Current PhD Students
Nozuko Ngqiyaza
Room number 115, 2nd Floor, Botany
Functional traits of thicket pioneer species that invade grass-dominated savannas.
Short description of thesis: My research project is looking at the ecology of broadleaf thicket pioneers that recruit into savannas and grasslands. The research focuses on functional traits of (1) savanna species that establish and mature within the open grassy matrix, (2) thicket pioneers species that establish under medium to large-sized savanna trees and initiate clump formation, and (3) “obligate” forest or thicket species that are associated with closed-canopy vegetation where this occurs as an endpoint of the successional sequence. The research also entails phylogenetic analyses to examine the evolutionary history of thicket pioneers and their life history strategies.
The aims of the study are to compare the traits between savanna, thicket pioneers and obligate closed-canopy species and to determine how the traits characterizing the three ecological successional stages compare across an aridity gradient, and whether there are commonalities in the trait differences between the three groups across the aridity gradient.
Supervisor: Prof. Susanne Vetter
Nompumelelo Catherine Baso
Biological control of Lagarosiphon major in New Zealand
I am a young research scientist working mainly with the biological control of aquatic invasive plants. I did my Msc in Botany, looking at how climate change, and mainly changes in atmospheric CO2, will affect biological control programs that are currently considered successful in the aquatic environment. For my PhD, I am investigating the enemy release hypothesis and the potential for biological control of Lagarosiphon major in New Zealand using Hydrellia lagarosiphon and Polypedilum from South Africa.
Supervisor: Prof Julie Coetzee
Publications: Baso, N.C., Coetzee, J.A., Ripley, B.S. and Hill, M.P., 2021. The effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on the biological control of invasive aquatic weeds. Aquatic Botany, 170, p.103348.
Baso, N.C., Delport, G.R. and Coetzee, J.A., 2020. Nutrient-mediated silica uptake from agricultural runoff in invasive floating macrophytes: implications for biological control. Hydrobiologia, 847(16), pp.3397-3407.
Edith J. Singini (PhD, RU)
Room 115, 2nd floor
Water-relations in South African Savannas – How does water availability differentiate between tree seedlings and grasses and modify their responses to elevated atmospheric CO2?
My thesis aims to assess how C3 tree seedlings and C4 grasses respond differentially to water availability and elevated CO2 and how this changes across a rainfall gradient.
Supervisor/s: Prof. Ripley, Prof Archibald, and Prof.Osborne
Publications: Singini EJ, Nuapia Y, Chimuka L, Risenga IM. The effect of elevated temperatures on trichomes, essential oil composition and yield of Lippia javanica: A chemometric approach. S Afr J Sci. 2023;119(1/2),2023;119(1/2), Art. #13090. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/13090.
Last Modified: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 06:29:55 SAST