Indigenous knowledge of South African bird and rangeland ecology is effective for informing conservation science

Abstract

South Africa's communal rangelands constitute ~25% of the country's land cover and are largely managed for livestock grazing. These habitats play an important role in rural livelihoods and cultural practices. Using semi-structured interviews, we documented indigenous local ecological knowledge (LEK) held by rural dwellers linked to natural resource utilisation, environmental health and cultural keystone indicator species (CKIS) in the grassland communities of southern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Our main objective was to examine the ability for LEK to inform conservation management. We found that people who were heavily reliant on natural resources attained a higher LEK score, indicating a greater breadth of ecological knowledge, which in turn shaped their perceptions of environmental change. Community members confirmed the presence of conservation concern species within this area, highlighting the limitations of only using citizen science databases for conservation management, as their observations within these databases are biased towards major road routes and protected or urban areas. LEK can play an important role in identifying habitats crucial to species' persistence and delineating population trends over time. Our surveys highlighted the importance of the Southern Ground-hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri as a CKIS that acts as an early warning system of changing weather, notably rain. However, LEK is context-specific, and some CKIS species such as the Southern Ground-hornbill have wide distribution ranges. Consequently, the cultural associations and implications differ based on local belief systems that are often defined by the language spoken and the community's geographical location. Our study demonstrated the importance of including indigenous LEK in conservation planning for threatened species and habitats and the importance of traditional family values responsible for transferring oral knowledge.

Keywords: Climate change; Cultural keystone indicator species; Rangeland management; Southern ground-hornbill.