Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorMecenero, Silviaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorAltwegg, Resen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorColville, Jonathan Fen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBeale, Colin Men_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-02T05:07:15Z
dc.date.available2016-01-02T05:07:15Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractWildlife and humans tend to prefer the same productive environments, yet high human densities often lead to reduced biodiversity. Species richness is often positively correlated with human population density at broad scales, but this correlation could also be caused by unequal sampling effort leading to higher species tallies in areas of dense human activity. We examined the relationships between butterfly species richness and human population density at five spatial resolutions ranging from 2' to 60' across South Africa. We used atlas-type data and spatial interpolation techniques aimed at reducing the effect of unequal spatial sampling. Our results confirm the general positive correlation between total species richness and human population density. Contrary to our expectations, the strength of this positive correlation did not weaken at finer spatial resolutions. The patterns observed using total species richness were driven mostly by common species. The richness of threatened and restricted range species was not correlated to human population density. None of the correlations we examined were particularly strong, with much unexplained variance remaining, suggesting that the overlap between butterflies and humans is not strong compared to other factors not accounted for in our analyses. Special consideration needs to be made regarding conservation goals and variables used when investigating the overlap between species and humans for biodiversity conservation.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMecenero, S., Altwegg, R., Colville, J. F., & Beale, C. M. (2015). Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16174en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMecenero, Silvia, Res Altwegg, Jonathan F Colville, and Colin M Beale "Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa." <i>PLoS One</i> (2015) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16174en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMecenero, S., Altwegg, R., Colville, J. F., & Beale, C. M. (2014). Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa. PloS one, 10(4), e0124327. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124327en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Mecenero, Silvia AU - Altwegg, Res AU - Colville, Jonathan F AU - Beale, Colin M AB - Wildlife and humans tend to prefer the same productive environments, yet high human densities often lead to reduced biodiversity. Species richness is often positively correlated with human population density at broad scales, but this correlation could also be caused by unequal sampling effort leading to higher species tallies in areas of dense human activity. We examined the relationships between butterfly species richness and human population density at five spatial resolutions ranging from 2' to 60' across South Africa. We used atlas-type data and spatial interpolation techniques aimed at reducing the effect of unequal spatial sampling. Our results confirm the general positive correlation between total species richness and human population density. Contrary to our expectations, the strength of this positive correlation did not weaken at finer spatial resolutions. The patterns observed using total species richness were driven mostly by common species. The richness of threatened and restricted range species was not correlated to human population density. None of the correlations we examined were particularly strong, with much unexplained variance remaining, suggesting that the overlap between butterflies and humans is not strong compared to other factors not accounted for in our analyses. Special consideration needs to be made regarding conservation goals and variables used when investigating the overlap between species and humans for biodiversity conservation. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0124327 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa TI - Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16174 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0124327en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/16174
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMecenero S, Altwegg R, Colville JF, Beale CM. Roles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africa. PLoS One. 2015; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16174.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Statistical Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2015 Mecenero et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSpecies diversityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPopulation densityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherMoths and butterfliesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherBiodiversityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherConservation scienceen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHabitatsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherEnvironmental geographyen_ZA
dc.titleRoles of spatial scale and rarity on the relationship between butterfly species richness and human density in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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