The Southern African Bird Atlas Project and its relevance to nature conservation
Date
1993-09
Authors
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY: The objectives of this thesis are to: (a) describe the Southern African Bird Atlas Project
(SABAP), document its progress and assess its success, as a contribution to the
planning of future projects; (b) explore the potential of atlas data to answer questions
other than those concerned with the ranges of species; (c) investigate the application of
bird atlas data to some specific questions which have a bearing on the planning and
practice of conservation.
The progress and organizational features of SABAP and its databank are described. It
is shown that the SABAP has been a success in terms of the large volumes of accurate
and up-to-date data on species' distributions and patterns of seasonality acquired. The
decision to use amateur volunteers is shown to have been appropriate but not without
drawbacks.
A methodological point made is that the methods of atlasing and of computerization of
the data need to be planned so as to permit statistical analysis of the data. If this is
done, reporting rates can provide an index of relative abundance which can, in tum,
permit the application of atlas data to many questions beyond that of range extent.
The analysis of reporting rates is illuminating in the description of seasonal patterns of
occurrence and therefore, of seasonal movement. This is demonstrated for long-distance
migration and for local movement. The papers dealing with patterns of
seasonality highlight the fact that species with extensive seasonal movements cannot be
conserved within, single reserves.
The growing demand for access to SABAP data is reported and the applications listed.
Improvement of SABAP's relevance to the environmental consultancy user group is
achieved by a method of presenting atlas data in a manner which will maximize their
usefulness. The approach hinges on the ability to allocate species to habitat categories. This enables one to break down an undifferentiated species list for a grid square into a
number of habitat-specific species lists.
It is proposed that atlasing could be adapted to achieve population monitoring
objectives. One exercise set out to analyse changes in reporting rate through time and
to correlate these with a key environmental variable, namely rainfall. The exercise is
only a limited success. It is shown that, while potential to use atlas methods for population monitoring does exist, the need to improve the standardization of methods for this purpose is crucial.
Interim results of the SABAP in the form of species distribution maps are presented as
an aid to the planning of conservation action for cranes. The information for the three
species is compiled to produce a map which highlights those grid squares which have
the greatest diversity of cranes. It is shown that the combination of atlas information
for a suite of species can yield an index of diversity which may hold greater potential
for planning the location of reserves than the distribution maps of individual species
alone.
Trends in bird atlasing and of the use of reporting rate as an index of relative
abundance are reviewed as is the use of reporting rates as a population monitoring tool.
Description
Thesis (M. Sc.) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1993.
Keywords
Birds -- Africa, Southern -- Atlases, Dissertations -- Nature conservation