Browsing Research Articles (Botany and Zoology) by Title
Now showing items 299-318 of 338
-
The South African National Vegetation Database : history, development, applications, problems and future
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2012)Southern Africa has been recognised as one of the most interesting and important areas of the world from an ecological and evolutionary point of view. The establishment and development of the National Vegetation Database ... -
South African research in the Southern Ocean : new opportunities but serious challenges
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013)South Africa has a long track record in Southern Ocean and Antarctic research and has recently invested considerable funds in acquiring new infrastructure for ongoing support of this research. This infrastructure includes ... -
Spatial sorting drives morphological variation in the invasive bird, Acridotheris tristis
(PLoS One, 2012-05)The speed of range expansion in many invasive species is often accelerating because individuals with stronger dispersal abilities are more likely to be found at the range front. This ‘spatial sorting’ of strong dispersers ... -
Spatial turnover in host-plant availability drives host-associated divergence in a South African leafhopper (Cephalelus uncinatus)
(BioMed Central, 2017)Background The evolution of reproductive isolation between herbivorous insect populations is often initiated by shifts to novel host-plants, a process that underlies some of the best examples of ecological speciation. ... -
Spatial variation in soil chemistry on a Sub-Antarctic island
(Scientific Research Publishing Inc, 2012-03)On both west and east sides of sub-Antarctic Marion Island (47oS, 38oE), total Na and exchangeable Na, Mg and K concentrations in the soil decline with increasing distance inland and altitude, related to a decrease in the ... -
Species Richness-Environment Relationships of European Arthropods at Two Spatial Grains: Habitats and Countries
(PLOS, 2012-09)We study how species richness of arthropods relates to theories concerning net primary productivity, ambient energy, water-energy dynamics and spatial environmental heterogeneity. We use two datasets of arthropod richness ... -
Species-energy relationships of indigenous and invasive species may arise in different ways – a demonstration using springtails
(Nature Publishing Group, 2019-09-24)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although the relationship between species richness and available energy is well established for a range of spatial scales, exploration of the plausible underlying explanations for this relationship is ... -
Spirited evolutionist Robert Broom and Stellenbosch revisited on a zoological centenary
(Academy of Science for South Africa, 2005)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 ... -
Springtail diversity in South Africa
(Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), 2011-11)Despite their significance in soil ecosystems and their use for investigations of soil ecosystem functioning and in bioindication elsewhere, springtails (Collembola) have not been well investigated in South Africa. Early ... -
Stable and fluctuating temperature effects on the development rate and survival of two malaria vectors, Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus
(BioMed Central, 2013-04)Background: Understanding the biology of malaria vector mosquitoes is crucial to understanding many aspects of the disease, including control and future outcomes. The development rates and survival of two Afrotropical ... -
Status and trends in the global growth of Koedoe between 1958 and 2016
(AOSIS Publishing, 2017)No abstract available. -
The status of Koedoe one year after changing to an online publication mode
(AOSIS, 2009)2008 represented the start of a new online era for Koedoe, which provided us with a number of challenges and opportunities. The challenges lay in developing an entirely new publication and information dissemination system ... -
The structure of legume–rhizobium interaction networks and their response to tree invasions
(Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company, 2016-06-02)Establishing mutualistic interactions in novel environments is important for the successful establishment of some non-native plant species. These associations may, in turn, impact native species interaction networks as ... -
Superiority in competition for light : a crucial attribute defining the impact of the invasive alien tree Schinus molle (Anacardiaceae) in South African savanna
(Elsevier, 2008-05)Invasion of ecosystems by woody alien plant species is a widespread phenomenon. Interspecific competition has often been suggested as a mechanism for replacement of one species by another, but this is rarely tested. We ... -
Suprafamilial relationships among Rodentia and the phylogenetic effect of removing fast-evolving nucleotides in mitochondrial, exon and intron fragments
(BioMed Central, 2008-11)Background: The number of rodent clades identified above the family level is contentious, and to date, no consensus has been reached on the basal evolutionary relationships among all rodent families. Rodent suprafamilial ... -
Taxonomic research in South Africa : the state of the discipline
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2008)The need for taxonomy is imperative as we cannot protect organisms that are not known and which remain unidentified and uncharacterised, thereby limiting our capacity to understand them and to assess the influence of ... -
A taxonomic revision of seed harvester ants of the Tetramorium solidum group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in southern Africa
(Consortium of European Natural History Museums, 2018-08-07)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ants of the Tetramorium solidum group occur in Africa, with the vast majority of species endemic to the arid regions of southern Africa. The first revision of the genus was published more than 30 years ... -
A taxonomically and geographically constrained information base limits non-native reptile and amphibian risk assessment : a systematic review
(PeerJ, 2018-11-08)ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For many taxa, new records of non-native introductions globally occur at a near exponential rate. We undertook a systematic review of peer-reviewed publications on non-native herpetofauna, to assess the ... -
A technique for measuring petal gloss, with examples from the Namaqualand flora
(Public Library of Science, 2012)The degree of floral gloss varies between species. However, little is known about this distinctive floral trait, even though it could be a key feature of floral biotic and abiotic interactions. One reason for the absence ... -
The terrestrial life of sea kraits : insights from a long-term study on two Laticauda species (Reptilia: Squamata: Elapidae) in the Andaman Islands, India
(Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society, 2018-10-26)Sea kraits forage in water and return to land to digest their prey, mate, slough, and lay their eggs. The temporal terrestrial patterns in encounter rate and behaviour of two species of sea kraits Laticauda colubrina and ...
