SOME INTERACTIONS OF PLANTS, RABBITS AND SEA- BIRDS ON SOUTH AFRICAN ISLANDS.

The article focuses on a study which investigates some aspects of the interaction of plants, rabbits and seabirds on nine islands in South Africa. One of the most important results of the study is the intense competition between plants and animals for the space available on the islands, particularly on breeding areas. Rabbits, which are very rare on the African mainland because of the abundance of predators, exert a profound influence on the island vegetation, while bush-nesting birds are linked with the start and end of the rabbit plagiosphere, but are excluded from the middle phases which are occupied by ground-nesting birds. Moreover, branch conformation of shrubs has an important bearing on selection of nest site by cormorants.