Tyto alba prey in South West Africa and the Northern Cape

No Abstrac

Locality records for Crocidura mariquensis

No Abstrac

Seasonal activity patterns and habitats in Solifugae (Arachriida) in the southern Karoo, South Africa

Solifuges were caught with pitfall traps over a 29-month period in three different habitats at Tierberg, near Prince Albert. A total of 134 individuals of at least nine species of four families (Ceromidae, Daesiidae, Gylippidae and Solpugidae) were trapped in the three habitats. Bhssia karrooica, B. unquicornis and Hemiblossia idioceras were caught only on plains, Bhssia sp. nov. was caught only on ‘heuweltjies‘, Lipophaga trispinosa was caught only on old fields, and Hemiblossia oneili and Solpugiba lineata were caught in all three habitats. Most species were active in the summer (October-March) but two species, Bhssia karrooica and Lipophaga trispinosa were active throughout the year

Turnover of passerine birds on islands in the Aegean Sea (Greece)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73442/1/j.1365-2699.2007.01695.x.pd

Effects of animal activity on the absorption rate of soils in the southern Karoo, South Africa.

The rates of absorption into various microsites in Karoo soils were compared. The absorption of water by hard, bare intershrub soils was significantly increased by the presence of emergence holes of adult cicadas and near nest-mounds of the harvester ant Messor capensis. Both these insects play an important role in raising the amount of water that penetrates into the soil after rains. Illustrates with tablesLanguage: EnglishKeywords: Absorption rates; Heuweltjie; Karoo; Rangeland; Soil-fauna; Trampling; soils; south africa; absorption; cicadas; homoptera; cicadidae; nest mounds; messor capensis; insects; role; rain; mounds; water absorptio

Features of spermatogenesis in the laughing dove Streptopelia senegalensis

Spermatogenesis in the testis of the laughing dove Streptopelia senegalensis, a non-seasonal breeder, differs markedly from that in seasonal breeding birds. The testes probably never regress fully after reaching the mature stage and the tubules are kept in a development/regression equilibrium which allows mature spermatozoa to be produced throughout but also leaves some parts of the tubules in a resting condition. Spermatogenic development in the longitudinal as well as the horizontal level of each tubule can range from primary spermatocytes to mature spermatozoa

Seeds dispersed in dung of insectivores and herbivores in semi-arid southern Africa

We investigated the incidence of endozoochory in the semi-arid South African Karoo shrubland and Kalahari savanna by dissecting and germinating seed from dung samples from a wide range of wild mammals and domestic livestock. Intact seeds occurred at a mean density of 1575 seeds kg-1 in livestock air-dried dung and 3613 seeds kg-1 in air-dried dung of indigenous animals. Seedlings emerged from dung at an average density of 153 kg-1 air-dry dung. Seeds of Aizoaceae, Mesembryanthemaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae were abundant in the dung of wild and domestic herbivores as well as such ant- and termite-eating insectivores as aardvark (Orycteropus afer) and bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis). Seeds of fleshy-fruited shrubs occurred in dung of browsing herbivores and the bat-eared fox. Five non-indigenous weeds were found in the dung samples. Although the floras of the Kalahari and Karoo are considered to be largely wind and water-dispersed, endozoochory is a primary or secondary dispersal mechanism in many plant families and for many plant life-forms. Animals dispersed seeds of many species characteristic of fertile and disturbed habitats. In Mesembryanthemaceae, a family in which seeds are primarily dispersed very short distances by raindrops, endozoochory enables occasional long-distance dispersal. © 2001 Academic Press.Articl

Disturbance, drought and dynamics of desert dune grassland, South Africa

A seven-year study of marked plants and plots in Stipagrostis ciliata (Desf.) de Winter dune grassland, in the arid (< 100 mm yr-1) Bushmanland area of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Was designed to test the hypothesis that establishment of ephemeral plants, and recruitment of perennial grasses was dependent upon disturbances that reduced the density of living perennial grass tussocks. In 1989. eight 4 m2 plots were cleared of perennial vegetation by uprooting and removing all plants so as to resemble small-scale disturbances made by burrowing mammals or territorial antelope. The vegetation on the cleared plots and surroundings was monitored until 1996. Initial results supported our hypothesis. In wet years, when ephemeral plants were abundant, their average fresh mass was 2-3 times greater per unit area on the cleared plots than in control plots in adjacent. Undisturbed grassland. Many Stipagrostis seedlings established in the cleared plots over the two years following clearing but were rare in adjacent areas among established conspecifics. However, a drought in 1992 (11 mm of rain over 12 months) lead to widespread mortality of the perennial grass, killing 56% (range 22-79%)of established tufts. High densities of Stipagrostis seedlings appeared following the drought-breaking rains in January 1993. both in the disturbed plots and in the surrounding 'undisturbed' dune grassland. Ephemeral plants established in large numbers throughout the area during the high rainfall 3 year of 1996 and were generally more numerous in the old disturbances than in control plots. Seven years after clearing the biomass of grass on the cleared plots was approximately 34% of the mass removed from the plots in 1989 whereas in the undisturbed grassland biomass was 66% of 1989 levels. Drought had little long-term effect on community composition, and Stipagrostis ciliata constituted 94-98% of plant community before and alter drought. Cleared plots were recolonized by S. ciliatta. but the contribution of other grass species increased by 6-9%. Synchronous recruitment following occasional drought-induced mortality can generate even-aged populations of the dominant desert dune grasses.Conference Pape