Desertification deteriorates the landscape functionality of rangelands, affecting the resilience of biome boundaries and this has a cascading effect on vegetation and animal communities. This study aimed to assess landscape functionality along the biome boundary of two arid biomes and its relationship to small mammal assemblages. The study further aimed to provide a landscape perspective of the current desertification process and projected expansion of the Desert biome in South Africa. Three Desert biome, ecotone and Succulent Karoo biome sites were selected to assess landscape functionality and small mammal assemblages over a one‐year period. The difference in landscape functionality between the three areas was assessed to determine the resilience of the biome boundary to desertification. Our results showed that the vegetation of the ecotone had higher desert‐like affinities while the soils seemed resilient and remained closely related to the Succulent Karoo biome. High livestock grazing pressure, as evident in the pastoral rangeland, may further deteriorate vegetation parameters and expose the soil to erosion, thereby advancing desertification. During both winter and summer, small mammal surveys using live Sherman traps were conducted and over the total 3204 trapping nights, 119 small mammal captures were recorded from three species. Desmodillus auricularis, Elephantulus rupestris and Gerbillurus paeba all had significantly higher densities in the Succulent Karoo biome. Our study supports the view that G. paeba would be the only species able to thrive in the less diverse Desert biome. This might have implications for the ecosystem services provided by the other two small mammal species in the landscape. As the trajectory for projected desertification appears to be on track, concerted efforts in improving rangeland management are required to maintain landscape functionality and stabilise small mammal assemblages.

中文翻译：

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南非干旱区小型哺乳动物群落潜在生物群落边界移动的含义

荒漠化恶化了牧场的景观功能，影响了生物群落边界的复原力，对植被和动物群落产生了级联效应。这项研究旨在评估沿两个干旱生物群落的生物群落边界的景观功能及其与小型哺乳动物群落的关系。这项研究的目的还在于提供当前沙漠化进程的景观观点以及南非沙漠生物群落的预计扩展。选择了三个沙漠生物群落，过渡带和多肉植物Karoo生物群落，以评估一年中的景观功能和小型哺乳动物群落。评估了这三个区域之间景观功能的差异，以确定生物群落边界对荒漠化的复原力。我们的结果表明，过渡带的植被具有更高的沙漠般亲和力，而土壤似乎具有弹性，并且与多肉植物Karoo生物群落密切相关。牧草牧场中明显出现的高牲畜放牧压力可能进一步恶化植被参数并使土壤遭受侵蚀，从而加剧荒漠化。在冬季和夏季，都使用活的谢尔曼诱捕器进行了小型哺乳动物调查，在总共3204个诱捕之夜中，记录了来自三种物种的119种小型哺乳动物捕获。从而推进荒漠化。在冬季和夏季，都使用活的谢尔曼诱捕器对小型哺乳动物进行了调查，在总共3204个诱捕之夜中，从三个物种中捕获了119种小型哺乳动物。从而推进荒漠化。在冬季和夏季，都使用活的谢尔曼诱捕器对小型哺乳动物进行了调查，在总共3204个诱捕之夜中，从三个物种中捕获了119种小型哺乳动物。在多肉植物Karoo生物群落中，耳廓Desmodillus auricularis，象鼻象（Elephantulus rupestris）和Gerbillurus paeba的密度均显着较高。我们的研究支持以下观点，即Paeba将是唯一能够在多样性较低的沙漠生物群落中繁衍的物种。这可能会对景观中其他两个小型哺乳动物物种提供的生态系统服务产生影响。由于预计的荒漠化轨迹似乎已步入正轨，因此需要采取协调一致的努力来改善牧场管理，以维持景观功能并稳定小型哺乳动物种群。