A PhD student funded by the Oppenheimer Chair for Emerging African Scientists in Non-invasive Wildlife Research, Bruce Crossey’s research is focused on finding new ways to strike a balance between the growing need for ecotourism experiences that create memorable moments for tourists, while maintaining the welfare of wildlife species involved in these activities.
Jawi Ramahlo’s PhD project is focused on using small mammals as logical indicators of ecosystem health. She is collecting data on the population dynamics, behaviour, and physiology of small mammals across variously transformed landscapes to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities and land-use (such as agriculture, mining and eco-tourism) on natural ecosystems in order to investigate the stress response of small mammals to anthropogenic disturbance and seasonal variation in her study area.
Loraine Shuttleworth is a PhD candidate with the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit. She is investigating the bioenergetic response of lactating southern right whales to decreased prey availability and the effects that this may have on calf rearing. She will make use of photogrammetric assessments and a variety of laboratory techniques including stable isotope-, fatty acid- and endocrine analysis. For this research, Loraine is a recipient of the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Small Grant in Aid of Research.
Mr Matthew Germishuizen is a PhD student at the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit. His work is focussed on using southern right whales as indicators of environmental change and ecosystem function in the Southern Ocean. This will be done through investigating whether climate change and/or variability is driving recent declines in calving rates, as well as developing an improved understanding of contemporary Southern right whale foraging ecology and migratory behaviour by means of satellite telemetry.
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Ms Dominique Paynee is entering her first year of PhD in Zoology with the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit. Her project involves research into the understudied, elusive Bryde’s whale found in South Africa’s inshore waters. Her research aims to use genome-wide methods to assess aspects of this small population such as census and effective population size and adaptive potential of this resident species. Her project also aims to investigate the phylogenetic relationships between the South African population and other global Bryde’s whale populations.
