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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Human population density explains alien species richness in protected areas
Biological Conservation, Volume 159, Year 2013
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Description
Understanding the drivers of biological invasions, across taxa and regions, is important for designing appropriate management interventions. However there has been no work that has examined potential drivers of both plant and animal invasions, for both species considered to be aliens and those that are invasive. We use South Africa's national park system (19 national parks, throughout South Africa and covering ∼39,000km2) as a model to test the generality of predictors of alien species richness in protected areas. We also compare the predictors of alien versus invasive species richness, and alien plant versus alien animal species richness. Species were classified as alien, invasive (having known negative impact on biodiversity) or extralimital, using standard definitions. Potential predictors (numbers of years since the park was proclaimed and since new land was acquired, park area, data availability, human population density in the vicinity of the park, number of roads, number of rivers, indigenous plant species richness and normalised difference vegetation index) of the number of alien and invasive species in national parks were examined for plants and animals using generalised linear models. Human population density surrounding parks was a significant and strong predictor of numbers of alien and invasive species across plants and animals. The role of other predictors, such as NDVI and park age, was inconsistent across models. Human population density has emerged here as an important predictor of alien species richness in protected areas across taxa, providing a basis for guidelines on where to focus surveillance and eradication efforts. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Spear, Dian
South Africa, Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch University
Foxcroft, Llewellyn C.
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Parks
Bezuidenhout, Hugo
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Parks
South Africa, Pretoria
University of South Africa
McGeoch, Melodie A.
South Africa, Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch University
Australia, Clayton
Monash University
Statistics
Citations: 162
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.biocon.2012.11.022
ISSN:
00063207
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
South Africa