The application of camera trapping to assess rallidae species richness within wetland habitat types, eastern Free State, South Africa

GIS maps on veg community<br>Field data sheets for vegetation identification and measurement <br>Information on the camera positions<br>RAW data for Spearmans and Pearsons correlation analysis<br>Raw data for processing for new methodology construction<br

Comparison of grass height during the three summers of survey at Ingula (2006/07, 2007/08 and 2010/11).

<p>Year is treated as a fixed effect and transect as a random effect. <b>Bold</b> vertical lines represent the estimated means according to the best model (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162609#pone.0162609.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>).</p

Ingula vegtn transects 2006,2007,2010_PLOS2016

Ingula vegtn transects 2006,2007,2010_PLOS201

avibaseline_PLOS

Grassland bird data and vegetation data file

Linear mixed effects models for the effects of year, fire (two levels), grazing (3 levels) and topography (4 levels) on grass height across the three surveys.

<p>The models assumed a normally distributed response with grass height log-transformed. Transect was treated as a random effect in all models and therefore the constant model included transect as a random effect. K is the number of parameters in each model including the intercept and residual variance, Delta AIC is the difference between each model and the model with the lowest AIC. The model with the lowest AIC is the best model.</p

Model selection analysis relating species richness of birds that prefer moderate grazing to habitat; constant model (Null), Fire (2 levels), Grazing (3 levels), Fire + Grazing, Grass cover, grass height, Dead grass and Grass cover + Grass height.

<p>The models were generalised linear mixed models assuming a Poisson response and log link function. Transect was treated as a random effect in all models. K is the number of parameters in a model, Delta AIC is the differences in AICs.</p

Comparison of Ingula bird species richness of all birds seen within 150m across the four seasons using transect data collected between 2006/07 to 2010/11.

<p>The data come from three summers, two autumns, two winters and one spring survey and only half the total number of transects were surveyed during summer 2010/11. Vertical lines show the estimated means obtained from a generalized linear mixed effects model that treated season as a fixed effect and transect as a random effect.</p

Model selection analysis relating total bird species richness in summer to transect habitat; constant model (Null), Fire (2 levels), Grazing (3 levels), Fire + Grazing, Grass cover, Grass height, Dead grass and Grass cover + Grass height.

<p>The models were generalised linear mixed models assuming a Poisson response and log link function. Transect was treated as a random effect in all models. K is the number of parameters in a model, Delta AIC is the differences in AICs.</p

Comparison of bird species richness (birds that prefer heavy grazing only) at Ingula using data from summer surveys only.

<p>Year is treated as a fixed effect and transect as a random effect. <b>Bold</b> bars represent the estimated means.</p

Generalized linear mixed models describing the effect of years, fire, grazing or topography on grass cover (the number of grid squares that were covered by grass, out of nine).

<p>Fire had two levels (burned vs not burned), grazing had three levels (not grazed, lightly grazed and heavily grazed) and topography had four levels. The models assume a binomial response and logit link function. Transect was treated as a random effect in all models such that a constant model has transect as random effect only. K is the number of parameters in each model including the intercept, Delta AIC is the difference between each model and the model with the lowest AIC. The model with the lowest AIC is the best model.</p