Lab Alumni
Bathabile Masango – Masters Student
Project Title: Investigate the flight ability of the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer in South Africa by determining the beetle performance.
Maddie Pienaar – Masters Student
Project Title: Dispersal ecology of the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer
Mia Vermaak – PhD
Project Title: Establish the trophic ecology of Acari and Collembola in agroecosystems by integrating field observations with laboratory trails.
Dr Kevin Malod – Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Anandi Bierman – Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Henrika Bosua – PhD and Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Minette Karsten – Masters Student, PhD
Amy Collop – Masters Student
Project title: The population genetics of the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, in South Africa
Nadia Viljoen – Masters Student
Project title: Exploring combinations of insect growth regulators and entomopathogenic nematodes for integrated pest management of false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
Dr Quentin Willot – Postdoctoral researcher
Project title: Deciphering abiotic stress tolerance pathways in both model and non model organisms.
Dr Amy Liu – PhD
Project title: Strangers in a strange land: Key physiological innovations underpin radiation into hot, dry niches by the genus Seira (Collembola: Entomobryoidea).
Dr Marion Javal – Postdoctoral Researcher
Project title: Investigating host shifts and biosecurity in a novel sugarcane pest, the longhorn beetle Cacosceles newmannii.
Chantelle Smit – Masters Student
Project title: Metabolic responses and host plants of the novel sugarcane pest Cacosceles newmannii.
Dr Davina Saccaggi – PhD
Project title: Mechanisms and determinants of transport and establishment of invasive terrestrial arthropods.
Dr. Madeleine Barton – Postdoctoral Researcher
Project title: Predicting how agricultural insect pests in South Africa will respond to climate change.
Dr. Welma Pieterse – Phd
Project title: Forecasting the invasion potential of bactrocera invadens in the Western Cape of South Africa using a trait-based approach.
Dr. Berlize Groenewald – Phd
Project title: Testing current hypotheses of Discontinuous Gas Exchange in Orthoptera
Dr. Minette Karsten – Phd
Project title: Fruit fly pest management and gene flow in South Africa
Dr. Elsje Kleynhans – Masters Student, PhD
Project title: Understanding population dynamics of Eldana in sugarcane from a thermal ecology perspective.
Dr. Matt Hill – Postdoctoral Researcher
Project title: Insect niche shifts and global invasions
Dr. Leigh Boardman – Phd
Project title: Biochemical and physiological responses of False Codling Moth to temperature and artificial atmospheres
Dr. Kate Mitchell – Postdoctoral Researcher
Project title: Thermal adaptation and transcriptional responses in tephritid fruit flies.
Dr. Bev Grieshaber – Postdoctoral Researcher
Project title: Modelling discontinuous gas exchange in insects.
Saskia Thomas –Masters Student
Project title: Pest Management and Risk Analyses of Future Pest Invasions of Sugarcane in Mazabuka, Zambia
Nevill Boersma – Masters Student
Project title: Thermal response to cold tolerance, fecundity, longevity and flying ability of false codling moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).
Marcé Doubell – Masters Student
Project title: Investigating the biology and ecology of katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) pests in vineyards of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Sinead O’Toole – Masters Student
Project title: Testing metabolic cold adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster along a latitudinal gradient in Australia
Frank Chidawanyika -Masters Student
Project title: Costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for codling moth
Nanike Esterhuizen – Masters Student
Project title: Impact of thermal history on flight performance of Mediterannean fruit flies (Tephritidae)
Zoe de Jager – Masters Student
Project title: Revisiting diapause in False Codling Moth
Ruben Schoombie – Masters Student
Project title: Potential impacts of climate change on Breviceps rain frogs
Rebecca Shinner – Masters Student
Project title: Thermal responses and thermoregulation in Harmonia axyridis
Wilmari Uys – Masters Student
Project title: Thermal limits of False Codling Moth
Vernon Steyn – Masters Student
Project title: Dispersal and flight physiology of Mediterranean fruit flies
Matt Lachenicht – Honours Student
Project title: Thermal acclimation effects on locomotor performance and respiratory metabolism in crickets
Helene Basson – Honours Student
Project title: Tsetse fly metabolic responses to hypoxia and temperature
Paige Potter – Honours Student
Project title: Discontinuous gas exchange in Table Mountain Cockroaches
Dr. Casper Nyamukondiwa – Phd
Project title: Fruit fly (Tephritidae) thermal biology: implications for pest management
Liana Isabel De Araujo – Masters Student
Project title: Flight ability and reproduction trade-offs in Drosophila.