{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T03:27:26Z","timestamp":1776396446498,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":89,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,7]],"date-time":"2021-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630972800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT\/MCTES, through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020","award":["UIDB\/00329\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00329\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT\/MCTES, through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020","award":["UIDB\/00006\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00006\/2020"]}]},{"name":"South African National Research Foundation, South Africa","award":["UID 107099&115040"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID 107099&115040"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>South Africa\u2019s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and\/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small- and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups\u2019 abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11092618","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T23:55:22Z","timestamp":1630972522000},"page":"2618","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Patterns and Drivers of Rodent Abundance across a South African Multi-Use Landscape"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3784-8024","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatriz C.","family":"Afonso","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"cE3c\u2014Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9955-8076","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lourens H.","family":"Swanepoel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology, School of Mathematical & Natural Sciences, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, Limpopo, South Africa"}]},{"given":"Beatriz P.","family":"Rosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"cE3c\u2014Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Tiago A.","family":"Marques","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, The Observatory, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9LZ, UK"},{"name":"Centro de Estat\u00edstica e Aplica\u00e7\u00f5es, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4186-7332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu\u00eds M.","family":"Rosalino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"cE3c\u2014Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Margarida","family":"Santos-Reis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"cE3c\u2014Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Gon\u00e7alo","family":"Curveira-Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"cE3c\u2014Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1023\/B:HUEC.0000015220.22795.27","article-title":"Land use and cover change as an indicator of transformation on recently redistributed farms in Limpopo Province, South Africa","volume":"32","author":"McCusker","year":"2004","journal-title":"Hum. 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