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Assessing biodiversity integrity for the conservation of grazed and burnt grassland systems: avian field metabolic rates as a rapid assessment tool

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Abstract

The South African grassland system is home to over 3,300 plant species, 15 of the country’s 34 endemic mammal species, 12 of the 40 endemic bird species (four of which are globally threatened) and five RAMSAR wetland sites. To assess and address the ecological integrity of farmed grasslands we used process-oriented techniques, including nesting success and field metabolic rates (FMR) of birds, and an adaptation of the multi-taxon biodiversity intactness index (BII) using plant, arthropod and bird diversity data which is a comprehensive tool for assessing ecological integrity using multiple taxonomic groups. Current pastoral management practices have a significant detrimental effect on avian abundance, species richness, nest density and fledgling output. Overall energy turnover and BII values confirm the importance of conserved areas for birds in moist highland grassland systems and support the need for further conservation efforts in grassland systems by both private landowners and reserve managers. Findings based on both avian FMRs and the BII in this study were found to be comparable, lending support to the use of FMR as a rapid assessment technique for assessing ecosystem integrity for future studies of this nature. Scenarios of potential biodiversity improvement with changes in fire management regimes are also presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Balongile Bhengu and her staff at Verloren Valei Nature Reserve for her support and assistance with historical data. To the farm managers and owners, Thys, the Grobelaars, Bafana and Job of Sakhelwe and Roger Croall, thanks for allowing the research to be conducted on their land and hopefully it can assist in your future decision making. To Luciano Makaka, Maxwell Boakye, Thabo Mabuza, Thomas Birch, Jessica da Silva, Grant Cannon and the others who assisted in the field, if not only for the company, thanks for the help. My gratitude also goes to all the others who have helped along the way from Dullstroom weather station (Charl Strydom) to the people of Dullstroom, Colin Everson for the data he provided, Thomas Birch for computer assistance. For financial support we would like to thank the funders SANBI (John Donaldson), the Rufford Small Grant Foundation, the National Research Foundation of South Africa, Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Cape Town.

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  1. Ian T. Little

    Present address: Endangered Wildlife Trust, Building K2, Ardeer Road, Pinelands Office Park Modderfontein, Johannesburg, 1645, South Africa

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa

    Ian T. Little

  2. Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, South Africa

    Philip A. R. Hockey & Raymond Jansen

  3. 3 Sangster Road, Howick, 3290, South Africa

    Ian T. Little

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  1. Ian T. Little
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Correspondence to Ian T. Little.

Additional information

Communicated by Adeline Loyau.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 10.

Table 10 Average abundance of bird species counted per 7.5 ha for each of the management types. Species are divided into functional feeding guilds
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Appendix 2

See Table 11.

Table 11 Bird species included in the functional guild analyses, along with their average body masses
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Little, I.T., Hockey, P.A.R. & Jansen, R. Assessing biodiversity integrity for the conservation of grazed and burnt grassland systems: avian field metabolic rates as a rapid assessment tool. Biodivers Conserv 24, 1443–1471 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0868-x

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