Effects of the Density of Invasive Lantana camara Plants on the Biodiversity of Large and Small Mammals in the Groenkloof Nature Reserve (GNR) in South Africa
Biology, ISSN: 2079-7737, Vol: 12, Issue: 2
2023
- 1Citations
- 18Captures
- 1Mentions
Metric Options: CountsSelecting the 1-year or 3-year option will change the metrics count to percentiles, illustrating how an article or review compares to other articles or reviews within the selected time period in the same journal. Selecting the 1-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year. Selecting the 3-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year plus the two years prior.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Article Description
Multi-scale approaches have been used to determine scales at which mammal species are responding to habitat destruction due to invasion, but the impacts of weeds on mammals have not been extensively studied, especially in Africa. Inside the Groenkloof Nature Reserve (GNR), we assessed how mammals are affected by an invasive weed Lantana camara. A series of models were applied to determine the differences in species abundance as well as richness, separated for large and small mammals. When diversity indices were used, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed no statistically significant difference between treatments (F = 0.233, p = 0.945) for large mammals. The results of a Generalised Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) showed that vegetation type (Wald χ = 120.156; p < 0.01) and foraging guilds (Wald χ = 76.771; p < 0.01) were significant predictors of large mammal species richness. However, for small mammals, the results of a GLMM showed that only treatment type (Wald χ = 10.62; p = 0.050) was a significant predictor of the number of small mammals trapped. In addition, the ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in species diversity between treatments (F = 0.934; p < 0.001) and by season (F = 9.122 p = 0.003) for small mammals. The presence of L. camara coupled with other predictors was associated with differences in large mammal abundances and diversity, and differences in how these large mammals were distributed across the landscape. Furthermore, the highest species diversity was found in the spring for small mammals. Therefore, for all the mammals studied, the presence of L. camara negatively affected species abundance, richness, and diversity, as well as how these species were distributed across the invaded and cleared areas.
Bibliographic Details
Provide Feedback
Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know