Prof Peter Taylor

ARU Professor-in-Residence
Department of Zoology and Entomology

T: +44 113 343 7169

E: TaylorPJ@ufs.ac.za

Research:

I am the ARU’s first ‘Professor in Residence’ and am also affiliated to the UFS Department of Zoology and Entomology. My research focuses on communities of bats and other small mammals in natural and agricultural landscapes in predominantly Afromontane regions of Southern Africa. Bats are highly diverse, but generally poorly understood and increasingly threatened in Africa. I passionately believe that research into and demonstration of the profoundly positive ecosystem services provided by bats will benefit their conservation through improved public understanding, and also encourage more sustainable agricultural practices.

Rodents are the most diverse mammal group, but a few pest species contribute disproportionately to agricultural damage and the transmission of disease to humans. Ecologically based rodent management (EBRM) offers a sustainable option to mitigate the huge negative impact of rodents in urban and rural communities. In collaboration with a broad research consortium from Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia, much of my previous (and continuing) research has contributed to testing the value of EBRM in Africa.

During my early research phase at the Durban Natural Science Museum (1989-2010), I established a small mammal collection of > 12 000 specimens, which formed the basis of five scientific books authored or co-authored by me on African small mammals (1998), bats (2000, 2010, and 2020), and rodents (2015). I have described 17 new species of small mammals. In 1994, I co-founded an organisation called Bats KZN to further bat conservation in South Africa, which continues actively today. Since 2010, I have developed research interests in applied aspects of biodiversity science, including ecologically based rodent management (EBRM), biological control of macadamia pests by bats, and the impact of climate change on Afromontane small mammals.

In my current position at the UFS, my students and I at the Mountain Bat Lab are investigating the role of bats in the Eastern Free State, both as ecosystem service providers (natural pest control) on apple farms and as ecological indicators of land-use change and climate change across a range of elevations and land uses in the Maloti-Drakensberg. This new research also investigates perceptions among farmers and school learners about the ecological value of bats and other biodiversity and introduces environmental education initiatives to improve public understanding of the importance of bats to livelihoods through their ecosystem services, such as natural pest control.

Together with my entomologist colleague, Emile Bredenhand, from October 2021 – in cooperation with taxonomic experts and students from 12 institutions – we established a continuing BioBlitz programme in the Qwaqwa Maloti Mountains on an elevational gradient between 1 600 m and 3 100 m. This project was greatly assisted through the establishment of an Alpine Research Base by the ARU in partnership with Transfrontier Parks Destinations and the local Batlokwa Royal Council. To date we have documented 900 species of plants and animals, 173 of which were recorded only in the alpine zone (> 2 800 m). This work forms the basis of future efforts to guide the rewilding, restoration, and management of the imperilled alpine biome in South Africa.

Together with several colleagues (Mpho Ramoejane, Sandy Steenhuisen, Alicia le Roux, Grant Martin, Nthatisi Nyembe, Lehlohonolo Mofokeng) and postgraduate students, we are starting to work on projects on the conservation, ecology, and taxonomy of terrestrial small mammals (rodent and shrews) and small antelope species in relation to elevation and alien-plant-infestation gradients, and parasitic infections, zoonotic disease transmission, and ecologically based management of pest rodents from the Eastern Free State.

I have lectured undergraduate courses in a wide range of subjects in the natural and environmental sciences and have supervised or co-supervised 20 honours, 22 MSc, and 17 PhD students. I am an NRF B2-rated scientist who has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9048-7366).

Read more about the Mountain Bat Lab in the Department of Zoology and Entomology.