Botany PhD Candidate‌

Email: g14b4197@campus.ru.ac.za
Office: F9, First Floor, Life Science Building

BSc (Hons), Botany, Rhodes University (2017)
MSc (with distinction), Botany, Rhodes University (2019)

PhD research: The enemy release hypothesis and biological control of Lagarosiphon major in New Zealand using Hydrellia lagarosiphon and Polypedilum tuburcinatum from South Africa.

Supervisor: Prof Julie Coetzee, Co-supervisor: Prof Angela Bownes

I am a young research scientist working mainly with the biological control of aquatic invasive plants. I did my Msc in Botany, looking at how climate change, and mainly changes in atmospheric CO2, will affect biological control programs that are currently considered successful in the aquatic environment. For my PhD, I am investigating the enemy release hypothesis and the potential for biological control of Lagarosiphon major in New Zealand using Hydrellia lagarosiphon and Polypedilum from South Africa. I have always had an interest in the natural world, and first came across the concept of biological control in my second year of university. I did my first project on invasive plants in 3^rd year of undergrad and have since been at the CBC for 5 years.

Publications

Baso, N.C., Delport, G.R. & Coetzee, J.A. Nutrient-mediated silica uptake from agricultural runoff in invasive floating macrophytes: implications for biological control. Hydrobiologia (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04344-5

Last Modified: Tue, 04 Aug 2020 12:36:14 SAST