Abstract: Ground pangolins Smutsia temminckii are inconspicuous, mainly nocturnal mammals that occur at low population densities. As a result, there is scant information available on the ecology and physiology of this species. To date the handful of studies focussing on this species were centred in the mesic eastern regions of its range, with no attention being given to ecological and biological traits in arid environments. To address these data shortfalls, a study was undertaken in the Kala...
Abstract: West Nile Virus (WNV) forms part of the Japanese encephalitis serocomplex in the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. This enveloped positive single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA ) virus is the etiological agent of West Nile fever, and in more severe cases WNV neuroinvasive disease, in both humans and animals. WNV is distributed worldwide and is phylogenetically classified into five distinct lineages. The WNV genome is ~11 Kb in length and encodes a single open reading frame (ORF) that is...
Abstract: The giant bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adspersus, is a large, explosive-breeding anuran from southern Africa, which spends most of the year buried in a state of torpor. In South Africa this species is considered to be Near-Threatened by habitat loss and other factors, especially in the densely human populated Gauteng Province. The aim of this thesis was to obtain essential outstanding information about the ecology of P. adspersus to contribute towards improved conservation management of ...
Description: Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Abstract: The status of honeybee pathogens and parasites in the Gauteng region of South Africa was examined by collecting adult honeybee and worker brood samples from 13 Apis mellifera scutellata apiaries. The prevalence of pathogens and parasites were compared per season between sedentary (permanently stationed colonies) and migratory (transportation of colonies for pollination purposes) apiaries. Honeybee pathogens (Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), Black queen cell virus (BQCV), Chronic b...
Abstract: Tropical forests are shrinking worldwide. This is mainly because human beings, in a bid to obtain a livelihood, have overexploited their timber and non-timber products. At Arabuko Sokoke Forest (ASF), Kenya, community-driven conservation projects have been initiated, to ensure that the people can draw a livelihood from this vital ecosystem without destroying it. Among the projects involved is apiculture in the vicinity of the forest. Although some studies have been carried out on v...
Abstract: Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are relatively common top predators and major consumers within the Southern Ocean. This study aimed to describe the at-sea behaviour of a small population of southern elephant seals at Marion Island and to place this behaviour into an ecological and evolutionary context. Calculations of life-time habitat use for animals from this population revealed that seals spent an average of 77.59% of their lives diving at sea, 7.06% at the sea surfac...
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Abstract: Conventional approaches to water management have traditionally treated social systems and ecosystems as distinct, and to a large degree have failed to achieve outcomes that are simultanously efficient, equitable, and sustainable. Perhaps nowhere has the need to reform the way water is managed and even conceived been more apparent than in South Africa in the last decade, where a tremendous opportunity for change has been created in the form of the National Water Act of 1998. In this...
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Abstract: Ungulate browsing and its ecological effects at plant, population, community, and ecosystem levels were addressed in a eutrophic southern African savanna. This was to test predictions of prevailing hypotheses, which are based on research in boreal and temperate forests. Changes in plant morpho-functional traits and population structure of a staple palatable species, Acacia nigrescens Miller were addressed over a two-year survey among vegetation stands with very different histories ...
Abstract: The pouched mouse, Saccostomus campestris Peters, 1846 from southern Africa shows a high degree of karyotypic variation where up to 16 variants (2n = 30–50) have been reported. This has led to a systematic uncertainty that the present study attempts to assess using: 1) cytochrome b (cyt b; 1077 bp) and 16S rRNA (528 bp) partial sequences; 2) G-banding cytogenetic data; and 3)geometric morphometric data of various views of the cranium and mandible. The results from these multidisc...
Abstract: Simulium chutteri is considered a major pest in South Africa and it has been estimated that it can potentially cause stock losses amounting to more than R88 million per annum. Although a larval control programme has been launched to control the pest, major outbreaks still occur, since major fitness traits such as longevity are ignored in the planning of control actions. To improve the control programme, the aim of this study was to study the longevity of S. chutteri females under v...
Abstract: Insects are considered to be responsible for 80-85% of all pollination, with honeybees being well known for their pollination services for many crops. The effect of managed honeybee pollination on sunflower seed yield and quality (germination percentage and oil content) was investigated at the University of Pretoria experimental farm and in commercial sunflower fields at Settlers. This was done through pollinator exclusion and pollinator surveys on sunflower field plots located at ...