Abstract: Resources that can optimize survival are distributed unevenly across landscapes. I assumed that the distribution of these resources is reflected by landscape heterogeneity and that selection for areas with relatively high heterogeneity reflects on selection for resources. I therefore hypothesized that landscape heterogeneity determines variability in elephant home range location and size. I evaluated home range sizes for elephants living in the Etosha National Park (n = 6), Khaudum...
Abstract: Understanding the extent and cause of small mammal diversity and movement in an area is one of the major challenges in modern ecology. Rodents are a very successful group forming the largest Order of mammals, but monitoring trends in populations remains complicated, especially when populations are influenced by changes in vegetation structure, seasonal climate fluctuations and different management practices. This project aims to determine the biodiversity of rodent populations in t...
Abstract: The southern elephant seal (SES), Mirounga leonina, was intensively harvested during the 18th and 19th centuries, though never reduced to the levels seen for the northern species (Mirounga angustirostris). Although a number of putative populations occurring within the species’ circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean have been genetically assessed, no data was previously available for the Marion Island population. This study integrates Marion Island into the broader databas...
Abstract: The near-threatened southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (A. Smith, 1831) is divided into two subspecies based on its disjunct distribution of two allopatric populations. This is despite reservations because its nature and extent of geographic variation remains virtually unknown. The present study, therefore, represents the first analysis of geographic variation within A. frontalis and is based on a multidisciplinary approach involving traditional and two-dimensional geome...
Abstract: Rehabilitation and revegetation of mined coastal sand dunes on the east coast of South Africa makes sense. It recovers ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. The outcome of rehabilitation, which covers a third of the mined area, is a secondary coastal dune forest similar to the forests in the region. The aim of revegetation, on the other hand, is to establish Casuarina equisetifolia J.R.Forst.&G.Forst. plantations on the remaining two thirds of the mined area, for the sma...
Abstract: White grub is the common name of most scarabaeid larvae and some are considered ! as grubs of economic importance to agricultural crops. Expansion of forestry into previous croplands has resulted in some pests of previous agricultural crops becoming important in forestry. Field trials planted over three seasons, determined the mortality factors influencing the establishment of commercial eucalypt and black wattle plantations in the Natal Midlands. White grubs had the highest pest s...
Abstract: The most important indigenous bee plant in South Africa is the winter flowering Aloe greatheadii var davyana, with a widespread distribution across the summer rainfall region. Beekeepers commonly move their hives to the "aloe fields" during winter, using the strong pollen and nectar flow for colony growth, queen rearing and honey production. In spite of its importance for the bee industry, no complete pollen analysis is available and, except for the popular bee literature, little i...
Abstract: Ecological restoration that aims to reinstate indigenous processes may be constrained by regional and local conditions, especially those that drive dispersal and colonisation. Local conditions can be managed, while regional conditions cannot. The management of costly rehabilitation programmes is considered best practice when scientifically informed. My thesis documents the responses of biological communities to a range of local conditions developing in coastal dune habitats in resp...
Abstract: Most elephants in South Africa live in enclosed areas such as the Tembe Elephant Park in Maputaland. The Park also protects sand forest. This can create a conflict of interest as elephants may influence species typical of these forests. To assess the effects that elephants may have for vegetation, I compare variables of similar plant communities inside and outside the Park. I then compared the space and landscape utilization of elephants living in the Park with those of free-rangin...
Abstract: The pupal cocoons of two southern African wild silkmoth species, Gonometa postica and G. rufobrunnea (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), are composed of high quality silk and have potential as a commercially viable resource. However, limited ecological research has been done on these species, and their population dynamics is especially poorly known. A steady and predictable supply of cocoons is paramount to the economic sustainability of a wild silk industry. There is thus an urgent need...
Description: Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007.
Abstract: No abstract available.
Abstract: The savanna elephant is a flagship species for conservation in Maputaland, a biologically diverse centre of endemism. At present Maputaland’s elephants are fragmented into two sub-populations, those confined to the Tembe Elephant Park (TEP) and those roaming across the Maputo Elephant Reserve (MER) and along the Futi Corridor. Fragmentation may have affected the sub-populations by skewing age and sex ratios, decreasing survival, isolating the sub-populations, and restricting land...
Abstract: The Hersiliidae of the Afrotropical Region is revised and the phylogenetic positions of taxa within the family cladistically analysed. The following genera have been newly erected: Tyrotama gen. nov. for Tama arida and seven additional species, and Prima gen. nov. for P. ansieae spec. nov. and one additional species. The genera Murricia Simon and Neotama Baehr&Baehr are recorded for the first time from the Afrotropical Region. All valid species are redescribed. The following 20 spe...
Abstract: Elephant management traditionally centers on reducing ecological impact and human-elephant conflict by controlling numbers. However, such an approach only deals with symptoms, and ignores the causes of the problem. Planning for cases when a species is a nuisance in some areas, but threatened in others, could benefit from the application of metapopulation theory. The theory offers a framework that is elegant, and have ecological as well as political appeal. Applying classic metapopu...