Weaver Wednesday 3: range changes in S Africa
(species text)
Scaly-feathered Finch Sporopipes squamifrons
Scaly-feathered Finch, Range-change map between SABAP1 (1987-1991) and SABAP2 (2007-current).
Red, orange and yellow = cells with very large, large, and small relative decreases
Blue, dark green and light green = cells with very large, large and small relative increases.
Cells = quarter-degree grid cells; Only cells with at least 4 checklists in both SABAP1&2 shown. All cells had this species recorded in SABAP1 or in SABAP2 or in both (more about interpretation at Biodiversity Observations 7.62: 1-13).
Scaly-feathered Finch, figure from Birdpix
Range changes in SA
Range change summary
More
4 lists
30 lists
increases
n
%
n
%
Decrease
206
30
68
41
Tiny change
141
21
38
23
Increase
337
50
61
36
Total
684
100
167
100
In South Africa the Scaly-feathered Finch has more grid cells with increases in reporting rate than cells showing decreases, between SABAP1 (1987-1991) and SABAP2 (2007-), although this is reversed when using 30 checklists for the analysis. The points below match the points on the map above.
Areas with very large increases include:
1. range expansion towards Pafuri (KNP), and breeding
2. range increases around Burgersfort
3. Northern Cape and western Free State show large or very large increases
4. Western parts of the Eastern Cape areas show large or very large increases
Large decreases appear to have occurred:
5. In Gauteng it has a very low reporting rate, probably due to decreases in size of suitable habitat patches
6. Large or very large decreases appear to have occurred over large areas of northern South Africa, probably related to habitat changes.
Range changes elsewhere
Angola: range extends further than mapped in (Fry 2004a) (in prep.).
Zimbabwe: range increasing around Bulawayo (Dean 1963a).
