Charl Deacon

Oct 28, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Charl Deacon |Michael Samways |James Pryke

1 Introduction Freshwater biodiversity in many parts of the world is declining at unprecedented rates, with overall losses far exceeding those of terrestrial habitats (Tickner et al. 2020; Albert et al. 2021). These declines are alarming, as freshwaters cover < 1% of the Earth's surface, yet harbour ~10% of global biodiversity (Strayer and Dudgeon 2010).

Aug 16, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Michael Samways |James Pryke |René Gaigher |Charl Deacon

1 INTRODUCTION The Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) includes areas that are floristically distinct from the rest of southern Africa, and is composed of the Cape Floristic Region, the HantamTanqua-Roggeveld Region, and the Namaqualand Region (Figure 1). The GCFR is well-known for its high levels of floristic diversity and endemism covering a broad range of climatic conditions from mesic to arid (Born et al., 2007).

Jun 1, 2023 | science.thewire.in | Charl Deacon

Representative image of a butterfly. Photo: Tjflex2/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)Natural landscapes are continually transformed to make room for agricultural and urban developments – often at the expense of important habitats and species. That’s why, to avoid unnecessary species extinctions, it’s crucial to know which habitats to protect. In a recent paper, we studied how changes to the landscape affected butterflies in a grassland area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.