Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa

The rapid extinction of species over the past few decades has created a biodiversity crisis. Factors contributing to recent extirpations are linked to increased human population growth, habitat loss and fragmentation, and over-exploitation of wildlife. Only decisive, effective action to combat biodi...

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Autores principales:	Thulani Tshabalala, Jeannine McManus, Adrian Treves, Vusani Masocha, Steve Faulconbridge, Matthew Schurch, Stefan Goets, Bool Smuts
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Biodiversity Camera-traps Conservation Indicator species Predators Mesopredator Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0ddd09c052e041f9a1be894f696ddd4c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0ddd09c052e041f9a1be894f696ddd4c2021-12-01T04:38:40ZLeopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107201https://doaj.org/article/0ddd09c052e041f9a1be894f696ddd4c2021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X20311407https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XThe rapid extinction of species over the past few decades has created a biodiversity crisis. Factors contributing to recent extirpations are linked to increased human population growth, habitat loss and fragmentation, and over-exploitation of wildlife. Only decisive, effective action to combat biodiversity loss can reverse these trends. The use of indicator species as surrogates for biodiversity provides a way to identify areas with high biodiversity so that conservation efforts can be accelerated and supported in those areas. Predators are considered important indicators of healthy, biodiverse ecosystems due to their high trophic level and their direct and indirect interaction with other species. Using camera trap data from 221 cameras set across five vegetation types and five land use zones in South Africa, we evaluated carnivores as potential surrogates for biodiversity. We used the leopard (Panthera pardus), and three meso-predators: caracal (Caracal caracal), honey badger (Mellivora capensis), and black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), as candidate indicator species. We used mammals captured at the camera traps as a measure of biodiversity referred to as mammalian species richness. The mammalian species richness was highest in the Orange River Nama Karoo vegetation type and in privately owned game reserves. We found that predator sightings were associated with significantly higher mammalian species richness which increased with increasing number of predator species. These findings suggest that the surrogate species concept can be applied to leopard and meso-predators.Thulani TshabalalaJeannine McManusAdrian TrevesVusani MasochaSteve FaulconbridgeMatthew SchurchStefan GoetsBool SmutsElsevierarticleBiodiversityCamera-trapsConservationIndicator speciesPredatorsMesopredatorEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 121, Iss , Pp 107201- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Biodiversity Camera-traps Conservation Indicator species Predators Mesopredator Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Biodiversity Camera-traps Conservation Indicator species Predators Mesopredator Ecology QH540-549.5 Thulani Tshabalala Jeannine McManus Adrian Treves Vusani Masocha Steve Faulconbridge Matthew Schurch Stefan Goets Bool Smuts Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
description	The rapid extinction of species over the past few decades has created a biodiversity crisis. Factors contributing to recent extirpations are linked to increased human population growth, habitat loss and fragmentation, and over-exploitation of wildlife. Only decisive, effective action to combat biodiversity loss can reverse these trends. The use of indicator species as surrogates for biodiversity provides a way to identify areas with high biodiversity so that conservation efforts can be accelerated and supported in those areas. Predators are considered important indicators of healthy, biodiverse ecosystems due to their high trophic level and their direct and indirect interaction with other species. Using camera trap data from 221 cameras set across five vegetation types and five land use zones in South Africa, we evaluated carnivores as potential surrogates for biodiversity. We used the leopard (Panthera pardus), and three meso-predators: caracal (Caracal caracal), honey badger (Mellivora capensis), and black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), as candidate indicator species. We used mammals captured at the camera traps as a measure of biodiversity referred to as mammalian species richness. The mammalian species richness was highest in the Orange River Nama Karoo vegetation type and in privately owned game reserves. We found that predator sightings were associated with significantly higher mammalian species richness which increased with increasing number of predator species. These findings suggest that the surrogate species concept can be applied to leopard and meso-predators.
format	article
author	Thulani Tshabalala Jeannine McManus Adrian Treves Vusani Masocha Steve Faulconbridge Matthew Schurch Stefan Goets Bool Smuts
author_facet	Thulani Tshabalala Jeannine McManus Adrian Treves Vusani Masocha Steve Faulconbridge Matthew Schurch Stefan Goets Bool Smuts
author_sort	Thulani Tshabalala
title	Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
title_short	Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
title_full	Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
title_fullStr	Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa
title_sort	leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of south africa
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/0ddd09c052e041f9a1be894f696ddd4c
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Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa

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