By contrast, patchy fire regimes driven by the interaction between grazing and fire once characterized large-scale grazing ecosystems and favoured high biodiversity (Fuhlendorf et al., 2009) The 900 km2 Hluhlwe-iMfolozi Park has been unusually resilient to large mammal losses despite its small extent, a feature that seems related to high local heterogeneity in rainfall, topography and soils (Brooks and Macdonald 1983). Such patterns of heterogeneity that influence the functioning of the ecosystem (functional heterogeneity) should be a priority for conservation