University of the Free State

Department of Zoology & Entomology

P.O. Box 339

University of the Free State

Bloemfontein

2008 - 2010                             Master of Nematology, Ghent University, Belgium (with Great Distinction)

Mini-Thesis                            NEMATODES FROM THE BAKWENA CAVE IN IRENE, SOUTH AFRICA

2001 – 2006                            Philosophiae Doctorae (Zoology) UFS

Thesis:                                   DIGENEAN PARASITES FROM FISH OF THE OKAVANGO RIVER & DELTA, BOTSWANA

1999 - 2000:                           Magister Scientiae (Zoology) UFS (cum laude)

Dissertation:                         SNAIL BORNE LARVAL TREMATODES OF THE OKAVANGO RIVER & DELTA, BOTSWANA

1998:                                      Honneursbaccalaureus Scientiae U.O.F.S

1995-1997:                             Baccalaureus Scientiae U.O.F.S

POSTER PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUMS

2001:  Microscope Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Title of Poster:  Parasites infecting the sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. (1^st Author)

2014:  6^th International conference of Nematology; Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa.  Title of Poster:  Taxonomic study of Dorylaimoidea (Nematoda: Dorylaimida) from the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve, South Africa. (2^nd Author)

2016:  Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa.  Title of Poster:  The occurrence of Hirschmanniella and Tylenchorhynchus spp., plant parasitic nematodes from the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve, Memel.  (1^st Author)

2019: SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns: Biologiese Afdeling; Congress held at University of Free State, Bloemfontein. Title of Poster:  Invertebraatdiversiteit van twee soutpanne in die Soetdoringnatuurreservaat. (2^nd author)

2022: 7^th International Congress of Nematology; conference held in Antibes, France.  Title of Poster: Nematode survey of grassland habitats in two nature reserves of the Free State Province, South Africa. (2^nd author)

2022: 59^th Southern Africa Society of Aquatic Scientists conference; conference held in Brandfort, South Africa.  Title of Poster: Survey of free-living freshwater nematodes from the Okavango Delta, Botswana. (2^nd author)

2022: 59^th Southern Africa Society of Aquatic Scientists conference; conference held in Brandfort, South Africa.  Title of Poster: Diversity of Daphnia spp. in six Free State Nature Reserves. (2^nd author)

ORAL PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUMS (All as 1^st Author)

1998:  Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Larval Trematodes of Sandelia capensis.

1999:  Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Cercariae occurring in snail intermediate hosts in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

2002:  15^th International Congress on Electron Microscopy; Conference held in Durban, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Occurrence of Acanthocephalans from fishes in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

2002:  Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held at Golden Gate, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Clinostomum spp. infecting the sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus from the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

2003:  6^th International Symposium on Fish Parasites; Conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Digenetic trematodes occurring in Synodontis nigromaculatus and Clarias gariepinus from the Okavango River & Delta, Botswana.

2004:  Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held at Pilanesberg, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Is parasite diversity an indication of host niche adaptation?

2005: Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held at Magoebaskloof, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  The Okavango Delta: A haven for digenean parasites.

2005:  Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Digenetic trematodes collected from six fish families in the Okavango River and Delta, Botswana.

2006:  Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Site preferences amongst digenetic trematodes from fish in the Okavango Delta.

2007:  7^th International Symposium on Fish Parasites; Conference held in Viterbo, Italy.  Title of Presentation:  Diplostomatids inducing behavioural changes in fish species of the Okavango River and Delta, Botswana.

2008:  Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Gaborone Botswana.  Title of Presentation:  Proctoeces sp. (Trematode:Digenea) in the brown mussel, Perna perna. 

2010:  The South African Academy for Science and Art: Biological Sciences Division; Congress held at Roodeplaat, Pretoria.  Title of Presentation:  Nematodes from the Bakwena Cave in Irene, South Africa.

2011:  Nematological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held at Spier, Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  New nematode records from the Bakwena Cave, South Africa.

2012:  Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  Title of presentation: Plant parasitic nematodes from the Bakwena Cave, South Africa. 

2014:  6^th International conference of Nematology; Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Nematodes from the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve, Memel, South Africa.

2016:  Parasitological Society of Southern Africa; Conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  Title of presentation:  Clinostomid metacercariae and larval Contracaecum sp. infecting the cape kurper Sandelia capensis Cuvier, 1831.

2017:  Nematological Society of Southern Africa; Symposium held in Ballito, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Nematode survey from one of Africa’s last unspoiled wildernesses.

2019:  Nematological Society of Southern Africa; Symposium held in Machadadorp, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Nematofauna of the Soetdoring Nature Reserve in the Free State province, South Africa.

2019: 57^th Southern Africa Society of Aquatic Sciences conference; conference held at Zebula lodge, Limpopo.  Title of presentation: Nematodes as bio-indicators of the Seekoeivlei Wetland, South Africa.

2021: Nematological Society of Southern Africa; Symposium held in Tulbagh, South Africa.  Title of Presentation:  Leaf litter nematodes from the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, Stellenbosch.

2022: 7^th International Congress of Nematology; Congress held in Antibes, France. Title of Presentation: Protected areas of Southern Africa: What do we know of the nematode fauna?

2023: Nematological Society of Southern Africa: Symposium held in Muldersdrift, South Africa.  Title of Presentation: Nematofauna of the Kalkfontein Dam Nature Reserve, Free State Province.

DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES

From 2006 until 2008 & 2010- present: patron for the departmental magazine, the Kovshaan which appears bi-annually.

From 2015 - Programme Director for the Department of Zoology and Entomology

SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC OUTPUTS

Postgraduate students: 6 Honours student and 5 M.Sc students  (1 as co-supervisor);  4 PhD students (3 current; one completed)

Conference contributions: 19 national, 6 as co-author, 5 international

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings:  8

Published abstract in accredited journals: 12

Published full length papers in accredited journals: 9

Durand, F., Swart, A., Marais, W., Jansen van Rensburg, C., Habig, J., Dippenaar-Schoeman, A., Ueckermann, E., Jacobs, R., De Wet, L. & Tiedt, L.  2012.  Die karst-ekologie van die Bakwenagrot (Gauteng).  Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie 31(1), 17 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ satnt.v31i1.275

Jansen Van Rensburg, C., Van As, J.G. & King, P.H.  2013.  New records of digenean parasites of Clarias gariepinus (Pisces: Clariidae) from the Okavango Delta, Botswana, with description of Thaparotrema botswanensis sp. n. (Plathelminthes: Trematoda).  African Invertebrates 54(2): 431-446.

Janion-Scheepers, C., Measey, J., Braschler, B., Chown, S.L., Coetzee, L., Colville, J.F., Dames, J., Davies, A.B., Davies, S.J., Davis, A.L.V., Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S., Duffy, G.A., Fourie, D., Griffiths, C., Haddad, C.R., Hamer, M., Herbert, D.G., Hugo-Coetzee, E.A., Jacobs, A., Jacobs, K., Jansen van Rensburg, C., Lamani, S., Lotz, L.N., VDM. Louw, S., Lyle, R., Malan, A.P., Marais, M., Neethling, J.A., Nxele, T.C., Plisko, D.J., Prendini, L., Rink, A.N., Swart, A., Theron, P., Truter, M., Ueckermann, E., Uys, V.M., Villet, M.H., Willows-Munro, S. & Wilson, J.  2016.  Soil biota in a megadiverse country: Current knowledge and future research directions in South Africa.  Pedobiologia 59: 129-174. 

Jansen van Rensburg, C., King, P.H. & Van As, J.G.  2016.  Furcocercous cercariae shed by the freshwater snails Pila occidentalis (Mousson, 1887) and Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Krauss, 1848) in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.  African Journal of Aquatic Science 41: 193-203.  

Moravec, F., Jansen Van Rensburg, C. & Van As, L.L.  2016.  Larvae of Contracaecum sp. (Nematoda: Anasakidae) in the threatened freshwater fish Sandelia capensis (Anabantidae) in South Africa.  Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 120: 251-254. 

Jansen van Rensburg, C.  2020. Assessing the ecological status of the Seekoeivlei Wetland, South Africa: A Nematode community case study.  Wetlands 40: 1269-1281

Jansen van Rensburg, C., Fourie, H., Ashrafi, S. & Rashidifard, M. 2021.  Description of Prionchulus jonkershoekensis n.sp. (Nematoda: Mononchida), a new predatory species from South Africa. DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2021-039

      van Dalen, E.M.S.P and Jansen van Rensburg, C. 2023. Acaricide resistance of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus (Acari: Ixodidae) on commercial farms in South Africa: filling a gap in historical data.  Experimental and Applied Acarology 90:317–337.

      van Dalen, E.M.S.P and Jansen van Rensburg, C. 2023. Evolution of acaricide resistance of Rhipicephalus decoloratus on commercial farms in South Africa. Experimental and Applied Acarology 90 (2): 90:339–355

Nematode taxonomy

Nematode ecology

Freshwater ecology

Fish parasitology

ZLGY3714 - Marine and Freshwater Ecology

ZLGY6844 - Capita selecta- Nematology 

ZLGY6834 -  Wetland Ecology