Community harvesting of trees used as dens and for food by the tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) in the Pirie forest, South Africa
Date
2018-02-28
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS Publishing
Abstract
Forests in South Africa are harvested by local communities for multiple purposes and this affects the animals that inhabit them. The tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) has a restricted distribution and utilises various tree species as dens and a source of food. In this article, we determined, through a series of interviews in the communities surrounding the Pirie forest, which plant species are harvested by local people and whether these overlap with those used by the tree hyrax. In addition, we determined the extent to which tree hyraxes are hunted by these communities. Of the trees used by the hyrax as dens in the Pirie forest, Afrocarpus falcatus, Schotia latifolia, Andrachne ovalis, Teclea natalensis and Apodytes dimidiata are important resources for local communities. But as these are harvested at relatively low levels, it is unlikely that current harvesting has a large impact on the tree hyrax. Opportunistic hunting occurs, but the hyrax is not targeted by hunters. Very limited commercial harvesting of A. falcatus has been taking place in the Pirie forest since 1975, but its impact on the hyrax population, although undetermined, is also unlikely to be high. We recommend that the Pirie forest tree hyrax population should be monitored by forest management in order to ascertain the impact of both commercial and community harvesting over the past quarter-century.
Description
CITATION: Opperman, E. J., Cherry, M. I. & Makunga, N. P. 2018. Community harvesting of trees used as dens and for food by the tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) in the Pirie forest, South Africa. Koedoe, 60(1):a1481, doi:10.4102/koedoe.v60i1.1481.
The original publication is available at https://koedoe.co.za
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
The original publication is available at https://koedoe.co.za
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
Keywords
Community logging -- Management, Tree hyrax populations, Logging -- South Africa -- Pirie forest, Tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus), Deforestation -- South Africa
Citation
Opperman, E. J., Cherry, M. I. & Makunga, N. P. 2018. Community harvesting of trees used as dens and for food by the tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) in the Pirie forest, South Africa. Koedoe, 60(1):a1481, doi:10.4102/koedoe.v60i1.1481