Tropical rainforests harbor a significant portion of the world's remaining biodiversity. Having undergone rapid changes in forest cover over the last two decades, a large amount of irreplaceable biodiversity has been lost. The establishment of protected areas has been a key strategy to hinder the loss of tropical forests and biodiversity. However, the effectiveness of designating protected areas has been called into question, particularly in regions such as tropical Africa where widespread conditions of poverty, rapid population growth and political instability are evident. Quantitative measurements of park effectiveness for forest conservation are urgently needed, however accurate inferences concerning park effectiveness across broad regions is difficult. Whilst remote sensing techniques have been proposed as a practical solution, the intensity of data processing has made it untenable until recently. Here, I use remote-sensing methods to analyze high-resolution satellite imagery of tropical forest loss (as a proxy for tropical deforestation) within and outside 224 parks across 23 countries in Africa. I compare the extent of tropical forest loss inside parks to outside of them to show that the majority of African parks in the Subtropical and Tropical Moist Broadleaf forest biome are effective in curbing forest loss within park boundaries. However, certain parks were more effective in forest conservation than others. Whilst smaller parks were less effective at preventing forest loss inside park boundaries than larger parks, older parks were less effective than younger parks. Furthermore, parks of varying IUCN management categories exhibited negligible differences in forest loss between one another. Lastly, significant geographical variations in park effectiveness existed: West African parks exhibited the most forest loss within park boundaries and Central African parks exhibited the least. My results demonstrate the complexity of factors which influence a park's ability to curb forest loss within its boundaries. Furthermore, this study is the first bioregional-wide assessment of park effectiveness using remote sensing. These results supplement scarce literature on tropical deforestation in Africa and demonstrate the potential of using remote satellite imagery for measuring the relative impact of park establishment on forest conservation in this region.

Habitat fragmentation has been identified as a major cause of pollination mutualism collapse that can eventually impinge on plants' reproductive success (e.g. through pollen-limitation). Agriculture, timber plantations, invasion by alien trees and the urbanisation of the southern Cape lowlands have transformed and fragmented large parts of the former distribution range of many Erica species. Recent evidence suggests that in the Fynbos biome, small remnants of natural and disturbed vegetation are likely to display depauperate plant communities. In the present study, it was found that Erica species richness declined significantly as patch size decreased. Limited nectar resources available on those small 'islands' might not be enough to attract essential bird and insect pollinators. Insect-pollinated species were more impacted by reduced patch size than the bird-pollinated ones. Further investigation using Erica discolor showed that for this widespread ornithophilous species, pollination mutualism still occurred in smaller fynbos patches. These findings stressed the importance of conserving small fragments for maintaining remnant plant populations, which can act as reliable food sources for avian pollinators. In addition, to cope with the effects of pollen limitation, highly resilient plant species have evolved and adopted different compensatory mechanisms. From a short-term perspective, adopting compensatory reproductive strategies (e.g. autonomous self-pollination, vegetative growth, and generalised pollination systems) could reduce dependence on specific pollinators and increase the chances of a species being able to persist through a period of low-pollinator abundance. The prevalence of autogamy and geitonogamy as alternatives to xenogamy was assessed in six different obligate seeder Erica species in the eastern coastal part of the Cape Floristic Region. Despite the long history of plantation-based timber production that fragmented the study area, and the subsequent possible pollinator loss, none of the species analysed in this study have adopted autonomous self-fertilisation as a response mechanism. Erica sessiliflora was the only species that showed a high compatibility for self-pollen. The species under investigation in a breeding system conducted here were also incapable of vegetative propagation and were plants targeting specific animal taxa (e.g. birds or insects) for successful pollination. Having limited compensatory mechanisms, further degradation of their habitat and weakening of their ecological interactions could be extremely detrimental to these Erica species' reproductive success.

Includes bibliographical references. / The West African coastline has become a "hotspot" for oil production, and 17 oil exploration blocks have been designated off the Liberian coast. Liberia's 579 km coastal zone supports almost 60% of the country's human population and is endowed with natural resources of both biological and socioeconomic significance, leading to the potential for conflict between oil production, existing human activities and biodiversity. The aim of this study was to establish the level of dependency of coastal rural households of Liberia on the natural resources of the marine and coastal environment, and to assess the relationship between coastal people, biodiversity conservation and the oil industry of Liberia with an overall goal of contributing to biodiversity conservation efforts in Liberia. Fieldwork was conducted from 19 September to 10 December 2011. Two aspects were assessed. A biological component focused on the biodiversity of the marine and coastal environments, and a socioeconomic component, which focused on natural resource utilization by, and the socio-cultural environment of, the coastal inhabitants of Liberia. A comprehensive review of published information was used to assess the vulnerability of the biotic and abiotic components of the coastal and marine environment to oil spills. Household surveys were conducted to assess the dependency of rural households on renewable coastal and marine resources and consequently, the potential threats to their livelihoods in the event of an oil spill. The surveys (N=316) were conducted in seven coastal counties adjacent to ten of the offshore oil exploration blocks that have been contracted for oil exploration activities. The coastline was divided into three regions with a total of 316 households surveyed: Western (N=76), Central (74) and Eastern (166). Average household size (N=10) was similar in all regions. The coastal zone of Liberia comprises sensitive environments including estuaries, coastal lagoons, mangroves, sandy beaches and rocky shores, all of which are vulnerable to oil pollution to varying degrees. Mangroves, estuaries and coastal lagoons are important spawning, roosting and breeding sites for fish and other wildlife, whereas sandy beaches are used for recreation and serve as breeding grounds for five species of marine turtles. Coastal inhabitants rely heavily on the utilization of coastal and marine resources for their livelihoods and income. Fishing was most important, contributing 70% of income across all households, followed by farming (19%) and mangrove harvesting (8%). The remaining income was derived from hunting, petty trading, gathering of wild resources and sand mining. The number of households engaged in fishing and non-fishing activities differed between the three regions. There was more fishing in some regions than others. The Eastern Region constituted the greatest (87%) proportion of fishing households and derived the highest monthly proportional income from all livelihood activities. The Western Region constituted the highest (71%) proportion of farming households by region and derived the lowest monthly income among the regions. Fishing and several other sources of income might be lost in the event of a large oil spill, increasing poverty and food insecurity in the region. There is urgent need for the development of an oil spill contingency plan and a waste management plan for the oil industry. Local inhabitants also need to be trained so that they can respond to minor spills and related forms of pollution.

By understanding when white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are likely to be at certain popular beaches, it is possible to predict when the risk of overlap between water users and white sharks is highest, and to convey this information to the public so they can make informed decisions about using these areas. Previous studies have shown that white shark presence near popular recreational beaches in False Bay, South Africa, is influenced by a range of environmental variables. These studies have relied on land-based observers (shark observers), whose ability to detect sharks is subject to the depth at which the sharks swim and a suite of environmental conditions that influence water visibility, including cloud cover, wind speed and ambient light levels. In this study, I use passive acoustic telemetry on 56 tagged white sharks to determine whether the same or other environmental variables explain variation in white shark presence at the same beaches. A total of 13 803 and 1 481 white shark detections were recorded between April 2005 and December 2007 at Muizenberg and Fish Hoek beaches, respectively. This represented 32 and 16 individual white sharks with a median number of 32.5 (range 5.5 – 57.8) and 7 (range 4 – 14.8) detections per shark at Muizenberg and Fish Hoek beach, respectively. The low number of detections at Fish Hoek resulted in the data being highly zero-inflated with the result that the subsequent modelling of the data with environmental covariates did not converge, and hence I focused solely on Muizenberg beach. The probability of detecting a white shark at Muizenberg beach was modelled using binomial generalised additive mixed models (GAMMs) with water temperature, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, lunar phase, tide height, barometric pressure, year, season and time of day as predictor variables. Water temperature was a significant predictor of white sharks at Muizenberg beach during summer, autumn and winter while wind speed, time of day and barometric pressure were significant predictors of shark presence during the summer and autumn months. There was significant inter-annual variability in white shark detections and a strong seasonal relationship, with presence being highest during spring and lowest during winter. Encouragingly, the findings from this study support some of the key findings of previous studies using observational data, including the significant positive effects of increasing temperature, year, season and time of day.

Vulture populations in many parts of the world continue to decline owing to numerous threats, such as lack of adequate food sources, poisoning and collisions with power-lines. Worldwide, supplementary feeding sites (hereafter, vulture restaurants) have been used as a conservation tool aimed at supporting vulture populations. However, in many parts of the world there is little scientific evidence about their effectiveness in aiding vulture populations. Here, I assessed the relationship between chick condition (African White-backed Vultures) and breeding success (Cape Vultures/African White-backed Vultures) in relation to a variety of variables which described levels of access to vulture restaurants. My data suggest the potential of vulture restaurants to increase breeding success in vulture populations. Breeding success generally increased for nests closer to vulture restaurants. There was a significant positive correlation between African White-backed Vulture breeding success and proximity to vulture restaurants (p< 0.05), but little evidence to support such a relationship for Cape Vultures (p> 0.05). Nestling body condition of African White-backed Vultures was also not influenced by proximity to vulture restaurants (p> 0.05). Findings of this study provide motivation on the use of vulture restaurants as a conservation strategy across southern Africa. The current study informs future conservation efforts on the use of vulture restaurants across the region, particularly in countries where a network of vulture restaurants is still being established.

Characterisation of the diet of pelagic feeders can be regarded as key to development of ecosystem-based management plans, conservation of predators as well as understanding of ecological and trophic interactions. Therefore, long term studies on dietary changes provide insights into the nature of competition and overlap between seabirds and fisheries. The Cape Cormorant Phalacrocorax capensis breeds in the Benguela upwelling region of southern Africa. Its population has decreased by over 50% in the three most recent generations resulting in the species being listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red Data List. Its decline has previously been postulated to result from reduced prey availability. In this thesis, I examined and reported on the spatio-temporal distribution of Cape cormorant diet obtained from different colonies over two decades (1988 – 1997 and 1998 – 2007). I further investigated the extent of overlap between the diet composition and sizes of fish eaten by Cape Cormorants and those caught by the purse-seine fishery. Epipelagic fish (Anchovy, Sardine, Horse Mackerel and Redeye) dominated the diet of Cape cormorants at all sites. Anchovy was the most important in the diet in all years except in 1992 and 1993, when Sardine dominated the diet, and in 2007 when ‘other’ fish species (mainly Cape Silverside Atherina breviceps and Southern Mullet Chelon richardsonii) became the most frequently eaten fish. There were decadal variations in the relative numerical abundance of different prey species. Over both decades investigated, the diet was largely dominated by Anchovy and Sardine, with Horse Mackerel contributing more in the second than first decade. There was, however, an increase in the contribution of Anchovy relative to Sardine from the first decade to the second. At all colonies, Cape Cormorants mostly preyed on Anchovies of sizes between 5 and 11cm. Sardines eaten were larger than Anchovies (mostly 11 – 23 cm), with a bimodal distribution in the first decade. However, the few Sardine eaten in the second decade were smaller (4 – 7 cm) perhaps reflecting the length of fish available. There was an overlap in the distribution of fish sizes caught by the fishery and those found in the diet of Cape Cormorants especially in the first decade. However, increased sampling of Cape Cormorant diet is required to more fully understand the extent of competition and overlap with fisheries.

Large carnivores require expansive habitat to meet their life history needs making them vulnerable to the loss and fragmentation of natural habitat. This, in addition to human persecution has led to substantial population and range reductions of most of the world’s large carnivores over the past century. Cheetahs are no exception, occupying only 12% of their historic range in South Africa. Reintroduction programs have attempted to re-establish cheetahs to parts of this historic range, and increasingly the potential exists for their conservation in smaller fenced game reserves. However, this requires managers to maintain demographic and genetic diversity. In 2011, the Endangered Wildlife Trust initiated a project which coordinates movements between reserves using a metapopulation framework. This coordinated management approach is still in its infancy and little data exist on how reintroduction success varies amongst individuals and reserves. This study aims to examine the causes of mortality and the factors influencing cheetah survival on 20 reserves using individual life history records from 1993-2018. We assessed demographic, environmental, and management factors that are predicted to influence cheetah survival using a Cox proportional hazard model. Predation, mostly by lions (Panthera leo) accounted for 39% of known mortalities. However, the presence of spotted hyena (Crucota crucuta) posed the greatest threat to survival. Contrary to my prediction, translocation improved survival when controlling for age. Survival has also improved with time since the coordinated metapopulation approach was initiated in 2011. We created a nomogram which can be used by practitioners to predict cheetah survival within the metapopulation. Our study shows the importance of monitoring reintroduction efforts and encourages similar methods be used for other species of conservation concern that are managed within a metapopulation framework.

Includes bibliographies. / The Cape Floristic Region (CFR), covering 90 000 km2, comprises one of the world's six floral kingdoms. With 8600 species, of which 68 per cent are endemic, it ranks amongst the richest of temperate and tropical floras. Although 19 per cent of the CFR occurs in nature reserves, by far the majority of the preserved area comprises Mountain Fynbos. Only 0.5 and 3 per cent of the original extent of Renoster Shrub/and Lowland Fynbos is preserved, respectively. In this study Fynbos vegetation is identified as the richest habitat for Red Data Book (RDB) plant, freshwater fish, amphibian, butterfly, and reptile species in southern Africa. The greater Cape Town metropolitan area is identified as containing by far the highest richness of RDB plant, butterfly, reptile and amphibian species in the CFR Thus, this area ranks globally as one of the most urgent conservation priorities. The study also illustrates that previously used methods for evaluating priority conservation areas have under-rated species-poor areas containing a high proportion of RDB species. By collecting for species richness, a far more realistic picture of threatened areas can be obtained from RDB taxa. This study predicts, using a priori hypotheses based on ecological traits, and finds, that seed dispersal and regeneration strategies are most strongly correlated with rarity, most specifically with distributional area. Using distributional data for the Proteaceae, this study estimates that 95 per cent of all vascular plant species in Fynbos can be preserved in 16 per cent of the area. It also identifies the sites that require preservation if the maximum protection of floral diversity is to be realized. Two null models for evaluating the efficiency of a spatial configuration of reserves are proposed. Utilizing an iterating selection procedure, this study explores various algorithms, based on species richness and rarity, to construct ideal reserve configurations. This study provides the first empirical confirmation that the ideal approach to designing a reserve configuration is to identify areas of high endemism and richness in distinctive vegetation types within particular biogeographical regions. Thus, this study pioneers the use of RDB data to identify priority conservation regions, provides one of the first assessments of the causes of rarity in plants and establishes useful null models and algorithms for the identification and testing of ideal reserve locations in the design of integrated reserve networks. Not only does this study contribute towards theoretical reserve selection procedures, but it provides one of the most advanced frameworks for the preservation of a top conservation priority in the world, the CFR.

Firstly, I am very grateful to Birdlife International for the MSc scholarship. I am also very grateful to Professor Peter Ryan of the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, for agreeing to supervise this project and for his guidance, insights and comments on the write-up. I am grateful to Sarah Saldanha, for all the support during this MSc. Many thanks also to Dr Ross Wanless, Dr Rima Jabado and Ruben Rocha for all support, guidance and advice. I want to thank a lot Andy Angel for their accommodation and all support in South Africa. I am grateful to all the UCT staff and BirdLife Senegal Staff for all the support during this study. Many thanks to my family for all the encouragement and support. I want to thank to all the Cabo Verde fishers for their willingness to share their knowledge and experience. Finally, many thanks to the Conservation Biology class of 2019, for all their support.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Range shifts and expansions have been recorded in a number of species and it is expected that as climate change proceeds it will result in more species joining this trend. A major concern with these shifts is the suitability of the receiving novel environments, for example, if these areas experience different climatic conditions or prey phenology. One way to evaluate how expanding populations adapt to the environment is through evaluating their breeding patterns. In southern Africa, the Black sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus) originally existed in Botswana, Mozambique, North Eastern and South Eastern South Africa and Zimbabwe.