Alan Tristram Kenneth Lee

University of KwaZulu-Natal | ukzn · School of Life Sciences

As an endemic bird to the Fynbos biome, prominently featured in literature and marketing material for the avifauna of the continent, the Cape Rockjumper Chaetops frenatus is an iconic species of South Africa. Building on studies from the past decade, recent publications all point to a vulnerability to climate change due to temperature-related effec...

Demonstrated negative effects of increased temperatures on avian reproductive success suggest a mechanism by which climate change may impact species persistence. High temperatures can result in reduced parental care and reduced nestling condition in passerines with dependent young, resulting in lowered fledging success and population recruitment. W...

High human population growth and rapid urbanisation, particularly in Africa, have led to an increased interest in the impacts of this land-use change on bird communities. The African Bird Atlas Project, where species presence lists are collected in pentads, is a valuable source of data with which to explore the extent of these impacts. Here, for th...

Fencing, including electric fencing, is widely used across South Africa for livestock and game ranching practices. Leopard tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) are particularly prone to being killed by electric fences, but no published studies have assessed the impact of fence structure or quantified tortoise mortality along non-electric fences. This...

For endotherms, maintaining body temperature during cold winters is energetically costly. While greater increase in winter maximum thermogenic capacity (Msum) has typically been correlated with improved cold tolerance, seasonal studies have shown equivocal direction change in basal metabolic rate (BMR) in winter, perhaps explained by latitude or ph...

Abstract The fynbos biome of South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot renowned for its very high plant species richness, endemic birds and the presence of the Cape mountain leopard, a small race of African leopard Panthera pardus ssp pardus. Biodiversity monitoring across a range of faunal and floral taxa was conducted in mountain fynbos habitat. St...

Variation in body size, especially mass, is a function of local environmental conditions for any given species. Recent recorded decreases in body size of endotherms have been attributed to climate change in some cases. This prediction is based on the trend of smaller body size of endotherms in warmer climates (Bergmann’s rule) and it implies geneti...

In recent decades, people across the world have adopted ‘smart-phones’ and their technology. Software applications on these devices have become diverse in their functionality and easy to use. Citizen science projects that try to mobilise data collection from people from diverse backgrounds are ideally placed to benefit from the acceptance of easy-t...

A major cause of reproductive failure in birds is nest predation. Predation risk depends on predator type, as predators vary in their ecology and sensory modalities (e.g. visual vs. olfactory). Snakes (generally olfactory predators) are a major nest predator for small birds, with predation strongly associated with warmer temperatures. We investigat...

Mountain habitats physically isolated from one another ("sky islands") represent a unique system for studying dispersal in seemingly isolated populations. The Cape Fold Belt of southwest South Africa forms a sky island archipelago of high-altitude mountain fynbos of which the Cape Rockjumper Chaetops frenatus is an avian-endemic. Continued contract...

Traditional occupancy models that record detection/non‐detection (DND) of a species typically rely on either spatial or temporal survey replication to estimate model parameters. Recording the time until a species is first encountered after starting a survey is often possible with little extra effort and such time‐to‐detection (TTD) surveys may be m...

Biometrics form a key characteristic of a species. Here, we provide a summary of biometrics held by the South African Bird Ringing Scheme (SAFRING), which was initiated in 1948, including measures of mass and lengths of the tarsus, head, culmen, tail and wing. We include all species in southern Africa for which there was sufficient data. Accordingl...

The African Black Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini is a charismatic, southern African near-endemic, wader species, that is often seen as a flagship species for coastal bird conservation, as it was recently down-listed regionally to Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. To celebrate this rare conservation success story, BirdLife...

The Karoo is a unique region in South Africa in terms of its ecological processes and endemic species. Large areas are needed to maintain viable populations of nomadic birds that follow erratic rainfall events and subsequent food and nesting resources, as well as ephemeral standing water. Whereas many species are adapted to arid conditions, our tra...

Climate change predictions include increased mean temperatures and increased frequency of heatwaves. Short-term responses to high air temperatures can allow animals to conserve water while maintaining a safe body temperature. For birds, cooling is often through evaporative water loss, which can be physiologically costly. Microsite use is an effecti...

Species richness has become the common currency of studies of biodiversity. Here we consider measures of species richness for the birds of the arid Karoo region of South Africa. We measured species richness at two scales: at the broad-scale using pentads (5 × 5′); and at the fine scale, using point counts to determine important landscape features....

Subsequent to publication of the article by Lee et al. [Lee ATK, Fleming C, Wright DR. 2018. Modelling bird atlas reporting rate as a function of density in the southern Karoo, South Africa. Ostrich 89(4): 363–372], several links to download the data that were initially used were no longer accessible as a result of changes made to the SABAP2 websit...

Recommendations for strengthening orangutan conservation and climate change resilience in Kutai National Park, Indonesia. In Indonesia, Kutai National Park is home to what is likely to be East Kalimantan’s largest population of the Critically Endangered eastern subspecies of the Bornean Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus morio. It also hosts an astounding...

This is the Indonesian language version of "Reforesting for the climate of tomorrow: Recommendations for strengthening orangutan conservation and climate change resilience in Kutai National Park, Indonesia" See https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201902/iucn-study-identifies-tree-species-climate-resilient-reforestation

Water plays a key role in avian thermoregulation, especially when environmental temperatures approach or exceed body temperature. Birds living in arid environments need to either be adapted to life with unreliable access to water, or engage in large-scale movements to access water. This study asked whether species richness and the distribution of b...

Concerns about climate change have led to an increase in studies on physiological mechanisms birds possess to cope with increasing temperatures. For range-restricted species such as Cape Rockjumpers Chaetops frenatus, whose population declines are correlated with habitat warming, we identified juvenile physiological responses to high temperature as...

The relationship between true population density and abundance indices derived from atlas data can be used to estimate population size, a metric that is vital for assessing the conservation status of animal species. However, this relationship remains understudied. Meanwhile, there is growing concern for the avifauna of South Africa's arid southern...

Hot, dry summer conditions impose physiological stress on endotherms, yet we have a poor understanding of how endotherms seasonally adjust their costs of thermoregulation under hot conditions. We determined whether seasonal phenotypic plasticity in evaporative cooling capacity at high temperatures explained how the range-restricted Cape Rockjumper...

There is remarkably little documented information in the scientific literature on any of the 18 species of buttonquail as they are very difficult to observe in the wild. This lack of information has hampered informed conservation decision making. We undertook the first biome-wide survey for the fynbos endemic Hottentot Buttonquail Turnix hottentott...

Arid-zone birds trade-off dehydration and hyperthermia during hot weather, as they are dependent on evaporative cooling when air temperature approaches or exceeds body temperature. Water points in many arid ecosystems become surrounded by piospheres, exposing drinking birds to high radiant heat loads and exacerbating this trade-off. This challenge...

Hot, dry summer conditions impose physiological stress on endotherms, yet we have a poor understanding of how endotherms seasonally adjust their costs of thermoregulation under hot conditions. We determined whether seasonal phenotypic plasticity in evaporative cooling capacity at high temperatures explained how the range-restricted Cape Rockjumper...

The Hottentot Buttonquail Turnix hottentotus is an endangered terrestrial turnicid and is endemic to the Fynbos biome, South Africa. Due to its secretive nature and apparent rarity almost nothing is known about the species, but its range has been subject to anthropogenic modification, invasion by alien plant species and is vulnerable to climate cha...

Ecotourism generates important revenue in many developing economies, but poorly regulated ecotourism can threaten the long-term viability of key biological resources. We determined the effects of tourism, boat traffic, and natural disturbances on parrot geophagy (soil consumption) across seven riverine claylicks in the lowlands of Madre de Dios, Pe...

Recent studies have shown that a Fynbos endemic, the Cape rockjumper (rockjumper; Chaetops frenatus Temminck, 1826), is at risk from increases in temperature, with greatest population declines observed in regions that experienced warming over the last two decades. Many studies have suggested that a direct link exists between thermoregulatory costs...

The robust assessment of conservation status increasingly requires population metrics for species that may be little-researched, with no prospect of immediate improvement, but for which citizen science atlas data may exist. We explore the potential for bird atlas data to generate population metrics of use in red data assessment, using the endemic a...

Water affects distribution of many species, but climate change is set to change rainfall patterns and hence water availability. In South Africa, various global climate-change models suggest a drier future for the winter rainfall regions with implications for survival of plant and animal species of the fynbos region. Most birds offload heat by evapo...

Presented as part of a seminar ”Surviving the heat: integrating physiology, behaviour, and morphology to predict population responses to climate change”

Relationships between true population densities and reporting indices from atlas data are important for the calculation of population sizes, though these relationships are remarkably little-known and likely confounded by issues of detection. We examine issues of detection for a single-observer point-count survey across the Fynbos biome in South Afr...

The fynbos biome of South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot renowned for its very high plant species richness, endemic birds and the presence of the Cape mountain leopard (Panthera pardus). Biodiversity monitoring across a range of faunal taxa was conducted in mountain fynbos habitat in the context of determining prey availability for leopard, carac...

The Fynbos biome is vulnerable to anthropogenic influence and climate warming. A recent study has shown that of the six Fynbos-endemic passerines, Cape rockjumpers (Chaetops frenatus) are particularly vulnerable to increases in temperatures across their range, with those occupying regions that experienced warming over the last two decades showing t...

Body size determines an animal's energy and water demands for thermoregulation. Sexual size dimorphism is common across many species, but its physiological consequences (e.g. energy and water demands) are poorly understood. We predict that the smaller sex should show greater foraging effort during the day, especially during extreme weather, to meet...

Full text available at: http://conphys.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/cov048?ijkey=NfV4LZD57vxxWli&keytype=ref We investigated whether observed avian range contractions and population declines in the Fynbos biome of South Africa were mechanistically linked to recent climate warming. We aimed to determine whether there were correlations betwee...

The Fynbos biome is vulnerable to anthropogenic influence and climate warming. A recent study has shown that of the six Fynbos-endemic passerines, Cape rockjumpers (Chaetops frenatus) are particularly vulnerable to increases in temperatures across their range, with those occupying regions that experienced warming over the last two decades showing t...

Abstract Estimates of bird numbers through quantification of density and range sizes are necessary for decisions regarding conservation status, yet counts of birds are often confounded by uncertainty of detection. The status of the endemic birds of the fynbos biome is of interest due to their conservation value in a global biodiversity hotspot, the...

The South African Fynbos biome, a global biodiversity hotspot with high endemism and species richness, has six endemic bird species. These are important not only intrinsically, but also for ecological functioning and as flagships for South Africa’s economically valuable avitourism sector. Little is known about population sizes or realised distribut...

The fynbos of South Africa is renowned for its high richness of plant species, many of which are insect-pollinated. We conducted a visual survey of arthropod activity to examine how environmental factors influence activity patterns across the biome. We estimated the activity of moving medium-to large-sized Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Cole...

The protea seedeater, Crithagra leucopterus, is one of six passerine birds endemic to the Fynbos Biome, South Africa. It is the least known of these, and there is very little information on breeding and habitat use. Through nest observations and a bird ringing scheme in the eastern sections of the Fynbos, we provide updated information on habitat u...

The protea seedeater, Crithagra leucopterus, is one of six passerine birds endemic to the Fynbos Biome, South Africa. It is the least known of these, and there is very little information on breeding and habitat use. Through nest observations and a bird ringing scheme in the eastern sections of the Fynbos, we provide updated information on habitat u...

Abstract We identified species- and community-level dietary characteristics for a species-rich Amazonian parrot assemblage to determine relationships among dietary metrics and use of geophagy sites. Previous studies suggest that soil is consumed at geophagy sites in this region mainly to supplement dietary sodium. We accumulated 1400 feeding record...

The Amazon basin holds very high parrot species richness but almost nothing is known of parrot population densities in the region or how these vary between species, habitats, sites, and seasons. Such data are becoming important as humans impact on increasing areas of the region. Seventeen parrot species were surveyed using a line transect distance...

Geophagy is well known among some Neotropical parrots. The clay apparently adsorbs dietary toxins and/or provides supplemental nutrients. We used location data and 23 environmental layers to develop a predictive model of claylick distribution using Maxent software. We related species characteristics to claylick use and examined how parrot assemblag...