Academic literature on the topic 'Atelerix frontalis'

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2015
The southern African hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) is the only native hedgehog species in South Africa. The published distribution of Atelerix frontalis is based on old occurrence records and few studies have investigated the species' current range or fundamental niche. In addition, Atelerix frontalis commonly exist in many urban areas but it is unclear what resources the species requires to survive and reproduce in these environments. Knowledge of the species' climatic envelope and resource requirements will enable us to assess the risk of population decline, protect the geographic areas expected to sustain future populations and estimate the innate ability of the species to respond to environmental change. My research focused on establishing the fundamental niche of Atelerix frontalis, as well as assessing their ability to cope with climatic and anthropogenic change. I assessed these ideas by obtaining Atelerix frontalis occurrence records (via museums, FreeMe Rehabilitation Centre and public reported sightings) and conducting species distribution modelling, resource selection analysis and assessment of demographic patterns in urban environments. The species distribution models indicated that Atelerix frontalis occurred predominately in climatic regions with dry, cold winters and wet summers, climatic conditions that correspond with the savanna and grassland biomes of South Africa. The range of suitable habitats for Atelerix frontalis can be expected to decline in the future, although high lying areas, such as the Drakensberg mountain range, may offer suitable refugia to sustain populations. Atelerix frontalis were common in urban environments, and within the Greater Johannesburg area, they favoured Egoli granite grassland vegetation and albic plinthosol soils. My research suggests that Atelerix frontalis often occurred in close proximity to roads and human settlements, resources that are likely to be selected for feeding and dispersal opportunities. Urban Atelerix frontalis sightings were closer to all the environmental features selected than the general population, indicating behavioural plasticity through niche differentiation. Atelerix frontalis demographic data indicated post-torpor breeding in spring and summer, as well as juvenile dispersal in late summer and autumn. Urban dwelling Atelerix frontalis populations appeared to be sustainable, with the majority of Atelerix frontalis recovered by FreeMe Rehabilitation Centre in good body condition. Atelerix frontalis survival and persistence in South Africa seems precarious given the species fundamental niche requirements and the extensive anthropogenic transformation of savanna and grassland biomes. However the species’ ability to survive and reproduce in urban environments may greatly benefit future populations, through exploitation of refugia in transformed urban habitats.

The near-threatened southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (A. Smith, 1831) is divided into two subspecies based on its disjunct distribution of two allopatric populations. This is despite reservations because its nature and extent of geographic variation remains virtually unknown. The present study, therefore, represents the first analysis of geographic variation within A. frontalis and is based on a multidisciplinary approach involving traditional and two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis of the cranium and mandible, and molecular data in order to test the validity of the subspecies designations. The results of all univariate and multivariate analyses of both traditional and geometric morphometric data were congruent and provide evidence for a north-westerly–south-easterly clinal pattern of variation with cranial configuration being positively correlated with both latitude and longitude. These results are supported by Neighbour-joining, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony analyses of Cyt-b and ND2 data that revealed no variation across a 377 bp and 1034 bp region sequenced for each gene, respectively, while a 377 bp control region sequenced revealed low levels of variation between representatives of the two recognized subspecies (0.54 % pairwise sequence divergence). These results together with the lack of pronounced steps in the clinal pattern of variation suggest that the recognition of subspecies within A. frontalis may be untenable such that its disjunct distribution may represent a recent divergence event. If this is the case, then the results in this study may have implications in the conservation management strategies for A. frontalis, since it could be argued that one disjunct population could act as a source population for the other. However, it is recommended that prior to the implementation of conservation management plans for the species, further studies involving a wide range of alternative systematic techniques need to be undertaken first in order to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent of geographic variation within A. frontalis. These suggested studies should focus on comprehensive sampling and analyses involving a range of environmental and/or climatic variables in an attempt to identify factors that may explain the disjunct distribution and the clinal pattern of variation within the southern African hedgehog.
Dissertation (MS)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Zoology and Entomology
unrestricted