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Drinking behaviours, behavioural responses, water balance, thermoregulation
and climate change.
The southern Kalahari Desert region, Northern Cape, South Africa.
Under the current scenario of climate change, the world’s hot deserts are
predicted to become even hotter, with an overall increase in the frequency and
intensity of heat waves. Extremely hot weather can lead to catastrophic
mortality events, such as those recently seen in Australian birds and bats.
Southern Africa’s hottest desert, the Kalahari, hosts a diverse bird community,
and up to 60% of the region’s bird species are believed to be independent of
drinking water. However, very limited data exist on the effects of heat on the
behavioural and physiological thermoregulatory responses of these species. By
linking interspecific data on drinking behaviours, time-activity budgets, water
turn-over rates and facultative hyperthermia to predicted increases in air
temperature, my research will provide a better understanding of how climate
change will influence birds in the southern Kalahari region.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria
Percy Fitzpatrick Institute, University of Cape Town
Mr Ben Smit
Department of Zoology & Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa
Email: bsmit@zoology.up.ac.za /
smitbe@gmail.com
Mobile: +27-(0)82-9251383
Fax: +27-(0)12-3625242
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