Thesis (M.Sc. (Environmental Science)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

Aloe pillansii populations in the biodiversity hotspot of the Succulent Karoo in Southern Africa are thought to be under threat of extinction. This study investigated the population at the type locality; Cornell's Kop in the Richtersveld, South Africa. It has been suggested that theft, animal damage and more recently climate change have caused a decline in the population by over 50% in the last decade, however very little is known about this rare species. Repeat photography and surveys were used to analyse life history patterns and dynamics of the population and thus establish what the potential threats to this keystone species actually are. Repeat photography indicates that there have been high rates of adult mortality over the last fifty years (1.8% of the population dies annually), which results in an average predicted lifespan of 39 years for the remaining adult population on Cornell's Kop. However, a recent survey reported that over 40% of the population recorded were seedlings, which weren't found in a 1995 survey, which is indicative of a recent recruitment pulse on Cornell's Kop and that conditions on the hill are still habitable for A. pillansii. Growth analyses suggest that A. pillansii has an average annual growth rate of 20 mm.yr⁻¹, which in tum means that 8 m individuals may be up to 453 years old. This long-lived strategy would require A. pillansii to only recruit infrequently, during periods of high rainfall, in order to sustain a viable population, which is consistent with findings on other large desert succulents. Seedling ages were estimated from their heights and it was found that 50% of the seedlings appear to have germinated five to ten years ago; this is consistent with rainfall records from the area which indicate that rainfall was consistently above the annual average for this same period. The findings indicate that although the adult A. pillansii population is declining, the presence of 30 seedlings suggest that the population is entering a recruitment phase after just coming out of a lengthy senescent phase. Although A. pillansii 's extensive lifespan makes it a potentially useful indicator species of climate change, the evidence presented in this study does not suggest that climate change has affected the dynamics of this population.

Cycladenia humilis (Apocynaceae) is a rare perennial herb native to western North America and has a fragmented distribution in California, Utah, and Arizona. Populations in Utah and Arizona are federally listed as threatened, while there is no conservation status applied to California populations. Using genetic (three chloroplast and two nuclear DNA loci) and morphological characters, intraspecific variation between populations of C. humilis and current taxonomic conventions were assessed. Nested Clade Phylogeographic Analysis and Bayesian phylogenies were used to assess patterns within C. humilis and supported three main population groupings: a northern California, southern California, and Colorado Plateau group. The northern California populations represent a distinct group and include populations from the Santa Lucia Mountains contrary to current classifications. The southern California group consistently includes populations in the San Gabriel and Inyo Mountains and was unique from any other region. The Colorado Plateau represents a group distinct from all other groups. The resilience of C. humilis on the Colorado Plateau to human threats remains unknown, but based on its frequency being comparable to California and our findings that considerable genetic variation exists within the species and within populations on the Colorado Plateau, we recommend that the threatened status of C. humilis be lifted.

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2014. / The persistence of rare plants is an important dimension in the conservation of biodiversity. Consequently an improved understanding of the nature and determinants of plant rarity and its relation with vulnerability to extinction could provide a basis for “proactive conservation” instead of the present day tendency for conservation actions to be “reactive”. In this dissertation I explore the relation between plant rarity and anthropogenic pressures (land transformation and use), biophysical factors, and plant traits in KwaZulu-Natal Province. Rarity was defined as the product of plant species abundance (population size) and its distribution (extent of occurrence). A number of a priori hypotheses regarding plant rarity were developed from the literature and these were then tested on a sample of plant species from KwaZulu-Natal. Species were selected in a stratified random manner to include species from different levels of threat and rarity or commonness. As the interest of this study was KwaZulu-Natal, only KwaZulu-Natal records were used for the analysis. Although the study suffered from a paucity of data particularly on the biological traits and behaviour of each species I was able to explore rarity in terms of seed dispersal distance, stress tolerance, habitat specificity and ecological niche width. I also explored potential island effects based on a species affinity to isolated erosional land surfaces and the anthropogenic effects of utilization and land transformation. To get an initial insight into relations, rarity was compared with each explanatory variable independently prior to using a multiple regression analysis approach aimed at understanding the potential interactive effects of suitable variables on rarity. Three different analytical techniques were used to provide a more robust understanding of the variable associations. These included Regression tree analysis (CART Salford Systems Inc., USA) and two generalized linear regression approaches; Generalized Linear Modelling (GLM) and Generalized Additive Modelling (GAM). All three multiple regression methods indicated that niche width had the strongest influence on rarity. Although Land Surface was shown to be the second strongest variable this, according to the GLM and GAM analyses, was due to a positive correlation between species with no affinity to land surface and species commonness. Visual representation of the regression tree analysis showed inconsistent partitioning of this variable throughout the tree indicating that land surfaces are not good predictors of rarity. Although the relation between Rarity Index and Habitat Transformation is not linear it was shown to be significant (p <0.1(p=0.0549)) after “smoothing” in GAM analysis. A smoothing curve on the bivariate analysis and the regression tree analysis indicated that species start to become rare after approximately 36% of their habitat is transformed. While GLM and GAM showed little or no relation between life history, dispersal distance, habitat specificity and rarity, the regression tree selected habitat specificity as the third most important splitter in the tree and dispersal distance was selected as a primary splitter for species with a niche width of greater than four. These differences observed in the three multiple regression analyses highlight the value of using more than one method to explore relations in ecological data. Considering all three analyses Niche Width is the strongest determinant of Rarity in KwaZulu-Natal, followed by Habitat Transformation and then Habitat Specificity. This improved understanding of the determinants of rarity will enhance our ability to prioritise plant species for conservation action. Key Words: ecological niche width, habitat specificity, habitat transformation, rarity, seed dispersal distance, stress tolerance, human use.

This thesis examines Greater Melbourne’s indigenous plants movement from the 1930s to the early twenty first century. It demonstrates the important scientific and educational role of the public intellectual, Professor John Turner, and of the Melbourne University Botany School which he led for thirty five years. The case study of the movement within the City of Sandringham and its successor the City of Bayside reveals how the inhabitants of an urbanised are responded to threats to the indigenous trees and wildflowers of their neighbourhood, stimulating botanists to assist them and using political means in order to achieve their conservation objectives. The thesis draws upon a range of local archives, conservation literature and private papers.

published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Journalism

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Master / Master of Philosophy

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Thesis (M. Env. St.)--University of Adelaide, Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-104).