Birds and Worms Latest Victims of South African Climate Change
Birds are vanishing from indigenous forests‚ especially in the Eastern Cape‚ and mopane worms — a key part of life in Limpopo — are in significant decline.
Separate academic studies have revealed the new threats to biodiversity caused by environmental changes and loss of habitat.
A team from Stellenbosch University and the Department of Environmental Affairs‚ which analysed 25 years of citizen science data collected by the Southern African Bird Atlas Project‚ found that half the country’s 57 forest-dwelling bird species are vanishing.
Stellenbosch behavioural ecologist Michael Cherry said indigenous forests in the former homelands of the Ciskei and Transkei were the main worry.
Alan Manson