Marine Ecologist 
Phone: +27 (0)21 650 4011 
Email: william.froneman@uct.ac.za

 

 


Research interests

Professor William Froneman is a marine ecologist with a special interest in understanding the impact of global change on marine and estuarine ecosystem functioning. Employing a combination of field and laboratory studies, William’s research encompasses five main fields of study:

  • Bottom up (resource availability) and top down (biological processes) control of plankton food webs with particular emphasis on the role of predation
  • The ecological impacts of microplastics on marine and estuarine food webs
  • The ecology of cetaceans
  • The ecological role of parasitic euendoliths on South African mussel beds
  • Terrestrial subsidies in marine and estuarine ecosystems
     

Selected recent publications (last 2 years)

Leighton, GRM, Froneman W, Serieys LEK, Bishop JM  (2024) Sustained use of marine subsidies promotes niche expansion in a wild felid. Science of the Total Environment 169912.

Leighton GRM, Froneman W, Serieys LEK, Bishop JM (2023). Trophic downgrading of an adaptable carnivore in an urbanising landscape. Scientific Reports 13, 21582 . 

Nicastro K, Seuront L, Cozzolino L, Froneman PW, Zardi G (2023). The neglected role of intraspecific variation in plastic pollution research. Anthropocene Science  2, 141-147.

Cozzolino L, Nicastro KR, Lefevre S, Corona L, Froneman PW, McQuaid CD, Zardi, GI. (2023). The effects of interspecific and intraspecific diversity on microplastic ingestion in two occurring mussel species in South Africa. Marine Pollution Bulletin 196, 115649.

Froneman PW. (2023). The effects of salinity on the egg production rate of the sac-spawning calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus hessei, in a temporarily open/closed southern African estuary. Diversity 15, 263.

Froneman PW (2022). Predator diversity does not contribute to increased prey risk: evidence from a mesocosm study. Diversity. 14, 584. 

Dievart AM, McQuaid CD, Zardi GI, Nicastro KR, Froneman PW (2022) Photoautotrophic Euendoliths and Their Complex Ecological Effects in Marine Bioengineered Ecosystems. Diversity 14, 737. 

Caputo  M,  Bouveroux T, van der Bank M,  Cliff G, Kizka JJ, Froneman PW, Plon S. (2022)  Inter and intra-specific trophic interactions of coastal delphinids off the eastern coast of South Africa inferred from stable isotope analysis. Marine Environmental Research 182: 105784.