Department of Botany and Zoology
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- ItemAll-in-one : physics, chemistry and ecology are essential fields to thermal ecologists(International Biogeography Society, 2018) Clusella-Trullas, SusanaThe book clearly targets principles that are essential for understanding the relationship between temperature and organisms and does not represent a book for applications on how to do measurements or complex tasks in thermal ecology. Principles of Thermal Ecology is a guiding book to get a solid knowledge of the building blocks that form the field of thermal ecology and does a brilliant job of achieving this. These building blocks and the relationships between physiology and ecology, as well as concepts that include larger scale patterns of life and diversity, will also be of great value to biogeographers and to wider audiences.
- ItemA journey through the biological complexity of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-03) Dreyer, Leanne LauretteLéanne Dreyer’s fascination with nature started in her pre- ‘‘school years, and has increased steadily throughout her life. She was attracted by the different smells, colours, textures and shapes nature offered, and by the true beauty often revealed in the smallest details. This led her to enrol for a BSc degree at Stellenbosch University, majoring in Botany and Genetics. Her honours and MSc degrees in Botany at the same university focused on the systematics of Pelargonium, a large genus within the biologically rich Cape Floristic Region (CFR). After completing her MSc degree she was appointed as scientist by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in Pretoria, and she enrolled for a PhD at the University of Pretoria under the supervision of Prof AE van Wyk. Her dissertation focused on the palynological diversity of Oxalis, another of the large CFR plant genera. She was appointed by SANBI as South African Botanical Liaison Officer at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (London) during the first year of her PhD studies. After completion of her PhD she was appointed as Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Prof Peter Linder at the University of Cape Town, and then as lecturer at Stellenbosch University in 1998. Her subsequent research career focused on the diversity and evolution of CFR biota, with a special focus on Oxalis. In 2005 she became a core team member of the NRF/DST Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology. This led to an expansion of her research focus to include the fascinating plant-fungus-arthropod interactions prevalent within the CFR.
- ItemJurassic bipeds that could hop? perch? pounce? fly?(Academy of Science for South Africa, 2001) Van Dijk, D. EduardThe description of the ichnogenus Molapopentapodiscus (Ellenberger, 1970) includes the presumption that forward progression was by bounding with feet together. That this genus, and other genera based on footprints or trackways, were hoppers, has been disputed. Material from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, suggests that more than one Lower Jurassic biped was a hopper, but with feet adapted also to other functions.
- ItemScience to policy – reflections on the South African reality(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2016) Von der Heyden, Sophie; Lukey, Peter; Celliers, Louis; Prochazka, Kim; Lombard, Amanda T.Research is a key resource in a knowledge economy and governance system. In order to enable research to benefit the nation and to contribute to growing the knowledge-based economy (the aims of the Global Change Grand Challenge, and specifically the Society and Sustainability Research Programme), the gap between research, knowledge production and policy and management (i.e. the knowing-doing gap1) needs to be closed, yet closing this gap remains a complex challenge2. This year’s annual SANCOR (South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research) Forum meeting addressed this gap through consultation with a variety of stakeholders from the coastal and marine science community. Our brief was to provide for reflection and discussion on aspects of the science–policy–management interface within South Africa and this commentary provides a summary of the Forum discussions. We detail some current challenges of integrating coastal and marine science into policy and decision- making in South Africa, highlight ‘success stories’ and provide some thoughts on maximising overlap and building a sound science–policy interface. Although couched in the context of marine and coastal sciences, our findings will resonate with other scientific disciplines. Similarly, the challenges in and opportunities for creating constructive dialogue for evidence-based decision-making are not specific to South Africa, so we draw on national, international and collective experience to provide an avenue for doing so. In this commentary we highlight current examples of mismatch between science and policy by focusing on barriers resulting from legislation, politics and a general lack of process for better integration. In particular, we focus on the complexities of evidence-based decision-making at different scales, and how international scientific engagement has helped shape policy in South Africa. We finish by providing some perspectives, directions and examples to help narrow the gap and foster better science–policy integration into the future.
- ItemSouth African Environmental Observation Network : vision, design and status(Academy of Science for South Africa, 2007) Van Jaarsveld, A. S.; Pauw, J. C.; Mundree, S.; Mecenero, S.; Coetzee, B. W. T.; Alard, G. F.The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), which has its origins in the scientific community, has evolved significantly over the last five years. Core government support for this emerging initiative became a reality in 2002, when the first funding commitment was made. The establishment of an ambitious distributed national environmental observation system requires extensive partnership arrangements, ranging from participating government departments, through numerous institutions and the corporate sector, to the active individual researchers. In its first three years, SAEON has established its credentials within the South African scientific community, created and staffed a national office at the National Research Foundation, launched the first three of six envisaged distributed observation nodes, expanded its regional and international relevance, and has made great strides with an educational outreach programme. Three additional nodes are nearing completion and all should be operational by early 2008. The financial and institutional sustainability of SAEON was of paramount importance and consumed most of its energy during this establishment phase. The current three-year period (2006-2008) is devoted primarily to securing the scientific sustainability of the SAEON initiative through its nodes and associated partner networks, and to integrating its various functions.
- ItemSpirited evolutionist Robert Broom and Stellenbosch revisited on a zoological centenary(Academy of Science for South Africa, 2005) Tobias, P. V.The Department of Zoology at the University of Stellenbosch, of which I'm proud to be an honorary member, has had a long and illustrious history. Here I celebrate the memory of its foundation professor, a man 'sacredly devoted to the pursuit of science'.
- ItemTall tales from small animals: diversity, phylogeny and biogeography of neglected Southern African arthropods(2015-04) Daniels, SavelProfessor 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.