02663nas a2200229   4500008004100000245012800041210006900169300000900238490000700247520187800254653001702132653000902149653001202158653001902170653001702189653001602206653001102222100002102233700002402254700001702278856013802295       2005                        eng d00aA dung beetle survey of selected Gauteng nature reserves: implications for conservation of the provincial scarabaeine fauna0 adung beetle survey of selected Gauteng nature reserves implicati  a1-160 v133 aAquantitativedungbeetlesurvey(Coleoptera:Scarabaeidae:Scarabaeinae)wasconducted insixGautengnaturereserves(Tswaing,Leeuwfontein,Roodeplaat,Ezemvelo,AbeBailey, Suikerbosrand) representativeof theprovincial rangeinenvironmental conditions. The studyprovidedaprovincial species inventorythat has beentestedfor completeness bycomparisonwithmuseumreferencematerial. It alsopermittedananalysisof major influencesonregional(altitude,annualrainfall)andlocal(soilandvegetationtype)patterns of speciesabundance. Thesurveyrecordedatotal of 152species. Althoughafurther29 specieswererepresentedinreferencecollections,theirabsencefromthepresentworkwas probablyduetohabitat,food,ortemporalspecializations.Multivariateanalyses(clustering, MDS)ofspeciesabundancedataformedsixclusters,eachcomprisingexclusivelythesitesin singlereserves. Thisindicatesthatregionalbetween-reservefaunaldifferencesaregreater thanlocal withinreservedifferences, thusdemonstratingthevalueof eachreserve. Ina hierarchical analysisofobliquefactors, fiveoutofsevenstatisticallydefinedclusterscom- prisedexclusivelythesitesinsinglereserveswithSuikerbosrandsplitintwo.Theseclusters werevariouslycorrelatedwithnineextendedfactors.Alongsevenfactors,correlationswere uniqueoressentiallyuniquetosinglereservesandwerefairlyhigh,particularlyatinterme- diatealtitude. Alongtheremainingtwosharedfactors, therewereopposingtrendsinthat correlationseitherdecreasedwithhigheraltitudeordecreasedwithloweraltitude. Thus, eachclustershowsthreecoefficientsofdetermination, onerepresentingtheproportionof varianceduetosharedhighlandfaunalinfluence,onerepresentingthatduetosharedlow- landfaunal influenceandthethirdrepresentingthatduetouniquelocal faunal composi- tion. Theanalysesidentifythetransitionfromlowlandtohighland-dominatedfaunas, the relativefaunal distinctivenessofeachreserve, andomissionsfromtheprovincial reserve system.10aconservation10aDung10aGauteng10anature reserve10aScarabaeinae10aSouthAfrica10asurvey1 aDavis, A., L. V.1 aScholtz, Clarke, H.1 aDeschodt, C.  uhttps://scarabnet.myspecies.info/dung-beetle-survey-selected-gauteng-nature-reserves-implications-conservation-provincial-scarabaeine