The Department of Biological Sciences has more than 30 academic and 26 support staff, and trains more than 100 postgraduate, 30 Honours and 500 undergraduate students in fields of terrestrial and marine ecology, evolutionary biology and ecophysiology.
PhD graduand clocks vast distances on foot collecting 150 taxa, including 50 undescribed species
PhD graduand Brian du Preez trekked hundreds of kilometres across the Greater Cape Floristic Region, where he surveyed 150 different taxa, collected specimens of 50 undescribed “Indigofera" species, discovered a further three new species,
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Spot the difference – do leopards inherit their patterns from their mothers?
Leopards may not be able to change their spots, but they do inherit them – to an extent. This is according to new research published in Mammalian Biology, which details the findings of scientists who set out to investigate . .
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Study reveals Cape Town’s caracals have metal pollutants in their blood — a critical environmental warning
Hunting at the urban edge and in places with more human activity, such as near roads, vineyards and suburbs, exposes caracals to a greater number of metals and at higher levels than when hunting further away from these areas.
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Generous donations boost Biological Sciences’ rebuilding efforts
After devastating losses in the April 2021 fire, the Department of Biological Sciences has received a donation of €1 million (approximately R17 million) from the Hasso Plattner Foundation to assist with its recovery efforts.
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Biological Diversity Day: Peri-urban living a ‘poisoned chalice’ for city’s caracals
Research by PhD graduate Dr Gabriella Leighton and colleagues has shown that organochlorine pollutants along Cape Town’s peri-urban fringes are present in concerningly high concentrations in the body tissue of the city’s caracals.
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Safe havens: Conserving endangered Clanwilliam sandfish, pool by pool
Sarah Fransman remembers when spawning Clanwilliam sandfish arrived in the Biedouw Valley near Clanwilliam. The thousands-strong shoal creating wavelets along the surface of the Biedouw River, fish packed on top of one another.
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Repeat photos show change in southern African landscapes: a citizen science project
Every place in the world has a history. To understand it in the present you need some knowledge of its past.
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Animal Evolution and Systematics (AES) Research Translated into African Languages
Some of the research of the AES group have been translated into African languages for easier access for people who are native speakers of African languages. It is hoped that this translation project will expand beyond the group.
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