Threatened Species of the SANParks Cape Cluster Parks Nashreen - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• Nashreen Williams

Savanna Networking Meeting, Skukuza, 13 – 18 March 2011 Speed Presentation and Poster, 17 March 2011

Threatened Species of the SANParks Cape Cluster Parks

Conservation Value

• The Cape Floristic Region (CFR)
• approximately 9600 plant

species on record

• Of these plant species, ~75 %

do not occur naturally anywhere else on earth

• The Cape Peninsula is home to

~180 threatened species, this number includes six species that are currently listed as extinct

• Sitting in the heart of the

Peninsula is TMNP which is the largest section of natural land.

Aspalathus burchelliana – EN 3 Diosma fallax – EN 3

Erica filamentosa – VU 3 Crytanthus leptosiphon – CR 3 Haworthia marginata – VU 3

Acacia saligna - BNP

Threats

Acacia mearnsii - BNP

Bontebok National Park In the Fynbos of the lowlands, alien invasive Acacia species accounted for 36%

• f the area transformed, with agriculture

and afforestation accounting for a further 49%

Threats

By contrast, in the mountains, 26% of the area was transformed by Hakea and Pinus infestations and merely 7% by agriculture and afforestation

Pinus radiata - Pine tree plantation in TMNP

• SANParks’ Framework for Biodiversity Monitoring guides the

structure and development of the Biodiversity Monitoring System (BMS) for SANParks 1

• The Species of Special Concern (SSC) monitoring programme

is one of the ten selected programmes that make up the Biodiversity Monitoring System.

• Aimed at monitoring selected target species that have been

identified as a conservation priority for each relevant park.

Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Flow diagram of the four steps that constitutes the approach of the Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

• 1. McGeoch M. et. al. 2010 SANParks Biodiversity Monitoring Programme: Species of Special Concern, Unpublished.

Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Flow diagram of the four steps that constitutes the approach of the Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

1 2 3

Identification and listing of SSC Prioritizing target SSC for monitoring

Disa longicornu - VU Disa uniflora - LC Erica verticillata - EW

Monitoring in the field – TMNP mountain Fynbos

Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Flow diagram of the four steps that constitutes the approach of the Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Identification and listing of SSC Prioritizing target SSC for monitoring Monitoring SSC

Identification and listing of SSC Prioritizing target SSC for monitoring Monitoring SSC Indicators 1. The number of species on the SSC list (albeit biased by data availability and collection effort). 2. The number of target SSC, i.e. how many are being monitored. 3. The type and number of threats to SSC 4. The conservation status of SSC 5. Number of target SSC for which Thresholds

• f Potential Concern have been breached.

6. Population sizes (or equivalent/alternative) of target SSC.

Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Flow diagram of the four steps that constitutes the approach of the Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme

Indicators

• Each of these indicators has strengths and weaknesses
• However, until a comprehensive set of data on SSC are available for one and more

parks with data for two (preferably three) points in time, it is not possible to test any of these indicators to assess their feasibility and usefulness in a SANParks context.

• Therefore, this stage of the SSC-MP will be further developed in the next revision

cycle.

Thank you

Acknowledgments

• The Andrew W. Mellon

Foundation

• WWF Table Mountain Fund
• SANParks and Partner
• rganizations