Author:Prinsloo, Alexa SimoneDate:2016The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is endemic to Africa but threatened by range restriction, exploitation and competition with humans and domestic livestock for access to critical resources such as fresh water and grazing. ...Read more
Author:Jones, Amy MDate:2018Expanding anthropogenic developments along with the added stress of climate change, are negatively influencing coastal ecosystems. Because of their many benefits to mankind, it is important to identify key bioindicators that can detect ...Read more
Author:Wright, Amy GDate:2013The Langebaan Lagoon sandflats are dominated by the burrowing activities of thalassinid shrimps. Their burrows are home to various burrow symbionts including a commensal shrimp (Betaeus jucundus), a six-legged crab (Spiroplax spiralis) and a ...Read more
Author:Moyo, Ropafadzo KelebuhileDate:2014Ecosystem engineers play important roles as determinants of community dynamics by modulating resource availability for other species. Marine soft-sediment ecosystems are dominated by burrowing engineers which indirectly create biogenic ...Read more
Author:Venter, OliviaDate:2019Eutrophication, one of the leading global water pollution challenges, can be addressed with nature-based solutions (NBSs). NBSs use or mimic natural processes (ecosystem services) to improve water quality, for example microorganisms, plants ...Read more
Author:Beltrand, Maeva Mereana MarionDate:2017Rising temperature caused by global warming alters physiology, phenology and/or distribution in a wide array of plant and animal species, which has dramatic knock-on effects at different levels of organisation. This study investigates the ...Read more
Author:Liang, Andrea YankeeDate:2014The impact of flamingo predation on the benthic community has been well researched through the use of caging and exclusion experiments. However, there is still very little known about flamingo spatial foraging preferences and the environmental ...Read more
Author:Payne, RobynDate:2013Numerous studies have attempted to quantify the effect of epifaunal predation and its co-occurring disturbance on macrofaunal communities with the aid of exclosure experiments. However, no attention has been paid to the possible impacts of ...Read more
Author:Gihwala, Kirti NarendraDate:2017The consequences of predation have become a central focus of marine ecological research. Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of apex predators in structuring assemblages at various organisational levels and in determining how ...Read more
Author:Gihwala, Kirti NarendraDate:2014Biological disturbances on marine soft sediment ecosystems have been well researched. However, little attention has been paid to the potential ecological role that iconic shore bird predators may have on marine ecosystems. This paper tests ...Read more
Author:Zeeman, Susanna Catharina FranzinaDate:2016Invasive species can radically affect community composition and ecosystem processes, and human traffic has accelerated their spread. On the South African coast, 86 invasive species have been recorded, although until recently only the Mediterranean ...Read more
Author:Zeeman, Susanna Catharina FranzinaDate:2010The South African abalone Haliotis midae is a commercially exploited species that is seriously threatened by overfishing and poaching. This not only affects the species itself but also the integrity and functionng of the ecosystem through ...Read more
Author:Qwabe, WellyDate:2019Non-trophic interactions are significant structuring agents of ecological communities. Knowledge of how this process drives ecosystem functioning and community structure either individually, or interactively with other processes, is however, ...Read more
Author:Cooper, RachelDate:2011My thesis combined an observational study and field and laboratory experiments to investigate how nutrients and bioturbation by C. kraussi interact to structure macrofaunal communities and how ambient temperatures influence these factors.Read more
Author:Emanuel, Martin PhillippeDate:2013Global warming and ocean acidification due to an increase in anthropogenic carbon dioxide can impact marine calcifying organisms. Shells of marine calcifying organisms protect their internal soft tissue and may be key in determining the ...Read more
Author:Waspe, Christopher ThembaDate:2015Climate change is a reality. One of the main ecological concerns regarding climate change is the predicted increase in atmospheric and sea temperatures. The latter is expected to rise by roughly 2.5°C by the end of 2050 with dramatic impacts ...Read more
Author:Arendse, BrittanyDate:2011Seagrass meadows have important ecological roles in coastal ecosystems and provide high-value ecosystems services compared to other marine and terrestrial habitats. Despite this, there is growing evidence that this key ecosystems is declining ...Read more
Author:Hoffman, Timm; Pillay, DeenaDate:29 Sep 2014For the second year running, the Science Faculty offers a composite
course, this time from the field of the biological sciences, from disciplines
which share a way of ‘seeing’ and interpreting the living world.
The first lecture will take ...Read morecbnd
Author:du Plessis, Darren ScottDate:2018The role of predation as a structuring agent of communities has been a focal area of research in marine ecology. Conversely, studies focusing on foraging plasticity, particularly by shorebirds, and consequences for benthic community structure, ...Read more
Author:Dawson, JessicaDate:2019Africa’s last extant aquatic megaherbivore, the hippopotamus, facilitates linkages between terrestrial and aquatic systems at scales, frequencies and intensities that are probably unmatched by any other natural process. Through defaecation ...Read more