South Africa

The world's 3rd most biodiverse-rich country.
Barcodes protect our natural assets.

Biodiversity

South Africa

South Africa is the 3rd richest country in the world in terms of biological diversity. It is home to about 10% of the world's plants, 7% of the reptiles, birds and mammals, and 15% of known coastal marine species.

This web of natural life is vital for human well-being. It provides water, food, eco-tourism, fisheries, medicine, energy, and oxygen. We need to take care of our natural wealth.

This web of natural life is vital for human well-being. It provides water, food, eco-tourism, fisheries, medicine, energy, and oxygen. We need to take care of our natural wealth.

Challenges

Threats of species extinction are rising. Pressures include:

International wildlife trafficking syndicates

Socio-economic development

Climate change

Invasive alien species

Pangolin Manis temminckii

Habitat

Occurs in savannah woodland, floodplain grassland, bushveld, rocky hills and sandveld areas with an average rainfall between 250 to 1,400 millimeters. It does not occur in forest and deserts.

Distribution

It is native to central and southern Africa and occurs in Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. In South Africa they are known to occur in Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State and north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal.

Threats

Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List because of population decline due to exploitation for traditional medicine use and bush meat.

Legislation

Listed under CITES Appendix II – international trade is monitored In South Africa, it is listed as Vulnerable under the Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations of the National Environmental: Biodiversity Act (Act 10 of 2004) – all activities are restricted with no prohibitions or exemptions.

Team

The South African National Project Committee

Michelle Hamer

Contact

Michelle Hamer is co-chair of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). She is also director of Biosystematics Research & Collections Initiatives at SANBI, which involves developing and implementing projects at a national level dealing with taxonomy, DNA barcoding, surveys and collections of preserved specimens. SANBI uses a “managed network” approach to achieve many of its priority outcomes, rather than doing all the work inhouse. Hamer's role as a SANBI research manager is to develop appropriate networks and to co-ordinate multi-institutional projects related to biodiversity.

Antoinette Kotze

Contact

Antoinette Kotze is manager: research & scientific services at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. By education, inclination and experience she is a scientist, and is passionate about biodiversity and biodiversity conservation. She has worked extensively with wildlife, as well as indigenous farm animals. She has spearheaded transformation and interdisciplinary research projects, ranging from negotiation skills to brokering partnerships with national and international entities. She is passionate about building capacity in biodiversity conservation, with a proven ability to lead, inspire and motivate staff members as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Michèle Pfab

Contact

Michèle Pfab is the scientific co-ordinator of South Africa’s CITES Scientific Authority, a committee of experts mandated to advise the minister of environmental affairs on the utilization of and trade in South Africa’s wildlife, with a specific focus on species listed in the appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and species listed as threatened or protected in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. She holds an MSc degree in resource conservation biology from the University of the Witwatersrand and has 17 years of experience in conservation practice within the government sector. Prior to her current employment with the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Michèle worked in the Directorate of Nature Conservation in the former Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, where her main focus area was biodiversity planning.

Professor Michelle van der Bank

Contact

Professor Michelle van der Bank is head of the African Center for DNA Barcoding (ACDB) at the University of Johannesburg, and associated professor in botany. She has a PhD in botany. As a member of the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa’s National Project Committee, she is involved in the development of plant standard operating procedures, and training of environmental management inspectors and prosecutors in barcoding and sampling. She is also responsible for the sampling of plant material for the project.

Team Members

Zandie Adam

Contact

Zandie Adam is biomaterials laboratory officer at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB). She currently manages the Tissue Biobank at SAIAB. She is involved with cataloguing and organising biomaterials, preparing barcoding plates, and processing national and international biomaterial loan requests. Her lifelong fascination with biology led her into a career in the life sciences. Her background in microbiology and zoology put her into a position that fits well with an institution like SAIAB and projects like the Barcode of Wildlife Project, where she gets the chance to put the two disciplines together.

Monica Mwale

Contact

Monica Mwale is a scientist at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) a research facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF). She is passionate about the systematics of wildlife and fishes and is interest in population diversity and the evolutionary history of organisms. In the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project, she is responsible organising and managing the DNA barcoding processes and analyses of the priority and look-alike wildlife species of South Africa. She works with the NZG team in sampling under chain of custody and uploading of DNA sequence and specimen records into the LIMS reference database system.

“My current work in the NZG on forensics services for the South African Police services forensics department makes the generation of this reference database highly valuable.”

Willem Coetzer

Contact

Willem Coetzer (MSc: Zoology) is biodiversity information manager at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB). He began his career in 1997 at the Agricultural Research Council, doing research in biological control of weeds. An interest in computers eventually emerged and caused his focus to shift to the information associated with biodiversity. In 2004 a door at SAIAB opened to reveal his present challenge: how to represent biodiversity concepts for artificial intelligence.

Ronny Kabongo

Contact

Ronny Kabongo is the sequencing specialist at the African Center for DNA Barcoding (ACDB) at the University of Johannesburg. He has an MSc in botany. For the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project, he is involved in the development of animal standard operating procedures, and the training of environmental management inspectors in barcoding and sampling. He is also responsible for the sampling of plant material for the project, for the sequencing of the plant samples, and the uploading of data.

Kim Labuschagne

Contact

Kim Labuschagne is the Biobank curator at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. Her passion for conservation and anything animal-related has steered her career. After starting as an honours student at the Biobank in 2005, she worked her way up to her current position as its curator. This involves managing the optimal banking of various tissue collections, as well as access to the biomaterials and the metadata associated with the samples. The Biobank is a critical stop-point for the samples from mammal, bird and reptile species in the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project. It ensures the samples are access-controlled due to their full chain-of-custody status, as well as stored optimally for potential further use. “The project has ensured that my knowledge and experience through biobanking practices over the years are being put to good use,” says Kim.

Olivier Maurin

Contact

Olivier Maurin is the laboratory manager at the African Center for DNA Barcoding (ACDB) and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Johannesburg. He has a PhD in botany. For the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project, he is involved in the development of plant standard operating procedures, and the training of environmental management inspectors in barcoding and sampling. He is also responsible for the sampling of plant material for the project, responsible for the overall management of the project at ACDB, and the uploading of data.

Salome Malgas

 

Salome Malgas is a laboratory technician at the African Center for DNA Barcoding (ACDB). She has matric and a diploma in administration and art projects. For the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project, she is responsible for the extraction, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of plant material.

Thando Radebe

Contact

Thando Radebe is a research assistant in the Center for Conservation Science at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. She completed her B-tech in biotechnology and is currently pursuing an M-tech. Forensics is her passion, and she says the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project has exposed her to sample collection and being close to a lot of rare species, “which is usually not the case because most of the time we only receive samples to do in the lab. I have found a new respect for the value of the stuff we receive in the lab, and have discovered field world is not that easy,” she says.

Marli Roelofse

Contact

Marli Roelofse is a research assistant at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. She is responsible for the laboratory analysis of samples received at the Centre for Conservation Sciences, which includes services rendered to game farm owners and participating in the wildlife research the centre is conducting. She is passionate about wildlife and forensic sciences, and at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa she has excellent opportunities to combine these two fields. She is also studying at the University of the Free State, specialising in forensic genetics and especially wildlife forensic genetics. For the Barcode of Wildlife-SA project, she is involved in both the sampling of specimens and their DNA barcoding. “It has been an unforgettable, knowledge-expanding experience to be part of this project,” she says.

Eugene Zandisile Shongwe

 

Eugene Zandisile Shongwe is laboratory technician at the African Center for DNA Barcoding (ACDB) and a Groen Sebenza pioneer. He has a BSc in environmental management. For the Barcode of Wildlife-South Africa Project, he is responsible for the extraction, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of plant material.

Media Team

Fiona Macleod

Contact

Fiona Macleod champions South Africa's biodiversity future as a pioneering South African environmental journalist at a range of the region’s top media. She currently heads up the Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalism, a unit that combines traditional investigative reporting with data analysis and geo-mapping tools to expose eco-offences. She served as environmental editor at the >Mail & Guardian newspaper for 10 years, and was awarded the prestigious Nick Steele award recognising her contributions to environmental conservation.

Rehana Dada

Contact

Rehana Dada focuses on biodiversity as a filmmaker, writer and researcher. She is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow, and has consulted as a researcher in climate change and sustainable development. She produced and directed documentaries for the environmental TV programme 50/50 for 13 years, and produced and presented programmes for SAfm on SABC radio for 4 years. She was a founding coordinator for the One Million Climate Jobs Campaign, and managed communications for the Working for Wetlands ecosystem restoration and job creation programme.

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