Organization: University of Cape Town (UCT)

Project Location: South Africa

Web address: http://www.uct.ac.za

Title of Grant: “Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment (SARCA)”

Grant Amount: $135,057 over 2 years

Principal Investigator: Marienne S. de Villiers

Organization Background:

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is the only African university listed among the world’s top 200 universities. UCT’s mission is “to be an outstanding teaching and research university, educating for life and addressing the challenges facing our society.” The Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment (SARCA) relates to this mission through the education and training of its staff and volunteers, through its collaborations with academics at other universities and museums, through the conservation education of the public, and through its role in addressing the challenge of biodiversity conservation in the region.

Grant Description:

The following activities will be undertaken.  Activities involving groups of authors, editors and/or reviewers will take place at various institutions, both local and international.

1. Administrative activities.
1. Hold annual (or bi-annual) SARCA Steering Committee meetings, to approve annual reports and financial statements, and discuss other matters arising.
2. Public participation.
1. Create and maintain a project website and distribution of a series of e-newsletters (via a list-server and on the website) to provide information, news and feedback to participants and the public at large.
2. Establish the SARCA Virtual Museum of digital photographic records. Encourage broad public participation in the project by means of the Virtual Museum.
3. Field surveys and outreach.
1. Conduct gap analyses to assess coverage and set priorities for each of the three field seasons.
2. Conduct a series of field surveys at priority localities over three summer seasons. Deposit voucher specimens and tissue samples in four appropriate national institutions.
3. Engage in capacity building through engagement of volunteers to assist with surveys, and involvement of school learners.
4. Distribution database.
1. Compile a database of distribution records that incorporates all available distributional data in museum collections, the SARCA Virtual Museum, records in the literature, and records from SARCA field surveys. Produce database-generated species distribution maps, and provide access to these through the SARCA website.
2. Vet and edit the database.
3. Negotiate Memoranda of Understanding (MoU’s) with data donors for the hand over of the database to SANBI for online access.
4. Hand over interim database to SANBI (this will not include data for which MoU’s are required).
5. Deliver the distribution database to SANBI, for incorporation into SANBI’s online Integrated Biodiversity Information System.
5. Conservation Assessment Database and Atlas and Red Data Book.
1. Design a Conservation Assessment Database to assist and document the process of conservation assessment, and to meet the requirements of the IUCN.
2. Hold a series of Authors’ Workshops to train the authors/assessors in conservation assessment according to IUCN criteria, and the use of the SARCA Assessment Database.
3. Write species accounts of all reptile taxa of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho, for the Atlas and Red Data Book.
4. Edit species accounts.
5. Write the introductory chapters for the Atlas and Red Data Book.
6. Compile all chapters, species accounts and distribution maps into one document.
7. Externally review the Atlas and Red Data Book, and the Conservation Assessment Database.
8. Implement reviewers’ comments.
9. Submit a SARCA-generated Red List to the relevant specialist group of the IUCN for ratification and inclusion in the Global Reptile Assessment (GRA).
10. Submit the Atlas and Red Data Book of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland to Desk Top Publishing, SANBI.
11. Submit the Distribution Database to SANBI.
6. SARCA Phase 2.
1. Produce a proposal for a second phase of the reptile monitoring and conservation assessment.

The Problem:

The problem is how to improve appreciation and understanding of the diversity, conservation status and distribution of reptiles in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, and thereby contribute to an improvement in the conservation of reptiles in the region.

The SARCA region includes three of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International (Cape Floristic Region, Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany and Succulent Karoo hotspots). The region has an exceptional diversity of reptiles: 400+ species which is 5% of the global total, or approximately five times what one would expect based on land area alone. After continental Australia and Mexico, the SARCA region has the third richest lizard fauna, and by far the richest tortoise fauna, in the world. Levels of endemism are extremely high, with 130+ species (~33% of all the reptile species, and an astonishing 53% of the lizard species) being endemic to the region. The SARCA region is thus globally important with respect to the conservation of reptile diversity.

The Solution:

The goals of The Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment are to:

1. Compile a comprehensive and integrated database of distribution records for the reptiles of the region.
2. Greatly improve the databasing and mapping of reptile species’ distributions in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland; and improve access to data and research material on reptiles, including online access.
3. Conduct field surveys, based on gap analyses, to fill in gaps in distribution records where possible. Establish, test and document appropriate survey methods for reptiles.
4. During field surveys, collect and bank voucher specimens and tissue samples that will be a tool for researchers addressing taxonomic issues.
5. Produce an updated Red Data Book of the reptiles of the region.
6. The Red Data Book will include a conservation assessment of the reptiles of the region, produced to International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN standards, to guide conservation effort.
7. Raise public awareness of reptiles and their conservation needs on a broad front.
8. Through partnership with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), assist with the legal obligation to document, monitor and protect biodiversity within South Africa’s borders.

Global Impact:

1. Digitization of museum data and of literature distribution records, and the availability of these records online, will improve the accessibility of this information to researchers and conservation agencies. It will also improve ease of data interrogation and analysis.
2. The IUCN will receive updated conservation assessments for the region’s reptiles, conducted by experts in the field.
3. The Global Reptile Assessment (IUCN) will receive an up-to-date list of the conservation status of the region’s reptiles.
4. The Atlas and Red Data Book will make updated conservation priorities available to conservation organizations.
5. SARCA’s online Virtual Museum is a global first. The Virtual Museum provides a template for public participation and for incorporating “citizen science” as an information gathering tool for conservation. It has been adopted by other conservation-related projects.
6. SARCA is contributing to capacity building of the project’s data technician and project co-ordinator, and to student and learner training through field trips. Education of the public regarding reptiles and their conservation is taking place through the website and the Virtual Museum, and through communications such as press releases and public talks. Training of staff at various nature reserves will enable the perpetuation of reptile surveys beyond the SARCA timeframe.
7. A field methodology report, outlining the methods used during the SARCA field surveys, will be published in 2009 (after the official end of the project in February 2009) and will provide an assessment of techniques that will be useful for future surveys.
8. Tissue samples collected during field trips are available to researchers for the resolution of taxonomic problems.
9. Voucher specimens collected on SARCA field trips and sent to museums have contributed to museum collections. These will be used in a multitude of studies and publications dealing mostly with biogeography, biology and taxonomy of reptiles, including descriptions of new species.
10. SARCA field trips have involved collaboration with specialists investigating other taxa. Scorpions and spiders collected during field surveys have been sent to the American Museum of Natural History and the South African National Survey of Arachnida, Agricultural Research Institute.