At age six she had her own “toktokkie” beetle collection, hidden from her parents in empty match boxes. While her father worked the garden, the curious tot would be searching for creepy crawlies to concoct a “garden soup”. By the time Marliese Truter hit her teenage...
By Dane McDonald and Fatima Parker-Allie The SANBI Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) has contributed nearly 100 new species to biodiversity science. Since the inception of the SANBI-FBIP in 2013, the programme has funded dozens of South African...
Prof Shelley Edwards and her colleagues have described a new species of Psammophylax and a new genus, named after Prof Bill Branch, Kladirostratus… The Grootswartberge (greater black mountain in Afrikaans), is a mountain range that runs along the southern...
Text by Department of Science and Innovation In a first for the country, a central repository, Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa (BBSA), was launched to conserve and manage biodiversity samples on 1 March 2023. BBSA is the coming together of a diverse group of...
The call is now open for the GBIF 2023 Graduate Researchers Award (previously the Young Researchers Award). The award fosters innovative research and discovery in biodiversity informatics by graduate students in masters and doctorate programmes at universities, whose...
In 2017 several soil samples journeyed from the sparsely vegetated Karoo to the vault-like National Collection of Fungi (NCF) at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in Pretoria. Upon arrival at the facility, a meticulous process was initiated under the watchful...
Update by Marilize Greyling, project manager The new year has kicked off with a bang promising a fruitful year for biodiversity surveys and research for the FBIP Waterberg project. In the month of January, the project will see flora, arachnid, arthropod, mammal, and...
In June 2021 the FBIP profiled Brian du Preez, who is currently completing his PhD at the University of Cape Town. Brian received postgraduate funding from the FBIP programme. A recent post on Brian’s Facebook page details a breakthrough not only for his PhD...
It’s spawning season and approximately 1 million fish eggs have just been released into the surf near Cape Padrone on the South East coast of South Africa. After a few days, the first egg hatches – larvae need to fend for themselves amid countless sea...
Sometimes a question can determine the course of a life. Kaylan Reddy is a Stellenbosch University PhD student who has already garnered five awards for his work in academia and is respected among his peers. However, he recounts a long journey that seemingly started...
