farmlands have been shown to prefer rugged and mountainous areas (Drouilly et al 2018a ; Woodgate et al 2023 ), which was not the case on various protected areas in the Karoo, where jackals favor flat plains and lower elevations. In addition, livestock predation has been shown to be positively associated with TRI (Nattrass et al 2020a ).…”