Fitz News: January 2011

Conservation Biology Masters class of 2011

The Conservation Biology Coursework Masters was first run in 2002, making this the 20th class of Conservation Biology Masters students to register for the course at the FitzPatrick Institute. One of this year's students, Hlengiwe Mbatha, will be working on a project with a graduate of the first Conservation Biology Coursework Masters class, Jeanne Nel (nee Hurford), Jeanne subsequently completed her PhD and is currently employed as a conservation biologist and GIS specialist at the CSIR.

Welcome to this year's class of Conservation Biology MSc students! They are, from left to right: top row: Hlengiwe Mbatha, Lovelater Sebele, Lauren de Vos, Jeremy Goss; second row: Edward Rice, Emily Cressey, Daniel Wright, Christine Moore and third row: Jenneca McCarter, Nikki Best, Maurice Schutgens, Darlington Tuagben.

See Conservation Biology MSc for more information about the course and CB MSc Graduates for a list of past students and projects.

FitzPatrick Institute Seminar: 'Warbler secrets revealed by songs and DNA' by Per Alström

The avian superfamily Sylvioidea ("warblers", larks, swallows, bulbuls etc.) has been intensely studied by molecular markers in recent years, revealing a multitude of previously unexpected relationships. A number of well supported major clades have been established, and proposed to be recognised at the family level, although the relationships among these are still uncertain. Within these families, previously recognised genera have frequently been found to be non-monophyletic, calling for taxonomic revision, and underscoring the perils of basing classifications on non-cladistic evaluations of morphological data. Moreover, molecular markers in combination with non-molecular data, notably vocalizations, have shown that many taxa currently treated as subspecies are highly distinct, leading to reclassification of these as separate species. In some genera, this has led to a substantial increase in the number of recognised species. The present talk will give an overview and some examples of recent advances in the systematics of "warblers", mainly based on the speaker's research on (primarily) Eurasian species.

Niven Library News: Online catalogue and book sale

After experiencing some hiccoughs with the University of Cape Town's firewall, the Niven Library's Online Catalogue is back online for those of you trying to access it from outside UCT.

The Niven Library's 50th Anniversary Sale of ornithological books is still on and a revised list of books will be made available later this month (The current list can be downloaded here: Niven Library Book Sale). Alternatively, please consult the librarian, Margaret Koopman (fitzlib@uct.ac.za), for further information.

FitzPatrick Institute Seminar: 'A stab in the dark: the evolution of brood parasitism in Greater Honeyguides' by Dr Claire Spottiswoode

Honeyguides are some of Africa's most intriguing birds, showing interspecific interactions not only with humans that they exploit for foraging, but also other birds that they exploit for parental care. This talk will be about the ecology and evolution of their brood parasitic interactions, using a combination of field experiments and genetic analyses. I'll hope to show that parasitic exploitation by honeyguides is remarkably ancient, remarkably violent, and has generated a mixture of exquisite adaptation and a baffling lack of it.