Dr Ned Snelling, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology and Prof Leith Meyer, Director of the Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies, both from the Faculty of Veterinary Science have just published a new study on the welfare and survival of Africa’s arid-dwelling mammals under the threat of climate change.
The pair teamed up with their Brain Function Research Group (BFRG) collaborators at Wits University to show how mammals will need to contend not only with increasing heat loads into the future, but also reduced water and food availability, a situation that will compromise their ability to regulate body temperature. The authors explain how a lack of water will suppress evaporative cooling during the day, while a lack of food will limit metabolic heat production at night, leading to body temperature irregularities, physiological malfunction and possible death.
The publication has appeared in a special themed issue - "Predicting the Future: Species Survival in a Changing World" - of the Journal of Experimental Biology with a once-off free access. To access and view the study/abstract please click here.
Dr Ned Snelling, Prof Leith Meyer
February 24, 2021
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.
Copyright © University of Pretoria 2024. All rights reserved.
Get Social With Us
Download the UP Mobile App