African Journal of Ecology最新文献

In this paper, we explore spider diversity and the effects of habitat types on spider distribution in the three different types of habitats in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This serves as an invaluable tool for biodiversity assessment while documenting the presence of spiders taxa across different habitats in the selected study areas. Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in Langeni forest, Kambi forest and Silaka Nature reserve. Two of these sites are situated in Mthatha and one in Port St Johns. A total of 12 families represented by 19 genera and 43 species/morphospecies were recorded. Habitat type did not significantly influence spider abundance. This present study provides an important insight into the composition and relative abundance of epigeic spiders in the a priori selected study sites. Even though the analysis of the sampling effort points the low species richness to under sampling, the dataset provides an indication of the families and guilds present in the studied forests during the period of study. The results also indicate that local habitat conditions may have an influence on the spider community structure. These data contribute to the growing knowledge of South African arachnology knowledge but due to limitations associated with the sampling, the data should be viewed as preliminary.

Armed conflicts and humanitarian crises across Africa generate profound yet understudied ecological consequences, reshaping ecosystems through complex processes of degradation and regeneration. This review synthesises evidence from across the continent to examine how warfare, displacement, and refugee settlements alter land use, biodiversity, and conservation outcomes. Conflicts weaken governance, disrupt protected area management, and enable illegal logging, mining, poaching, and unsustainable resource extraction, driving deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and wildlife decline. Refugee settlements, often located near ecologically sensitive areas, intensify pressures on forests, water, and arable land through high demand for fuelwood, food, and construction materials. Quantitative studies, including standardised biodiversity surveys in northern Uganda, reveal striking declines in amphibian, reptile, and plant diversity in refugee-impacted areas compared to nearby controls. Moreover, empirical evidence from Central and East Africa documents sharp increases in bushmeat trade and consumption during and after periods of armed instability. Yet conflict can also produce paradoxical positive effects, where human abandonment allows vegetation recovery and wildlife resurgence, as documented in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park and other war-affected landscapes. These contrasting dynamics highlight the dual role of conflict as both a driver of ecological collapse and a catalyst for ecosystem resilience. Integrating social science, ecology, and conflict studies is essential to develop conservation strategies that address both human welfare and biodiversity protection. By framing conflict and displacement as intertwined socio-ecological processes, our study highlights the urgent need for interdisciplinary approaches to manage Africa's vulnerable ecosystems under conditions of chronic instability.

This study investigated the foraging behaviours, host species utilisation, and spatial attachment preferences of Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) and Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus) in Salambala Conservancy, northeastern Namibia, from May to September 2023. A total of 1252 potential host animals were observed, including African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), cattle (Bos taurus), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), and plains zebra (Equus quagga). Oxpecker-host interactions were recorded for 234 Red-billed Oxpecker and 69 Yellow-billed Oxpecker. Red-billed Oxpecker primarily exhibited perching and tick-feeding behaviours, particularly on buffalo and cattle, while Yellow-billed Oxpecker showed a stronger reliance on tick-feeding, especially on buffalo. Other feeding behaviours, such as the consumption of ear wax, mucus, and saliva, were mainly recorded on giraffe, suggesting resource diversification strategies. Host rejection and tolerance behaviours also differed among species, with buffalo and giraffe demonstrating higher tolerance levels compared to cattle and zebra, which exhibited elevated rejection responses. Oxpecker attachment patterns differed across host species and body regions. Preferred foraging regions included the back, head, and anogenital areas that are typically difficult for hosts to self-groom. These findings provide dry-season baseline data on oxpecker-host interactions in a mixed-use conservancy landscape and highlight behavioural flexibility in response to host species and tolerance. Interpretation of interspecific differences, particularly for Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, should be viewed as preliminary due to uneven sampling across hosts.

Effective conservation management of a complex ecosystem like the Serengeti can benefit from a systems-wide approach to interactions between functional groups. This study presents a food web model of the Serengeti based on generalised Lotka–Volterra equations parameterised using data from the literature. The internal equilibrium point is shown to be locally stable with a return time of 2.3 years. Global stability of the system is confirmed through permanence analysis, and the results were qualitatively robust to assumptions regarding consumers' functional response. Analysis of indirect effects following ‘press’ perturbations reveals that increasing a consumer's density raises resource density in about 30% of cases, while increasing a resource's density reduces the densities of consumers in a similar proportion of instances. This indicates the risks of assuming that the effect of a change in the density of one species on another is accurately reflected by the sign of any direct effect between them. Indeterminacy analysis shows the signs of these net effects in the Serengeti to be highly determinate; therefore, these conclusions are likely robust despite moderate levels of uncertainty in the quantified direct interactions. Future applications of this model could include exploring the impacts of burning or livestock grazing on the vegetation's ability to sustain the broader ecosystem.

In arid and semi-arid environments, many species use underground burrows for thermoregulation, reproduction, and to reduce predation risk. In Botswana, Temminck's ground pangolins (Smutsia temminckii) shelter in burrows during the day, and burrow density is thought to be a key indicator of habitat suitability for these animals. Pangolins are threatened by illegal trade and overexploitation, and individuals confiscated from the trade should be released in areas where they have the greatest chance of survival. To assist with the identification of suitable release sites, we quantified habitat-specific burrow density and determined the effects of body size and sex on burrow selection. Burrow surveys were conducted in three sites, with detailed pangolin burrow selection data collected in two of those sites, in different landscapes in northern Botswana. Ten pangolins were fitted with telemetry transmitters between June 2022 and February 2024. Results indicate that habitat type was a stronger predictor of burrow density than soil type, with burrow density being higher in open than in woody habitats. Adult and female pangolins selected burrows with larger entrance diameters than sub-adult and male individuals, respectively. Burrows in shrubland and tree savanna habitats were preferred, dry floodplains were avoided, and burrows in grassland and riparian woodland habitats were utilised in proportion to their availability; these selection patterns were not affected by body size, sex, or origin. The limited sample size, short study duration, and high rate of transmitter loss limit generalisation of results to the broader pangolin population, but the results indicate that suitable release sites for confiscated pangolins in Botswana may be in shrubland and tree savanna habitats.

Large herbivore spatial ecology is shaped by the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of biotic and abiotic factors. This study investigated space use and habitat selection of sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) in the Marromeu Complex of central Mozambique, which supports one of the largest populations in Africa. Telemetry-based data were collected from three adult females over 3 years (2018–2020) to estimate annual and seasonal variations in home range size and habitat use. Annual home ranges were small (11–20 km²), representing some of the smallest recorded sizes across Africa to date, which is likely explained by the high population density and resource availability. While no distinct seasonal differences were recorded in home range sizes, home range overlap was smaller during the dry season, suggesting a more patchy distribution of resource availability. Habitat use varied across years and seasons, with sable antelope generally showing a preference for grassland, flooded grassland and shrubland vegetation. These patterns demonstrate the value of incorporating spatio-temporal variability into better understanding species movement ecology, which may contribute toward species-specific conservation strategies. This study also provides important insights into the spatial dynamics of a recovering, post-war sable antelope population, which is of both national and international importance.