Dissertation and project lists

Doctoral theses

Aikins Khan, Timothy. Dec 2023. The costs and benefits of hosting colonial sociable weaver nests for arid zone savanna trees. (Supervisors: Robert Thomson, Michael Cramer).

Cloete, Daniël. Dec 2023. The impacts of habitat fragmentation of Tsitsikamma fynbos, South Africa, on avian nectarivore presence, abundance and pollination. (Supervisors: Mark Brown, Peter Ryan)

Middleton, Kyle Mark. March 2023. Individual contributions to group behaviour in the cooperatively breeding southern ground-hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri. (Supervisors: Claire Spottiswoode, Rita Covas, Fanny Rybak).

Moreras, Angela. July 2023. Frontline strategies in the arms-race between hosts and their brood parasites: the case of the Common Redstart and the Common Cuckoo. (Supervisor: Robert Thomson).

MSc thesis

Bate (Risi), Taylyn. Dec 2023. Moult strategies of oystercatchers (Haematopidae). (Supervisors: Les Underhill, Peter Ryan, David Melville).

Mphetlhe, Rochelle. Dec 2023. Quantifying national abundance changes of raptors across Botswana using repeat road surveys. (Supervisors: Arjun Amar, Glyn Maude).

Rose, Sanjo. Dec 2023. Land use and breeding ecology of a renosterveld endemic bird: the Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brewirostris (Supervisors: Robert Thomson, Peter Ryan, Alan Lee).

Vrettos, Michelle. March 2023. No universal support for solar glare as an evolutionary driver of malar stripes in falcons. (Supervisors: Arjun Amar, Patrick Marais, Chevonne Reynolds). 

Conservation Biology MSc

Gonlag, Shaidan. 2023. Determining key litter trap installation sites in urban rivers using a GIS-based approach. (Supervisors: Peter Ryan, Patrick O'Farrell) 

Hawker, Jo. Mar 2023. Seventy years of changes in riverine woodland cover: Responses to elephants and human legacy effects in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe. (Supervisors: Timothy O'Connor, Timm Hoffman).

Hinde, Kyle. Mar 2023. The density of leopards in a mixed-use landscape in the Western Cape, South Africa. (Supervisors: Justin O'Riain, Katherine Williams).

Morar, Sean. Mar 2023. Handling the heat: keeping water available for birds of the Tankwa Karoo Desert. (Supervisors: Susan Cunningham, Wendy Foden, Nicola van Wilgen, Alan Lee).

Mpofu, Charles. Mar 2023. Exploring the use of GPS-tracking to investigate the diet of African vultures. (Supervisor: Arjun Amar).

Parker, Kim. Mar 2023. Caracals as sentinels for metal exposure in a human-transformed landscape. (Supervisors: Jacqui Bishop, Gabriella Leighton)

Sekyanzi, Joseph. Mar 2023. An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya. (Supervisors: Robert Thomson, Andrea Santangeli).

Webster, Kayla. March 2023. Viability analysis for investing in ecological infrastructure to secure water supply: a case study of South Africa. (Supervisors: Jane Turpie, Martine Visser, Sheona Shackleton).

Wright, Emma. March 2023. Remote sensing evaluation of Cape parrot habitat in the Eastern Cape: implications for conservation. (Supervisors: Vernon Visser, Timm Hoffman).