Toyota Enviro Outreach 2012: Research Team

THE RESEARCH TEAM

ANIMAL GROUP

Herman van der Bank obtained his B.Sc. in 1982, B.Sc-Honours in 1983 and M.Sc. in 1984, was junior lecturer (1985-1986), and studied part time (obtained his doctorate, 1988). He was promoted (lecturer 1987–1990, senior lector until 1997, associate professor until 2004 and then professor). He completed 6 certificate courses and passed Information Technology I-III cum laude. He was external examiner and moderator for undergraduate courses at two colleges, one university and one technicon, evaluated M.Sc. dissertations and Ph.D. theses for 4 universities, and research publications for 5 national and 16 international journals on a regular basis. He granted interviews for 4 national television programs and one radio program, is a member of 10 professional national societies, director of an international institute, and member of the editorial advisory board of an international journal. He is author/co-author of more than 130 research publications (74% international), and presented 22 international (5 as invited guest speaker) and 49 national conference contributions. 23 M.Sc. (one received the Junior Captain Scott Medal for best national dissertation) and 7 Ph.D. students graduated under his guidance. Three of his formerly students are associate professors, two senior lecturers, one was the Head of the Fish and Reptile Research at the Parks Board and one was the Head of the Freshwater Fish Nature Conservation (Namibia). He is NRF rated.

Ms. Mary Cole (East London Museum)

Mary Cole completed her B.Sc.(Hons) in Zoology at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg in 1986 and was appointed as a Natural Scientist at the East London Museum in 1988. Her duties are to maintain, conserve and curate the Museum’s mollusc collection (third largest in SA); to research the molluscs of the Eastern Cape and to interpret this information for the public through exhibitions, educational programmes and publications. Initially she focused on marine species of rocky shores and estuaries and completed her M.Sc. through NMMU in 1998. Systematic collection and documentation of terrestrial molluscs of the Eastern Cape has been undertaken since 2000 and the EL Museum collection is now the second most important with regard to terrestrial mollusks after the Natal Museum. She has published seven scientific papers and many popular articles. Her main current research project is a revision of the landsnail genus Chondrocyclus, funded under the South African Biosystematics Initiative.
Mary answers many queries on all aspects of natural history by identifying animals or plants and/or supplying information for a variety of users including scientists, educators, learners and students, officials in government departments and members of public. She leads outings and gives talks to interest groups, students and schools and does interpretative tours of displays in Museum, e.g. Coelacanth. She provides specialist information to assist with management and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity to various conservation authorities and government departments. She has been the Chairman of the Border Wild Flower Society since the mid-1990’s.

Mr. Kevin Cole (East London Museum)

Kevin Cole has been a naturalist at the East London Museum for 21 years. His environmental management and biodiversity conservation initiatives over the past years have included the establishment of nature reserves, promoting environmental education, studies in archaeology and palaeoanthropology (ichnology) and the collation of biodiversity data for numerous projects. He was educated at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (B.Sc.Hons), Rhodes University (Cert. Management Practice) and the University of Cape Town (M.Sc.). Kevin has chaired numerous environmental bodies over the years, including the Wildlife and Environment Society (Border Region), Marine Working Group, Strandloper Ecotourism Board, Nahoon Point Nature Reserve Management Committee and the Hobbiton-on-Hogsback Association. He has contributed to a number of international television documentaries focusing on East London Museum specimens, the most famous being the coelacanth. He has appeared several times on SABC TV, both as a conservationist and an environmental activist. Awards for his work include a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship. He also holds a helicopter private pilots license.

Ms. Linda Davis (Kwazulu-Natal Museum)

Ms Linda Davis has been with the KwaZulu-Natal Museum since 1991. She is the Collection Manager of Mollusca in the Department of Natural Sciences. Her duties are essentially to maintain and curate the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Mollusca Collection (which is the largest collection of southern African molluscs in the world). She has taken part in a number of field surveys, most notable of which have been three trips to Madagascar.
Linda has considerable expertise and experience as a scientific illustrator specializing in pen and ink and water colours and in the preparation of plates. Prior to working at the museum she was employed at Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, Cape Town as a botanical artist to work on illustrations for Dr. John Rourke’s monograph on the genus Mimetes.

Mr. Christian Deschodt (University of Pretoria)

Christian Deschodt worked for the past 8 years as research assistant in the Dung Beetle Research Unit at the University of Pretoria. The Dung Beetle Research Unit specialise in the certifying of dung beetle friendly dips and the certification of natural grazing using dung beetles as indicators. His primary interest is classical and molecular taxonomy of the "primitive" dung beetle groups, especially in Namakwaland and the drier parts of southern Africa. He is presently part-time busy with a masters degree in which the distribution and relationships of a flightless group of dung beetles in Namakwaland are studied. Christian's hobbies are beekeeping and insect photography.

Dr. Dai Herbert (Kwazulu-Natal Museum)

David (Dai) Herbert was born and brought up in Wales. After obtaining his Ph.D. from London University in 1984, he took up his present position in the Natal Museum. He is currently secretary of Unitas Malacologica, the global professional society of malacologists, and a member of the IUCN Mollusc and southern African Invertebrates specialist groups. He has published two books, over 60 scientific publications and a similar number of popular articles.
His research interests focused on marine gastropods, in particular the Vetigastropoda, but in the mid 1990s he crawled out of the sea and began chasing land snails, though he still maintains an interest in vetigastropods through students and collaborative research projects.

Prof. Erik Holm (Projek Aardwolf, KykNET)

Prof Erik Holm is well known for his radio talks on insects. He is a specialist on the Cetoniinae and Buprestidae of Africa. He has published over 100 scientific papers as well as several major revisions and monographs. He is the co-editor of “The Insects of South Africa” and “The Jewel Beetles of Africa”, the author of “Insectlopedia of southern Africa” and the co-author of “Fruit Chafers of South Africa”, just to name a few. He lectured at the University of Pretoria for twenty years, during which time he established the school of insect taxonomy.
Prof Holm has discussed biology for numerous years on radio and currently forms part of the team of the environmental television program “Projek Aardwolf” on KyKNET.

Dr Monica Mwale (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity)

Monica Mwale was born and raised in Zambia. She obtained her B.Sc. in Agricultural Science (major Animal Science) with the University of Zambia. Her M.Sc. and doctorate were done with Rhodes University in the Department of Fisheries Science and Ichthyology (DIFS) in Fisheries Science. She is currently employed as a researcher by the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) a facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
Her research is on the systematics and evolution of coastal and marine fishes with five research publications in ichthyology and systematics. This work is done using DNA sequence and morphological data to elucidate phylogenetic relationships and to understand the patterns and interactions of processes of evolutionary change. She is currently co-chair of the African regional working group of FISH-BOL focussing mainly on the barcoding of marine fishes. Most of her current projects are on the Western Indian Ocean where she has participated in various fish collection expeditions for DNA and voucher collections. Some of the specific projects that she currently involved in are in the systematics of southern African endemic Gobiid fish genera such as Glossogobius and Caffrogobius (two M.Sc. students). She also is currently supervising one PhD on anti-freeze biology and sub-Antarctic notothenioid systematics and six M.Sc. students on biogeographical projects on fishes of the Western Indian Ocean and genetic stocks of commercial species. Dr Mwale is also involved in undergraduate lecturing (Evolution and systematics) in the DIFS at Rhodes University.

Mr. Murray Duncan (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity)

Murray Duncan is a M.Sc. student at Rhodes University based at South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity working on the slinger (Chrysoblephus puniceus). He is doing predictive niche modeling and genetic stock structure.

RESEARCH SUPPORT TEAM

Mamadi Theresa Sethusa was born in Moletlane village of Zebediela, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. She obtained her BSc and BSc Hons. in Microbiology at the North West University. She then worked for the Agricultural Research Council - Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (ARC-OVI) as a research technician on tuberculosis and para- tuberculosis for 2 years, after which she joined the University of Pretoria as a senior technician at the Bacteriology section of Veterinary Tropical Diseases for 3 years. Concurrently she registered for an MSc, which was awarded in 2006. After leaving the University of Pretoria she worked as a regional manager for LoveLife on HIV prevention for 2 years. In 2008 she joined the ARC- Plant Protection Research Council (PPRI) where she worked as a researcher on barcoding of scale insects. She is currently based at ACDB were she is coordinating a project on barcoding alien and invasive species of South Africa. She is also registered for a PhD study at the University of Johannesburg, department of Zoology.

Mr. Bezeng Simeon Bezeng (University of Johannesburg)

Bezeng Simeon Bezeng grew up in the north-western region of Cameroon. He obtained his bachelor degree in Botany with a minor in Environmental Sciences from the only Anglo-Saxon University in Cameroon. While studying, he assisted his lecturer as a field assistant in numerous field expeditions to the Korup National Park. After his degree, he worked for a year on the WWF-JENGI south-east Forest project as a research assistant in the newly created Nki National Park where he did Ecological “Bias” monitoring and participate in many meetings with local people living on the border of the Park. He registered in 2011 for an MSc degree at the University of Johannesburg. He was awarded his masters degree cum laude. Bezeng is currently registered for a PhD at the University of Johannesburg.

Mr. Barnabas Daru (University of Johannesburg)

Barnabas Daru was born in Kerang of Mangu, Plateau State, Nigeria. He graduated at the University of Jos, Nigeria. After graduating, he worked with the A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Nigeria as a research assistant. He had a wide array of experiences there including assisting senior researchers in carrying out ecological research. Shortly when he was called-up for a mandatory one-year national youth service where he taught secondary school biology in a rural area of Oyo State Nigeria, he was selected for the 2008 Tropical Biology Association (TBA) Field course in Kibale, Uganda. The TBA field course was his first exposure to plant biology where he carried out a project on Lantana camara. He pursued his research interest first as a Graduate Assistant in University of Jos, Nigeria and submitted his master dissertation in January 2012. He was awarded the Best MSc Presentation at the Southern Africa Society of Systematic Biologist in Rhodes University in 2011. Currently he is enrolled for a doctoral study at the University of Johannesburg.

Mss. Salome Malgas (University of Johannesburg)

Salome Malgas was born in Venda, Limpopo Province on the 13th March 1989, where she grew up. She matriculated in Soweto at Progress High in 2006. After this she enrolled at the Cultural Development Trust in 2007 in Newtown, Johannesburg, doing administration and art projects. Performances in art, dancing and drama were her main activities until March 2010 when she started working with plants. She finds this very interesting and is willing to learn more about plants. She is the herbarium technician and manages the collection of specimens, specifically mounting, labeling, and scanning the plant specimens. Ensuring they are well preserved is part of her job. She loves every moment of this and plans to learn more about plants in general. She would like to attend workshops and Botanical activities in the future. Currently she is one of the SANBI’s interns at the University of Johannesburg working on invasive plants.

PLANT GROUP

Dr. Stephen Boatwright | South African National Biodiversity Institute – SANBI, Kirstenbosch
Dr. Kowiyou Yessoufou | University of Johannesburg
Prof. Michelle van der Bank | University of Johannesburg
Ms. Suzaan Kritzinger-Klopper | DST-NRF Centre for Excellence for Invasion Biology
Mss. Carla Gairifo Santos | DST-NRF Centre for Excellence for Invasion Biology

Dr. Stephen Boatwright (South African National Biodiversity Institute – SANBI – Kirstenbosch)

Stephen Boatwright completed his Ph.D (Botany) in 2009 at the University of Johannesburg. He accepted a Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Compton Herbarium and University of Cape Town in February 2009. Appointed as Taxonomist (Principal Scientist) at the Compton Herbarium in September 2010 working with the Early Detection and Rapid Response Unit for alien plants. His research interests include the taxonomy and systematics of genistoid legumes (Fabaceae), selected genera of the Asphodelaceae (Asphodeloideae) and Hemerocallidaceae, the flora of the Karoo and invasive plants. Author or co-author of 28 scientific papers (24 published, 4 submitted) in peer-reviewed, ISI accredited journals and three book chapters. Serving as a reviewer for various journals and as Review Board Editor for the South African Journal of Botany since 2011. Currently he is an honorary research associate of the Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology at the University of Johanneburg. Stephen presently co-supervising 3 M.Sc. students and 1 Ph.D student.

Dr. Kowiyou Yessoufou (University of Johannesburg)

Kowiyou Yessoufou has completed his BSc and MSc in plant ecology at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. After his master’s studies he has worked for the Ministry of Environment in Benin as the Minister assistant, and for several Non-Governmental organisations implementing conservation management plans for biodiversity and traditional medicinal knowledge. In 2008, he registered at the University of Johannesburg for his PhD. Kowiyou has recently submitted his thesis entitled ‘Phylogenetic analysis of plant community assemblages in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.’ He is currently employed at the University as a Post-doctoral Fellow. His research interests include molecular ecology, climatic change and invasion biology.

Prof. Michelle van der Bank (University of Johannesburg)

Michelle van der Bank holds a permanent position as Head of the African Centre for DNA Barcoding at the University of Johannesburg. The primary goal of The African Centre for DNA Barcoding (http://www.acdb.co.za) is to find solutions to problems threatening earth’s biodiversity, especially in Africa. She is also an Associated Professor in the department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology at the University of Johannesburg where she is involved in under and postgraduate teaching and several capacity building projects in Africa. She is the co-chair of the African regional working group of TreeBOL focussing mainly on the barcoding of trees of Africa. Her research amounted to 37 ISI-listed publications (H-index = 14; Sum of the times cited: 2037) with contributions in Nature, PLoS Biology, and PNAS. Eleven masters and three PhD students finished their studies under her supervision. She is currently supervising four MSc and three PhD students.

Ms. Suzaan Kritzinger-Klopper (DST-NRF Centre for Excellence for Invasion Biology)

Suzaan Kritzinger-Klopper is the Senior Technical Officer of the C•I•B. In assisting the researchers and their students, Suzaan is the overall responsible person for field work. She is also the liaison for permits, landowners, field sites and vehicles. Her main area of interest is in fynbos botanical diversity and invasive plants, and she helps with plant identifications.

Mss. Carla Gairifo Santos (DST-NRF Centre for Excellence for Invasion Biology)

Carla Gairifo Santos is a Portuguese researcher and her main areas of interest are conservation and invasive biology. She has worked as a plant specialist in several projects on biodiversity assessment and environmental education. Currently she is a visiting PhD student at CIB working with Prof. David M. Richardson on spatial analysis and management of several invasive Australian Acacias in Portugal, South Africa and other regions.

Dr Tony Rebelo - South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch

Tony Rebelo works at the Threatened Species Research Unit of thee South African National Biodiversity Institute at Kirstenbosch. He obtained his PhD at the University of Cape Town in 1992 on the preservation of the Cape Flora. He has published numerous papers and books, dealing with pollination ecology and conservation planning, including ‘SASOL Proteas’ and ‘Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland’ and the Fynbos chapter in the latest vegetation book. He headed the popular Protea Atlas Project http://protea.worldonline.co.za/default.htm – a citizen science effort that has yielded a database with significant modeling, planning and conservation spinoffs. His current work includes the vegetation of the Fynbos Biome, Red List evaluations, alien species – especially Frankenflora, and restoration ecology of threatened ecosystems, and citizen science through iSpot http://za.ispot.org.uk. He is active in the Botanical Society of South Africa’s A-team – which trains walk leaders - and TMNP Honorary Rangers.

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Research Team

THE RESEARCH TEAM

ANIMAL GROUP

RESEARCH SUPPORT TEAM

PLANT GROUP