Land-use change has become a force of global importance and has gained status as the most important driver of ecosystem degradation. The resulting creation of habitat edges has pervasive impacts on the distribution and persistence of species in forest ecosystems. Responses of species to edge effects can be highly dependent on ‘response’ traits, which may in turn co-vary with ‘effect’ traits that determine rates of ecosystem functioning. Therefore, non-random loss of species due to traits conferring higher susceptibility to extinction may also result in the loss of functionally-important species across a habitat edge gradient. Likewise, response and effect traits may be important in determining reassembly of communities in regenerating habitats, which may provide insight into potential scenarios of functional responses to restoration efforts. To test for potential off-site effects of adjacent matrix habitat restoration on dung beetle communities, I compared dung beetle community structure and species trait composition across Afromontane forest edges adjacent to degraded and regenerating matrix habitat at Ngel Nyaki forest reserve in Nigeria. I also measured dung removal rates across habitat edge gradients to investigate the relative off-site impacts of matrix restoration on dung beetle-mediated ecosystem processes. I found significant effects of adjacent matrix condition on edge response functions in dung beetle abundance, species distributions, and trait composition. Beetle abundances were markedly higher in forests adjacent to regenerating matrix, whereas the largest differences in trait composition were found between degraded and regenerating matrix habitat, indicating the presence of ecological filtering processes in these areas. Furthermore, I found that species traits determined community structural responses to environmental change and this had strong flow-on effects to rates of dung removal. Shifts in trait distributions explained dung removal rates above and beyond total beetle mass, suggesting that neutral processes alone could not explain functional efficiency. In particular, habitat regeneration resulted in the assembly of communities with high total beetle mass and on-average smaller beetles, which was optimal for functional efficiency. In conclusion, the restoration of adjacent matrix habitat was shown to effectively mitigate edge effects on dung beetle community structure resulting in the re-establishment of important associated ecosystem processes.

Although protected areas have been used as principal conservation tools, most of them are suffering from human-induced threats. Consequently, a good understanding of such human-driven threats on biodiversity and identifying early warning systems for habitat change in protected areas is necessary for effective conservation of natural resources. To examine the impact of human disturbance on avifaunal assemblages and to assess the potential application of birds as bioindicators of forest health monitoring in the Afromontane forest of the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, I recorded birds and habitat variables in three protected and three unprotected forests using a point transect method in 2009 and 2012. The two land use types differ in disturbance levels (higher in the unprotected areas), vegetation structure and bird assemblages. Species richness of entire bird guild, open woodland and open land habitat guilds, granivore and insectivore feeding guilds, and shrub layer and ground layer foraging substrate guilds of birds were significantly higher in the unprotected areas than the protected areas. Abundances of guilds of birds mostly followed a similar trend with species richness. However, densities of overall and forest-specialist bird guilds were higher in the protected area and vice versa for the other guilds. In general, the protected area assemblages were dominated by forest-specialist species, while those of the unprotected areas were dominated by openland and shrubland species. The implication is that disturbance had caused encroachment of non-native species (openland, open woodland and shrub land species) while negatively affecting native species (forest species, particularly tree canopy foragers). These assemblage differences are linked to changes in vegetation structure caused by disturbance. Thus, further forest degradation in the protected area should be avoided in order to maintain native/forest-specialist species. Given the differences in bird assemblages between the two land use types, there is a high likelihood that bioindicator species (i.e. indicator species - those 'characteristic' of a particular habitat - and detector species - those occurring in the different habitats considered but with moderate indication value) can be identified, therefore providing a useful tool to monitor ecosystem health of the forests. Four and nine species were identified as appropriate indicator species (i.e. species with indicator values > 60% and fulfilling biological and niche history criteria used in selection) in the protected and unprotected areas, respectively. In addition, nine species were identified as detectors of habitat change in the protected areas. These bioindicators provide a useful tool for managers of Afromontane forest in the Bale Mountains, as well as similar habitats elsewhere, for long term monitoring of ecosystem health of the forests. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / DST/NRF Centre of Excellence / Zoology and Entomology / MSc / Unrestricted

The fast growing local human population, especially through immigration from countries north of South Africa, is placing the Soutpansberg and Blouberg areas under increasing pressure. The insatiable demand for more arable land within these agriculturally marginal and semi-arid areas is leading to severe degradation of the remaining natural resources. The Soutpansberg–Blouberg region has been recognized as a Centre of Endemism and is regarded as a region of exceptionally high biological diversity. The Soutpansberg Conservancy and the Blouberg Nature Reserve reveal extremely rich diversities of plant communities relative to the sizes of these conservation areas. The Major Vegetation Types and plant communities of the Soutpansberg Centre of Endemism are described in detail with special reference to the Soutpansberg Conservancy and the Blouberg Nature Reserve. Phytosociological data from 466 sample plots were ordinated using a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DECORANA) and classified using Two–way Indicator Species Analysis(TWINSPAN). The resulting classification was further refined with table–sorting procedures based on the Braun–Blanquet floristic–sociological approach of vegetation classification using MEGATAB. Eight Major Vegetation Types were identified and described as Eragrostis lehmanniana var. lehmanniana–Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra BNR Northern Plains Bushveld, Euclea divinorum–Acacia tortilis BNR Southern Plains Bushveld, Englerophytum magalismontanum–Combretum molle BNR Mountain Bushveld, Adansonia digitata–Acacia nigrescens Soutpansberg Arid Northern Bushveld, Catha edulis–Flueggia virosa Soutpansberg Moist Mountain Thickets, Diplorhynchus condylocarpon–Burkea africana Soutpansberg Leached Sandveld, Rhus rigida var. rigida–Rhus magalismontanum subsp. coddii Soutpansberg Mistbelt Vegetation and Xymalos monospora–Rhus chirendensis Soutpansberg Forest Vegetation. Plant communities of each of the Major Vegetation Types are described. The primary ecological drivers of the event-driven and the classic climax vegetation types are discussed and management recommendations are made for effective conservation of these last remaining pockets of wilderness. The available data supports the recognition of the region as an important Centre of Plant Endemism and Biological Diversity requiring conservation attention. Copyright / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Plant Science / unrestricted