Aspects of biodiversity in the southern African Grassland biome

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.