Robin M. Little¹ & Peter A. Robertson²

1World Wide Fund for Nature - South Africa (WWF-SA), PO Box 456, Stellenbosch 7599 South Africa, e-mail rlittle@wwfsa.org.za; ²Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York, YO4 1LZ, UK, e-mail p.robertson@csl.gov.uk

Little, R.M. & Robertson, P.A. 1999. Gamebirds as keys to conservation. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 2083. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

Gamebird hunting has historically featured strongly in the socio-culture and economies of rural communities and contributed to the conservation of biodiversity in many parts of North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. However, a major threat to the sustainable utilisation and even existence of gamebird populations on a global scale is fragmentation of habitats within a sea of modern intensive agriculture. Although human-modified habitats can favour certain species, and a number of gamebird species have exploited transformed habitats at some level, little is known about the impact of these habitat modifications on the long-term conservation of biodiversity as a whole, and of these gamebird populations in particular. The scientific challenge is to understand key factors which limit gamebird populations and to produce guidelines for manipulation of these factors to ensure biological sustainability. The economic incentives and socio-cultural benefits offered by gamebird utilisation, as a revenue booster to rural communities, will foster added impetus within the same habitats to the conservation of all species of plants and animals, and encourage landowners to manage natural habitats sustainably.