Through this study, researchers learned that termites are pivotal when it comes to breaking down wood, contributing to the earth’s carbon cycle. They also discovered that termites are significantly sensitive to temperature and rainfall; this means that as temperatures rise, the insect’s role in wood decay will likely expand beyond the tropics.
Professor Mark Robertson is a lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria. He is interested in biological invasions, species distributions, community ecology and the role that invertebrates play in ecosystem processes.
Professor Catherine Parr has broad interests –her research combines community ecology, biodiversity conservation, disturbance ecology, ecosystem ecology and invasive species, with a particular focus on invertebrates. The driving force behind her research is a desire to understand how biodiversity is maintained and how its loss affects ecosystem structure and function. Apart from loving ecology, she has a particular fondness for Marmite, cricket, Tintin, and bright blue skies.
Katherine Bunney is a PhD candidate at the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria. Her study looks at the functional role of termites in savanna ecosystems.
In a study that signals potential reproductive and health complications in humans, now and for future generations, researchers at the University of Pretoria and Canada’s McGill University and Université Laval have concluded that toxins in the environment, notably DDT, modify the sperm epigenome at sites potentially transmitted to the embryo at conception.
Scientists at the University of Pretoria (UP) are leading a study of natural hydrogen gas discovered under the Earth’s surface in Mpumalanga – a source of renewable energy that could contribute to the national energy budget and help address the energy shortage in South Africa.
Hydrogen is considered a fuel of the future due to it emitting zero emissions. This infographic explains the impact of this discovery as well as some interesting facts about hydrogen and the different forms of it.
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