Besides our teaching and administrative duties, we are also involved with research on global change ecology, invasive aliens, freshwater conservation, molecular genetics and taxonomy.

Dr Paul Fouche is currently working on a project on Nandonni Dam registered with the Water Research Commission, with collaborators from University of Limpopo. Other project include among others a long term monitoring of fish populations in Kruger National park with Prof. Nico Smit from University of Johannesburg. He is also part of the provincial biomonitoring team at national meetings of the River Health Programme.

Prof Ben van der Waal is involved with a project on water resource management in the Caprivi Strip funded by WWF. He has just returned!

Dr Tshifhiwa Nanngambi has recently registered a project on genetic divergence among different Venda groups with Univen’s Research and Publications Committee. She is also collaborating with Dr from Natal Museum on Mollusca or something like that. She has also built up a new genetics laboratory at our department.

Prof. Jan Crafford is involved with supervising Mr Koos Steyn from UNIVEN School of Environmental Sciences on the use of trap crops in Macadamia orchards as a viable pest control strategy. He is supervising Mr project testing island biogeography theory in natural forest fragments in a grassland matrix, otherwise known colloquially as leopard bush.

Dr Stefan Foord, a core team member of the DST-NRF Center for Excellence in Invasion Biology, has a project registered with the NRF on spider diversity in the Savanna biome, and also conducts extensive sampling for the SANSA project headed by Prof Ansie Dippenaar Schoeman from the Agricultural Research Council. He is also supervising Dr Norbert Hahn’s Post-Doctoral project on the impact of invasive aliens in the Soutpansberg and and Caswell Munyai’s project on ants along an elevational transect in the Soutpansberg. He is also co-supervising honours students for 2010.

Mr Colin Schoeman has registered a project with Univen’s Research and Publications Committee on insect diversity and conservation in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve that is running from 2010—2011. Dr Stephan Foord and Henk Geertsema of University of Stellenbosch are co-workers on this project. Mr Schoeman is supervising Daisy Thononda, Vanessa Matukana and Mandla Magoro’s honours projects on biodiversity in traditional agricultural landscapes. 

Mr Schoeman and Mr Munyai have also started building up an insect collection for the department.

The department has a close association with Lajuma Research Station run by Prof. Ian Gaiger. Many of our student practicals and honors and masters projects have been conducted at Lajuma.