Page 54 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018
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A focus on conservation genetics
Paulette Bloomer, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology
South Africa is one of the mega-diverse countries in the world in terms of species diversity. In addition to the sheer numbers of unique species, the country is also recognised for high levels of endemicity, i.e. species that uniquely occuTr here and nowhere else.
Conservation Genetics Resources in 2018, Dr Isa-Rita Russo, a former MEEP PhD student and current Cardiff postdoctoral fellow, and a team of conservation geneticists and scientists, including Paulette Bloomer, highlighted the potential threats
of intentional breeding for specific phenotypic traits and unregulated movement of species.
A member of the iconic African ‘Big
5’ and prominent species in the wildlife ranching industry is the African buffalo. Dr Deon de Jager, one of the 2018 MEEP PhD graduates and current postdoctoral fellow, developed a software tool, Friends
and Family, published in Molecular Ecology Resources in late 2017. The tool uses genotypic data to identify unrelated individuals in a herd which could assist both wildlife ranchers and conservation managers in developing breeding or translocation plans for any species.
Dr de Jager, Dr Cindy Harper (Onderstepoort Veterinary Genetics Laboratory) and Professor Bloomer also collaborate with researchers at Stellenbosch University who have sequenced the African buffalo genome for the first time. With this resource in hand, and the steadily reducing cost of next-generation DNA sequencing, the team sequenced 40 additional buffalo genomes from four national parks in South Africa, comprising the first population genomics study of
hree South African biodiversity hotspots
have been extensively documented, primarily based
on plant species diversity, endemicity and threats to these habitats: the Cape Floristic, Succulent Karoo, and the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany ecoregions. Molecular phylogenetics and ecology research at UP is revealing that South Africa is also rich in animal diversity and endemism.
‘Biodiversity’ includes diversity of ecosystems, species and genetic diversity. Genetic diversity has been overlooked in many international policies, but is increasingly recognised as an important factor in conservation, especially in the context of species’ resilience to global change.
Professor Paulette Bloomer and
Dr Michael Cunningham, members of the Molecular Ecology and Evolution Programme (MEEP) team, with their local and international collaborators have, over the past
20 years, demonstrated that South Africa has hidden terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate biodiversity, and areas of high evolutionary potential (high species and genetic diversity). Their work has shown that genetics research can contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of species, aligned with the South African government’s bio-economy and biodiversity strategies.
One of their main focus areas has been on conservation genetics.
In a co-authored publication in
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Members of the MEEP team.
 














































































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