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Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales
Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613677217120256 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Keith, Mark |
| author_browse | Keith, Mark |
| author_facet | Keith, Mark |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2024. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101031 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:39:56.908Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101031 Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales Keith, Mark u22881027@tuks.ac.za Marshal, Jason P. Naleba, Rodney UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Covariates Mammal occurrence Probability of use Spatial scales Anthropogenic drivers Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2024. The on-going global decline of large mammals mainly due to anthropogenic activities, necessitates enhanced management and conservation efforts. Hence, there is a considerable need for monitoring ecological estimates such as mammal occupancy and distribution in space and time. Monitoring the impact of factors responsible for mammal occupancy and distribution is equally important. Additionally, the scale at which such investigations are carried out is also key to ensure reliable outcomes for informed decision making in the management and conservation of mammals. The Waterberg Mountain catchment (WMC) is situated in the Limpopo province of South Africa. This a very biodiverse area, however, few comprehensive studies on the biological diversity and associated aspects from this area have been carried out. This area consists of several small, fenced wildlife properties. As such, the main activity in the area is eco-tourism (wildlife-based) for economic purposes as well as contributing to conservation. The small, fenced, and the isolated nature of the wildlife properties in the WMC necessitates a considerable level of human intervention in the management of mammals and their environments. I used camera trap data collected between December 2021 and April 2024 from the WMC from several wildlife properties. I analysed the data using multi-species Bayesian occupancy models, modelling mammal occurrence as a function of several site-level covariates, including distance to nearest permanent water sources, distance to roads, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation, among others to investigate the key drivers of mammal occupancy in the WMC. Furthermore, I measured site-level covariates at multiple spatial scales to examine if variation exists in mammal occurrence patterns across scales. I also sought to compare occupancy patterns observed between managed (fenced and managed) and non-managed mammal species (free ranging with the ability to cross through fences between properties). The results generally showed that anthropogenic variables were more impactful than environmental variables in driving mammal occupancy. Moreover, deriving covariates at multiple spatial scales had an impact on the mammal occurrence patterns observed. Also, differences between mammal occupancy responses were observed between managed and non-managed mammal species. These general observations were made even though most of the results were not statistically significant (using 95% confidence intervals). These findings highlight the importance of anthropogenic infrastructures including roads, buildings, and fences on mammal occurrence and space use patterns within small, fenced wildlife properties. In addition, the results suggest that scale should always be considered when designing species-environment relationship studies. Finally, the results highlight the importance of the environmental context (small, fenced wildlife properties) on mammals’ occurrence patterns and distribution, which in turn influences mammal ecology. Mastercard Foundation Scholars program Zoology and Entomology MSc (Wildlife Management) Unrestricted Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences SDG-15: Life on land 2025-02-18T14:39:16Z 2025-02-18T14:39:16Z 2025-05-11 2024-11-19 Dissertation * A2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101031 10.25403/UPresearchdata.28435454 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Covariates Mammal occurrence Probability of use Spatial scales Anthropogenic drivers Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title | Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title_full | Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title_fullStr | Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title_short | Assessing occupancy of mammals in the Waterberg Mountain Catchment area across spatial scales |
| title_sort | assessing occupancy of mammals in the waterberg mountain catchment area across spatial scales |
| topic | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Covariates Mammal occurrence Probability of use Spatial scales Anthropogenic drivers |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101031 |