Study unlocks secrets of elusive Karoo mammals

A STUDY of two small mammal groups is said to have unlocked new knowledge on their taxonomy and distribution, and will aid conservation in the Karoo, which has been earmarked for shale gas exploration.

According to Craig Allenby, director for marketing and commercialisation at the SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), the data provides insight on endemism (endemic to one area) in the Karoo.

Allenby said South Africa was at an energy crossroads, and had identified the potential future economic and energy security benefits of the Karoo natural gas reserves (about 13 trillion cubic feet).

“As part of the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme’s (FBIP) funded Karoo BioGaps Project, researchers from the universities of Johannesburg (UJ) and Cape Town (UCT) have turned their focus to the small mammals of the region, said to be vastly understudied and under-protected,” he said.

The study was recently published in the journal African Zoology and findings will be used for future strategic environmental assessments in the Karoo.

According to UJ PhD candidate and lead author Devon Main, the study provides the first available genetic sequence data for Grant’s rock rat

(Micaelamys granti) and also new range data for the recently described and “elusive” Karoo rock elephant shrew

(Elephantulus pilicaudus).

“Very few records exist for these newly-described and Karoo-endemic species; the data we provided in our study suggest that their distribution ranges are larger (or smaller) than previously thought,” he told the FBIP.

UJ’s Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation, led by study co-author Professor Bettine van Vuuren, used a DNA-informed identification approach to determine which species were represented in the 119 samples (63 rodents and 56 elephant shrews) collected by UCT’s small mammals team led by Dr Gary Bronner.

The study provides new occurrence records for all species, defines new ranges for the rock rat and elephant shrew, and contributes new knowledge on endemism for the species.