Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Botany and Zoology) by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 102
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The ability of terrestrial Oligochaeta to survive in ultramafic soils and the assessment of toxicity at different levels of organisation
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006-12)Metals are natural elements of the earth crust usually present at low concentrations in all soils. Although many metals such as cobalt, copper, iron and zinc are essential to living organisms, at elevated concentrations ...
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Alien species and propagules in the Antarctic : movements through space and time
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although the impacts of biological invasions are widely appreciated, a bias exists in research effort to post‐dispersal processes because of the difficulties of measuring propagule pressure and the detecting ...
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An analysis of the Pseudocordylus melanotus complex (Sauria: Cordylidae)
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2007-04)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The taxonomic status of southern Africa’s rupicolous crag lizards (genus Pseudocordylus) was investigated. As considerable confusion exists in the literature regarding the type specimens and type ...
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An anatomical and systematic study of the family Mesosauridae (reptilia : proganosauria) with special reference to its associated fauna and palaeoecological environment in the Whitehill Sea
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1900)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The anatomy and taxonomy of the southern African fossil reptile Mesosaurus from the Whitehill Shale has shown that the Formation is a chronostratigraphic unit. It is postulated that the almost identical ...
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Aspects of ecosystem function in a woodland savanna in South West Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1975-12)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A study was made of certain relations operating within a South West African woodland savanna ecosystem which was characterised by simplification within most of its basic components. . Main attention was ...
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Assembly and disassembly of bird pollination communities at the Cape of Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the current global decline in pollinators, and the concurrent decline in plant species, pollination research is becoming increasingly important. However, studies outside Europe and North-America and ...
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Assessing vegetation dynamics in response to climate variability and change across sub-Saharan Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Understanding and predicting how anthropogenic climate change is likely to impact terrestrial ecosystems across sub-Saharan Africa is a key question for both ecology and for regional and global climate ...
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An assessment of the potential biodiversity impacts from biofuel production in South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Biofuels are being promoted as a global necessity to meet climate change targets through the replacement of fossil fuels. Many countries have identified biofuels as a potential mechanism to meet these ...
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Biochemical and physiological changes associated with estrogenic activity in Xenopus laevis : a model for the detection of endocrine disruption
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Concern has increased that widespread adverse effects are occurring in humans and wildlife populations as a result of exposure to environmental chemicals (mostly man-made) that disrupt the normal ...
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Biodiversity and ecology of ophiostomatoid fungi associated with trees in the Cape floristic region of South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very little is known about the diversity of fungi associated with Afromontane forests of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of South Africa. The ophiostomatoid fungi include many species, some known as ...
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The biogeography, systematics and conservation of Phreatoicidean isopods in South Africa
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2004-12)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Historically, isopods of the suborder Phreatoicidea were thought to be represented in southern Africa by four species belonging to the endemic genus Mesamphisopus. This taxonomy was based on poor ...
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A biosytematic [i.e. biosystematic] study of the seven minor genera of the Hyacinthaceae
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A biosytematic revision of the seven minor genera of the Hyacinthaceae, including twenty-two species, was undertaken. Muller-Doblies & Muller-Doblies (1997) considered these seven genera (Amphisiphon ...
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Causes and consequences of body armour in the group-living lizard, Ouroborus cataphractus (Cordylidae)
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cordylidae is a family of predominantly rock-dwelling sit-and-wait foraging lizards endemic to southern Africa. The significant variation in spine length and extent of osteoderms among taxa makes the ...
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Cellular biomarkers of exposure to the fungicide copper oxychloride, in the common garden snail Helix aspersa, in Western Cape vineyards
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2001-03)Copper oxychloride (Cu2CI(OH)3) is a broad-spectrum fungicide, intensively sprayed in many South African vineyards and orchards. It is necessary to find accurate and effective methods of monitoring the effects of this ...
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Characterization of candidate genes related to estrogenic activity in Oreochromis mossambicus
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008-03)Endocrine disruption is an alteration of the chemical messaging processes in the body. The value of studies‐ and monitoring of endocrine disruption using techniques included in the field of toxicogenomics is undoubtedly ...
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Chromosomal evolution and phylogeny of golden moles and tenrecs (Mammalia : Afrosoricida)
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2008-03)Afrosoricida is a 65 million years old (my) eutherian order that together with the Tubulidentata (aardvark) and Macroscelidea (elephant shrews) form the Afroinsectiphillia, a subclade of Afrotheria. It includes two ...
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Climate change and invasion impacts in the sub-Antarctic
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Climate change and biological invasions are major threats to biodiversity. In particular, these threats are predicted to influence terrestrial systems in the sub-Antarctic, where significant ecosystem ...
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Climatic perturbation and speciation of Southern and Eastern African Bulbul/Greenbul species (family Pycnonotidae)
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: African greenbuls are an ideal model system with which to explore different hypothesis that may underlie observed patterns of lineage diversification. Among those few hypotheses amenable to falsification ...
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Communication in the yellow mongoose, Cynictis penicillata
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007-12)Improved anti-predator protection has been postulated to be the primary advantage of sociality in the family Herpestidae. Therefore, the yellow mongoose, Cynictis penicillata, is considered an anomaly in the family because ...
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The comparative and functional cranial morphology of the early Therocephalia (Amniota: Therapsida)
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1987)AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die skedelmorfologie van die vroeë Therocephalia word bespreek op historiese, anatomies-vergelykende en taksonomiese grondslag. Daar word aangetoon dat die familienaam Scylacosauridae voorrang ...
