Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10566/13184

Browse

Browsing by Subject "Biology"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Conservation and resource-use relations: Analysis for protected area expansion feasibility in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Dyssel, Michael; Knight, Richard
    It is assumed that expanding the size and/or number of protected and conservation areas can contribute to more effective conservation, ecosystem services and environmental protection. Expansion is normally a response to continuous environmental threats and subsequent needs to enhance the protection and conservation of valuable biodiversity, geodiversity and heritage assets. Targets for global, regional and country-based protected area expansion are set and driven by conservation authorities across different geographical scales – from the global International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to the local-level protected area.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Snake community structure in a heterogeneous fynbos ecosystem
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Cloete, Bryan Nathan; Maritz, Bryan
    Snakes occur in most terrestrial ecosystems, forming an integral part of many ecological communities. A diverse community of snakes in an ecosystem can indicate a complex habitat structure capable of supporting a diverse assemblage of faunal species. I utilised multiple non-invasive and non-lethal trapping methods to quantify diversity metrics for the snake community occurring in a heterogeneous fynbos ecosystem within the Koeberg Private Nature Reserve (KPNR) over one-year period. Additionally, I sampled the species richness and abundance of snake predators and prey within the reserve and tested the hypothesis that the snake community was impacted by the abundance and diversity of snake predators and prey. I performed several statistical analyses to identify the factors that influence the snake community structure observed in KPNR.