Abstract:
Inventories of invertebrate species are produced by a number of workers for protected areas
in South Africa. The value of these inventories for the protected area management process
was investigated using a questionnaire to protected area managers, and by examining a
sample of published inventories. The questionnaire results indicate that species inventories
are sought after, but that they are largely not used in the management process. Invertebrate
species inventories have the potential to be useful in several stages of the protected area
management process, but making inventories useful requires more than a list of species
names. To make inventories more useful they should include estimates of inventory
completeness or statistically rigorous estimates of relative species richness, information on
spatial distribution of species richness within a protected area, or their design should target
threatened and rare species or aim to identify potential indicator species. Protected area
managers and scientists producing inventories should collaborate to ensure that the
resultant information is most useful.
