Honours Students
Erin Ramsey
Department of Botany and Zoology
Erin is a currently completing her honours degree with Prof Guy Midgley as her primary supervisor. She is investigating water and carbon flux of three dominant Proteaceae species in the Jonkershoek catchment over the course of the day, as well as how these patterns fluctuate through the year. Since there is also a water and carbon flux tower in this area, she will be comparing these results to the overall footprint of this section of Jonkershoek. This will allow her to determine the efficiency of these species with regards to water and carbon use, as well as how they fit in their respective ecological niches.
This area of study may be able to contribute to the understanding of water and carbons budgets of these species, which will be important to understand how they may react to the predicted change in climate, in the future.
Marc Butler
Department of Botany and Zoology
Marc is currently completing his honours under the supervision of Guy and Heath. He will be researching how the different modes of predation have influenced herbivore behavior and vegetation dynamics in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve over the past 20 years. Apex predators can have confounding effects on ecosystems, both direct and indirect, which involve very complex processes. However, there are very few studies that deal with this question, especially in savanna ecosystems. Understanding these effects can serve as an important tool to reserve managers and conservationists, in order to maintain a healthy and functioning ecosystem.
Grant Smith
Department of Botany and Zoology
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biodiversity and Ecology at Stellenbosch University in 2021, before completing my PGCE in 2023. Following some thought, I decided to follow my passions and return to complete my honours which has led to me joining the wonderful CLIME lab at Stellenbosch University. My project aims to investigate the relationship between elytral melanisation and melanisation in other body regions of the invasive Harlequin lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis. My project will also test whether body mass, sex, seasonality, and ectoparasite load influence relationship between melanisation in different body regions. My project will hopefully help better shed light on lady beetle physiology as well as the ecological functions of melanisation within lady beetles.
In my free time I enjoy bird watching, camping, wildlife photography and hiking and I have been fortunate to explore a variety of beautiful places all throughout South Africa (although I still wish to experience traveling overseas). My love of wildlife and nature has also led me to do volunteer work for DARG, Exotic Animal World, SANBI and BotSoc. I also enjoy spending time with my amazing family and lovely doggos, whether willingly or by force.
Aletta Kassier
Department of Botany and Zoology
My research project is focused on discovering the foundational diversity of lady beetles from the family Coccinellidae in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The project aims to look mainly at the differences in diversity and composition between urban and agricultural environments. To do so multiple surveys will be conducted between different habitats found within these environments, to sample coccinellid beetles using standard sampling approaches such as visual searches, net sweeping and beating trays. In addition to describing the diversity and composition of lady beetles in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, I aim to construct a DNA sequence database by sequencing the Cytochrome Oxidase I region and a preliminary reference list of lady beetle species which can be found in that region.
Lady beetles play a very important economic role in agricultural environments by being good biological controls of crop pests such as aphids, scales and mites. Despite this, declines in lady beetle communities are pervasive due to certain drivers of global change such as climate change, biological invasions, agricultural practices and habitat destruction. Thus, the findings of this study should enhance the early detection of accidentally introduced alien species, the future monitoring of native lady beetle communities and the assessment of the impacts of alien lady beetles on these native communities.