When climate change leaves you with the only (most expensive) option to adapt
There may come a time in our efforts to gradually adapt to climate change that we are pushed over a tipping point – when the only choice we face is either a...
New study reveals unexpected diversity of South Africa’s ecologically important long-tongued flies
A detailed study of over 50 long-tongued fly species endemic to Southern Africa has shown that species known to science only account for about half of the...
SA botanist discovers new species of iris in the Langeberg
South African botanist Brian du Preez (29) has discovered a beautiful new species from the Iridaceae family high up in the Langeberg Mountains of the Western...
NRF honours SU ecologist with Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Research Foundation (NRF) honoured Emeritus Professor Brian van Wilgen with the Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour that is bestowed...
First global estimate of importance of pollinators for seed production in plants
About 175 000 plant species – half of all flowering plants – mostly or completely rely on animal pollinators to make seeds and so to reproduce. Declines in...
WWF Living Planet Report: two-thirds decline in wildlife populations on average since 1970
Prof Guy Midgley from Stellenbosch University is one of 125 specialists from around the world who have contributed to the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Living...
Individual dolphin calls used to estimate population size and movement in the wild
An international team of scientists has succeeded in using the signature whistles of individual bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Namibia to estimate the...
Cape fur seals can nurse their pups well into adulthood
Some Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) mothers may nurse their young for several years longer than previously thought, thereby potentially...
Young ecologist receives prestigious Robert May award
Dr Corneile Minnaar, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University (SU), was awarded the Robert May early...
New evidence that bacteria drive biodiversity in the Cape Floral Region
Botanists from Stellenbosch University have come one step closer to unravelling the mystery of the Cape Floral Region's extraordinary levels of biodiversity...