Abstract:
The South African grassland is considered the economic and industrial heartland of the
country and is associated with numerous negative environmental impacts. Nowhere is
the alteration of the southern African Grassland Biome more pronounced than in the
Highveld Region, particularly the Drakensberg Escarpment, where areas are still being
irreversibly fragmented and transformed by agricultural (notably afforestation), mining,
and industrial practices. Little is yet known of the biodiversity, including the endemic,
rare and threatened species of both faun al and floristic components of the Grassland
Biome. Inventories collated by various criteria show that the Grassland Biome has an
extremely high floristic and fauna! diversity, (number of southern African/sub-Region
endemics in brackets): 554 bird ( 126), 243 ( 12 I) reptile and amphibian, 195 butterfly
(± 63) and 172 (23) mammal species. Of these, 12 bird, 29 herpetofauna, 49 butterfly
and eight mammal species are largely restricted to grassland. The presence of many,
often endangered, endemic and rare specialist species in the Grassland Biome suggests
that this region is in urgent need of much higher conservation status than is currently
the case.
