Mainstreaming ecological connectivity and wildlife needs in green road transport infrastructure planning in South Africa.

Launching green transport infrastructure is important for sustainable development frameworks and fosters sustainable land-use practices. Policy provisions promoting integrated sustainability in road infrastructure planning are critical and should incorporate biodiversity needs. We synthesised key existing South African policies for road infrastructure to assess their implementation and effectiveness in mainstreaming ecological connectivity in their framework of green transport planning.

Modification of the third phase in the framework for vertebrate species persistence in urban mosaic environments.

Urbanisation is rapidly transforming natural landscapes with consequences for biodiversity. Little is documented on the response of African wildlife to urbanisation. We reviewed case studies of vertebrate species' responses to urbanisation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to determine trends.

Indigenous knowledge of South African bird and rangeland ecology is effective for informing conservation science.

South Africa's communal rangelands constitute ~25% of the country's land cover and are largely managed for livestock grazing. These habitats play an important role in rural livelihoods and cultural practices. Using semi-structured interviews, we documented indigenous local ecological knowledge (LEK) held by rural dwellers linked to natural resource utilisation, environmental health and cultural keystone indicator species (CKIS) in the grassland communities of southern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Digestive efficiencies of Cape white-eyes (Zosterops virens), red-winged starlings (Onychognathus morio) and speckled mousebirds (Colius striatus) fed varying concentrations of equicaloric glucose or sucrose artificial fruit diets.

Digestive physiology is important for understanding the feeding behaviour of organisms. Specifically, studies on the digestive physiology of frugivorous and nectarivorous birds are important for elucidating their preference patterns in the wild and the selective pressures they exert on fruit pulp and nectar. In this study, digesta transit times and digestive efficiencies of three species of birds, the Cape white-eyes (Zosterops virens), red-winged starlings (Onychognathus morio) and speckled mousebirds (Colius striatus) were investigated on equicaloric glucose or sucrose artificial fruit diets.

Effects of tannins on fruit selection in three southern African frugivorous birds.

Tannins are common secondary compounds in plant material and are known for their ability to bind to protein which reduces nitrogen availability in the diet. In fruits, these compounds are responsible for their astringency which is thought to result in reduced food intake. In this study, the repellent effects of tannins were examined in three species of frugivorous birds: red-winged starlings Onychognathus morio, speckled mousebirds Colius striatus and Cape white-eyes Zosterops virens.

Seasonal thermoregulation in the burrowing parrot (Cyanoliseus patagonus).

Birds exposed to seasonal environments are faced with the problem of maintaining thermogenic homoeostasis. Previous studies have established that birds native to the Holarctic increase their Resting Metabolic Rate at different ambient temperatures (RMRTa) and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) in winter as an adaptation to cold temperature since winters are more severe, while their non-Holarctic counterparts generally decrease their winter BMR as an energy saving mechanism during unproductive and dry winter months. In this study, we examined seasonal thermoregulation in the burrowing parrot (Cyanoliseus patagonus), a colonial psittacine native to the Patagonian region of Argentina, a region with an unpredictable environment.