Tall tales from small animals: diversity, phylogeny and biogeography of neglected Southern African arthropods
Date
2015-04
Authors
Daniels, Savel
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Professor Savel Daniels matriculated from Diazville Senior Secondary School in Saldanha in 1991. Subsequently, he graduated with a BSc degree in 1995, a BSc (Hons) in 1996 and an MSc (cum laude) in 1998 from the University of the Western Cape. In 1999 he was awarded a freestanding merit bursary from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and enrolled for a PhD at Stellenbosch University (SU). During this period, he also received a SU merit bursary and a Harry Crossly bursary. Upon completion of his PhD in 2002, he was appointed as junior lecturer and promoted to lecturer the following year in the SU Department of Botany and Zoology. He was awarded a Claude Leon Foundation postdoctoral fellowship that would have permitted him to undertake postdoctoral research in South Africa. However, he declined this fellowship in favour of a two-year (2004–2005) NRF-funded postdoctoral fellowship in the United States of America to work under the supervision of Prof K. Crandall. Prof. Daniels returned to the Department of Botany and Zoology at SU and became a senior lecturer in 2006 and an associate professor in 2009. His field of expertise is molecular systematics, phylogeography and the conservation of invertebrates. The main objective of his work is to better understand and document the spectacular biological diversity of South Africa to aid the conservation of these groups.
Professor Daniles received a Fulbright Research Scholarship and an Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Research Grant for his sabbatical at Harvard University during 2012. He was promoted to full professor at SU as from 1 January 2014.
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Keywords
Phylogeography, Invertebrates, Biodiversity