Browsing by Author "Barends, Jody Michael"

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    Autecology of the rhombic egg-eater, Dasypeltis scabra
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Barends, Jody Michael; Maritz, Bryan
    Efforts to prevent global losses of biodiversity are hindered by incomplete knowledge of the functional importance of species. In part, this is due to a paucity of information on the basic biology of most species resulting in a poor understanding of their ecological roles. Snakes represent a speciose group of carnivorous predators that are likely important ecological components of a variety of environments given their roles in modulating the sizes of the populations of their prey. Unfortunately, the ecological importance of most species of snakes has yet to be empirically demonstrated, particularly in native systems.
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    Predicting reptile species distributions and biogeographic patterns within Kruger National Park
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Barends, Jody Michael; Maritz, Bryan
    Knowledge of global reptile ecology is limited and there remains much to understand in terms of detailed reptile species information, including that of their distributions. In South Africa, despite being one of SANParks best-studied reserves, surprisingly little is known about the distributions and spatial ecology of reptiles within Kruger National Park (KNP). Management within KNP follows a strategic adaptive management strategy which monitors the statuses of animals using species or group specific indicators. Indicators are given predetermined upper and lower ranges of acceptable fluctuation before actions are taken. These ranges are referred to as thresholds of potential concern (TPCs), and for reptiles these are based on changes to their distributions across the landscape of KNP. An apparent lack of high-quality reptile distribution data inhibits the effective monitoring of the statuses of these animals within KNP, which in turn limits management and conservation options. In this study, I use several methods to quantify available reptile occurrence data which formed the foundations for predicting the distributions of these species across KNP by means of species distribution modelling, with a view to gaining novel insight into reptile assemblage structure across the landscape of KNP.