Biological Sciences
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Spatio-temporal patterns of hover fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) diversity across three habitat types in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2022)Hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are poorly studied in southern Africa and as a result, little is known about their abundance throughout the year. Hover fly abundance is generally expected to vary according to vegetation ... -
Applied carnivore management in a data deficient world: leopard Panthera Pardus as a case study.
(2016)Large carnivores are vital to biodiversity at a global scale, through their role as keystone species, but also present significant challenges for conservation and management due to the lack of basic information on carnivore ... -
Structural, chemical and physiological investigations of bilirubin found in seed arils of strelitzia nicolai.
(2017)In 2009, a team of researchers from the Florida International U niversity discovered bilirubin which is an animal compound in the se ed arils of Strelitzia nicolai , commonly known as the White Bird of Paradise plant. ... -
The role of secondary metabolites in protecting lichens from climate change induced stress.
(2022)Lichen secondary metabolites play a great diversity of roles in lichen biology by acting as UV screens, antimicrobials, herbivore deterrents or allelopathic compounds. The main aim of the work described in this thesis ... -
Aligning elephant conservation with societal aspirations.
(2022)Protection of biodiversity and social development often seem at odds in the world of today. The aim of this thesis is to show that it does not need to be that way. Most global social compacts focus on either economic ... -
The importance of sunbirds as pollinators of the southern African plants Alberta magna and Streptocarpus dunnii.
(2023)Bird pollination is important for plant reproduction and is found in about 65 flowering plant families. I studied putative bird pollination systems of two southern African plant species, Alberta magna (Rubiaceae), which ... -
The role of nutritional status of soils from grassland and savanna ecosystems on the biochemical and physiological responses of Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp)
(2022)Most arable soils in sub–Saharan Africa savanna and grassland ecosystems are acidic and nutrient deficient with nitrogen and phosphorus being the most limiting and this poses a huge threat to agricultural productivity. ... -
Assemblages of surface-active arthropods in pristine and disturbed savannah.
(2022)Savannahs are structurally complex ecosystems rich in biodiversity, and the conversion of savannahs into human-modified landscapes poses a significant risk to organisms with limited dispersal abilities. Surface-active ... -
Ecology of some mammals in relation to conservation management in Giant's Castle Game Reserve.
(1982)Abstract available in PDF. -
Effects of high light intensity and desiccation stress on moss species.
(2021)Bryophytes are desiccant tolerant non-vascular plants, capable of growing and surviving in extreme conditions. They are divided into three groups: liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. Most mosses grow in shady and moist ... -
The curious case of the Satyrium neglectum complex: a taxonomic, ecological, and phylogenetic study.
(2021)Classical herbarium taxonomy uses a combination of morphological features from pressed specimens and distribution information as data in species delimitation. Whilst morphology is critical to species delimitation, ... -
Varying soil nutrition in grassland and savanna ecosystems affect plant-microbe symbiosis, nitrogen nutrition and growth of Pisum sativum L.
(2019)Abstract available in pdf. -
Foliar secretory cavities of Vepris lanceolata (Lam.) G. Don (Rutaceae): micromorphology and chemical composition of the secretion.
(2017)Secretory structures such as ducts, trichomes and cavities consist of cells that are primary sites synthesizing essential oils and other phytochemical compounds with medicinal properties. Little is known about the ... -
Impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on persistence patterns of forest mammals in an urban-forest mosaic of eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa.
(2018)The burgeoning human population size and the consequent land development pressures to meet its various needs has led to an unparalleled increase in the rates at which natural environments are converted for anthropogenic ... -
Histo-phytochemical evaluation and characterisation of the foliar structures of Tagetes minuta L. (Asteraceae).
(2018)Plants have been used as ethnomedicine for millennia. In recent years, there has been an upward surge of interest in the use of plants as medicine due to the interest in drugs with fewer side effects as well as the fight ... -
Taxonomic revision of the Memecylon natalense species-complex in southern Africa.
(2018)iv ABSTRACT Two Memecylon species (M. natalense and M. bachmannii) were previously recognized in southern Africa, and three species of M. section Buxifolia as occurring in Mozambique (M. natalense, M. torrei and M. ... -
DNA barcoding of KwaZulu-Natal afromontane forest parmelia (parmeliaceae) species: a molecular approach to accurate specimen identification and sensitivity to climate change.
(2018)Accurate species identification is challenging, especially in groups with subtle taxonomically diagnostic characters such as lichens. Molecular-based techniques have shown to be a valuable tool for accurate specimen ... -
A revision of the taxonomy and phylogenetic background of the South African genus Kazimierzus Plisko, 2006 (Oligochaeta: Kazimierzidae)
(2018)Species identity and distribution information is important in conservation and monitoring of biodiversity. Megadrile fauna is very diverse in Southern Africa with most of the fauna demonstrating high levels of endemism, ... -
A genetic approach to the biodiversity of shallow water alcyonacea in South Africa.
(2018)The cnidarian order Alcyonacea (Octocorallia) represents a diverse group of marine invertebrates that are dominant taxa on shallow and deep reefs. These organisms constitute sensitive indicators of climate change and ...
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