Tierberg Heuweltjies

This database comprises two spreadsheets containing spatially- explicit (georeferenced) information on the use of heuweltjies (the circular patch of soil overlying buried nest mounds of the small harvester termite Microhodotermes viator) by various kinds of animals including the termites, their predator Orycteropus afer (aardvark), herbivorous rodents (Parotomys, Otomys, Hystrix), antelope (Raphicerus, Sylvicapra, Tragelaphus), and lynx (Felis caracal). It also includes some information on alien (Atriplex lindeyi) and indigenous plant species present on the heuweltjies. Analysis of the 1987-89 data shows that a wide variety of vertebrates maintain heuweltjies as disturbed, nutrient-rich sites.