Lizards and landscapes: Integrating field surveys and interviews to assess the impact of human disturbance on lizard assemblages and selected reptiles in a savanna in South Africa

Biological Conservation

Volumn 122, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 23-31

  Smart, Rhett ^a   Whiting, Martin J ^a   Twine, Wayne ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

^b Wits Rural Facility   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Biodiversity; Disturbance; Ecosystems; Human impact; Lizards; Reptiles; Savanna; South Africa; Traditional medicine

Indexed keywords

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT; DISTURBANCE; ECOLOGICAL IMPACT; HUMAN ACTIVITY; LIZARD; SAVANNA; TRADITIONAL MEDICINE;

AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

REPTILIA; SQUAMATA;

EID: 4644219805     PISSN: 00063207     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2004.06.016     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. C.J. Bibby Selecting areas for conservation W.J. Sutherland Conservation Science and Action 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd Oxford
2. Branch, W.R. (Ed.) 1988. South African Red Data Book-Reptiles and Amphibians. South African Scientific Programmes Report (Report 151), CSIR, Pretoria
3. B. Branch Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa 1998 Struik Publishers Cape Town
4. T.J. Case, D.T. Bolger, and A.D. Richman Reptilian extinctions over the last ten thousand years P.L. Fiedler P.M. Kareiva Conservation Biology for the Coming Decade 1998 Chapman & Hall New York
5. B. Cousins Invisible capital: the contribution of communal rangelands to rural livelihoods in South Africa Development South Africa 16 1999 2
6. M.L. Crump, and N.J. Scott Jr. Visual encounter surveys W.R. Heyer M.A. Donnelly R.W. McDiarmid L.C. Hayek M.S. Foster Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity: Standard Methods for Amphibians 1994 Smithsonian Institution Press Washington 84 92
7. A.L. Downing, and M.A. Leibold Ecosystem consequences of species richness and composition in pond food webs Nature 416 2002 837 841
8. M.A. Du Plessis The effects of fuelwood removal on the diversity of some cavity-using birds and mammals in South Africa Biological Conservation 74 1995 77 82
9. P.R. Ehrlich The loss of diversity: causes and consequences E.O. Wilson Biodiversity 1988 National Academy Press Washington DC
10. C. Fabricus, M. Burger, and P.A.R. Hockey Comparing biodiversity between protected areas and adjacent rangeland in xeric succulent thicket, South Africa: arthropods and reptiles Journal of Applied Ecology 40 2003 392 403
11. Fisher, R.A., Corbet, A.S., Williams, C.B. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. Journal of Animal Ecology 12, 42-58
12. S.S. Germaine, and B.F. Wakeling Lizard species distributions and habitat occupation along an urban gradient in Tucson, Arizona, USA Biological Conservation 97 2001 229 237
13. R.E. Glor, A.S. Flecker, M.F. Benard, and A.G. Power Lizard diversity and agricultural disturbance in a Caribbean forest landscape Biodiversity and Conservation 10 2000 711 723
14. J.P. Grime Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation Nature 242 1973 344 347
15. J.A. Hodar, J.M. Pleguzuelos, and J.C. Poveda Habitat selection of the common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) (L.) in an area under development in southern Spain: implications for conservation Biological Conservation 94 2000 63 68
16. M.A. Huston Biological Diversity: The Coexistence of Species on Changing Landscapes 1994 Cambridge University Press Cambridge
17. C.J. Krebs Ecological Methodology 1989 Harper and Row New York
18. Lewis, S.N., 1997. Birds as Indicators of Biodiversity: a Study of Avifaunal Diversity and Composition in Two Contrasting Land-Use Types in the Eastern Transvaal Lowveld, South Africa. MSc Dissertation, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK)
19. J.M. Meik, R.M. Jeo, J.R. Mendelson III, and K.E. Jenks Effects of bush encroachment on an assemblage of diurnal lizard species in central Namibia Biological Conservation 106 2002 29 36
20. S.J. McNaughton Grazing lawns: animals in herds, plant form, and co-evolution American Naturalist 124 1984 863 886
21. J.A. McNeely How traditional agro-ecosystems can contribute to conserving biodiversity P. Halladay D.A. Gilmour Conserving Biodiversity Outside Protected Areas 1995 IUCN Gland, Switzerland
22. D.A.B. Parsons, C.M. Shackleton, and R.J. Scholes Changes in herbaceous layer condition under contrasting land use systems in the semi-arid lowveld, South Africa Journal of Arid Environments 37 1997 319 329
23. E.R. Pianka Ecology and Natural History of Desert Lizards 1986 Princeton University Press New Jersey
24. Pollard, S.R., Perez de Mendiguran, J.C., Joubert, A., Shackleton, C.M., Walker, P., Poulter, T., White, M.,. 1999. Save the Sand Phase 1. Feasibility Study: The Development of a Proposal for a Catchment Plan for the Sand River Catchment. Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs. Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), Wits Rural Facility, 378 pp
25. L. Prendini, L-J. Theron, K. van der Merwe, and N. Owen-Smith Abundance and guild structure of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) in a communally grazed and protected savanna South African Journal of Zoology 31 1996 120 130
26. D.J. Rapport, R. Costanza, and A.J. McMichael Assessing ecosystem health TREE 13 1998 397 402
27. J.L. Read Subhabitat variability: A key to the high reptile diversity in chenopod shrublands Australian Journal of Ecology 20 1995 494 501
28. L.T. Reaney, and MJ Whiting Picking a Tree: Habitat Use by the Tree Agama, Acanthocercus atricollis atricollis, in South Africa African Zoology 38 2003 273 278
29. Shackleton, C.M., 1998. Examining the basis for perceptions of communal land degradation: Lessons from the Central Lowveld. Communal Rangelands in Southern Africa: A Synthesis of Knowledge. In: Proceedings of a Symposium on Policy-making for the Sustainable Use of Southern African Communal Rangelands, pp. 196-207
30. C.M. Shackleton Comparison of plant diversity in protected and communal lands in the Bushbuckridge lowveld savanna, South Africa Biological Conservation 94 2000 273 285
31. C.M. Shackleton, N.J. Griffin, D.I. Banks, J.M. Mavrandonis, and S.M. Shackleton Community structure and species composition along a disturbance gradient in a communally managed South African Savanna Vegetation 115 1994 157 167
32. R. Shine, P.S. Harlow, and J.S. Keogh Commercial harvesting of giant lizards: the biology of water monitors Varanus salvator in southern Sumatra Biological Conservation 77 1996 125 134
33. R. Shine, Ambariyanto, P.S. Harlow, and Mumpuni Reticulated pythons in Sumatra: biology, harvesting and sustainability Biological Conservation 87 1999 349 357
34. T.S. Simelane, and G.I.H. Kerley Recognition of reptiles by Xhosa and Zulu communities in South Africa, with notes on traditional beliefs and uses African Journal of Herpetology 46 1997 49 53
35. L.J. Vitt, T.C.S. Avila-Pires, J.P. Caldwell, and V.R.L. Oliveira The Impact of individual tree harvesting on thermal environments of lizards in Amazonian rain forest Conservation Biology 12 1998 654 664
36. Webb, G.J.W., Manolis, C., Whitehead, P.J. (Eds.), 1987. Wildlife Management: Crocodiles and Alligators, Surrey
37. P.B. Whitaker, and R. Shine Sources of mortality of large elapid snakes in an agricultural landscape Journal of Herpetology 34 2000 121 128
38. E.O. Wilson Biodiversity 1988 National Academy Press Washington DC