Qualifications and experience

Michelle completed a B.Sc.(Zoology and Genetics) in 1997, which she obtained with a distinction at the University of Pretoria (UP), and a B.Sc. Hons. (Zoology) in 1998. Her honours thesis was entitled, The influence of male and female nutritional stress on female mate choice in the multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis. After working in the UK for a few months, she commenced a Masters degree, supervised by Prof. Marthan Bester (Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria) and Dr. Jean-Paul Roux Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, (Namibia).

Getting to know the other islanders

She spent a total of fourteen months on Ichaboe Island, Namibia, investigating predatory interactions between Cape fur seals and seabirds, quantifying environmental, spatial and temporal factors thereof, and comparing systematic and opportunistic behavioural sampling techniques. While offshore, Michelle gained valuable experience in banding, nest monitoring, diet sampling, censusing and rehabilitation of seabirds, particularly penguins, gannets and cormorants. She was awarded a Masters degree (Zoology) in April 2002.

Michelle joined the Avian Demography Unit in September 2001 as a project researcher for the Southern African Seabird Conservation Programme. Here, she worked with John Cooper in preparing draft documents for, and running the Southern African Coastal Seabird Conservation Assessment and Management Plan Workshop, which was held in Cape Town in February 2002. She also assisted in compiling and editing the Workshop Report. In December 2001, she joined a team of biologists on the Summer Survey to the Prince Edward Islands to conduct a seabird census. It was during this trip that she first saw Wandering Albatrosses, and was offered the opportunity to return for a year to do research on these birds.

As a "birder" in the 59th overwintering expedition (April 2002 to May 2003) to the Prince Edward Islands, she conducted long-term monitoring and research on seabirds for the Percy FitzPatrick and Marine and Coastal Management's Seabird Programmes. This project forms part of the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) and is in part fulfilment of South Africa's obligation as a signatory to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living resources (CCAMLR). She was also the Conservation Officer for the year, as well as editor of the team's monthly newsletter, The Wanderer.

Michelle with a nesting Northern Giant Petrel on Marion Island

After returning from her year on Marion, she spent seven months in New Zealand, volunteering as a field assistant on various projects, including Bryde's Whales, Grey-faced Petrels, Kakapo, Yellow-Eyed Penguins, Takahe and stoat trapping.

Michelle returned to the ADU for a short contract in February/March 2004, compiling a booklet on African Penguin population trends in the Western Cape. Upon completing this, she continued her island-hopping by going to the Isle of May, Scotland, to assist in observations on Guillemots, and to the Orkney Islands to work on Northern Fulmars.

After another short stint at the ADU updating the website, Michelle is headed off to the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, where she will be an assistant lecturer in ornithology and mammalogy at the Department of Wildlife for a year.

Publications/Presentations

• Du Toit, M., Underhill, L.G. & Crawford, R.J.M. 2004. African Penguin populations in the Western Cape, South Africa, 1992-2003. Cape Town: Avian Demography Unit. 16pp.
• Du Toit, M., Bartlett, P.A., Bester, M.N. & Roux, J-P. 2004. Seabird predation by individual seals at Ichaboe Island, Namibia. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 34(1):45-54.
• Du Toit, M., Boere, G.C., Cooper, J., De Villiers, M.S., Kemper, J., Lenten, B., Petersen, S.L., Simmons, R.E., Underhill, L.G., Whittington, P.A., Byers, O.P. (eds). 2003. Conservation Assessment and Management Plan for Southern African Seabirds. Cape Town: Avian Demography Unit & Apple Valley: Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.
• Underhill, L.G., Calf, K.M., Crawford, R.J.M., du Toit, M., Waller, L. & Whittington, P.A. 2003. Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes and White-faced Storm Petrel Pelagodroma marina at Dyer Island, South Africa. Atlantic Seabirds 5: 1-3.
• Crawford, R.J.M., Cooper, J., Dyer, B.M., Greyling, M., Klages, N.T.W., Ryan, P.G., Petersen, S.L., Underhill, L.G., Upfold, L., Wilkinson, W., de Villiers, M., du Plessis, S., du Toit, M., Leshoro, T.M., Makhado, A.B., Mason, M., Merkle, D., Tshingana, D., Ward, V.L. & Whittington, P.A. 2003. Populations of surface-nesting seabirds at Marion Island, 1994/95-2002/03. African Journal of Marine Science 25:415-426.
• Crawford, R.J.M., Cooper, J., du Toit, M., Greyling, M.D., Hanise, B., Holness, C.L., Keith, D.G., Nel, J.L., Petersen, S.L., Spencer, K., Tshingana, D. & Wolfaardt, A.C. 2003. Population and breeding of the gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua at Marion Island, 1994/95 - 2002-03, with information on breeding and diet. African Journal of Marine Science 25: 463-474.
• Crawford, R.J.M., Cooper, J., Dyer, B.M., Wolfaardt, A.C., Tshingana, D., Spencer, K., Petersen, S.L., Nel, J.L., Keith, D.G., Holness, C.L., Hanise, B., Greyling, M.D., & du Toit, M. 2003. Population, breeding, diet and conservation of the Crozet Shag Phalacrocorax [atriceps] melanogenis at Marion Island, 1994/95-2002/03. African Journal of Marine Science 25:537-547.
• Du Toit, M., Bartlett, P.A., Bester, M.N. & Roux, J-P. Seal-seabird predation: differences between individual seals. Symposium of the Zoological Society of South Africa, Port Elizabeth, 2001. (Poster)
• Cooper, J., Byers, O., de Villiers, M.S. & du Toit, M. Conserving southern African seabirds: developing a Memorandum of Understanding between Angola, Namibia and South Africa [abstract]. Southern African Marine Science Symposium 1-5 July 2002. Swakopmund, Namibia. p.19.
• Du Toit, M., Bartlett, P.A., Bester, M.N. & Roux, J-P. Seal-seabird predation: differences between individual seals. Southern African Marine Science Symposium, Swakopmund, July 2002. (Poster)
• Du Toit, M. & Bartlett, P.A. 2001. 'Soaked' Cape gannets at Ichaboe Island, Namibia. Bird Numbers 10:8-9

Links to other pages by Michelle on the ADU website:

The Islands of Saldahna Bay and Langebaan Lagoon: A Trip in Time

Yellow-Eyed Penguin, New Zealand