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14 August 2018
WomenofKovsies Dr Lize Joubert on flowers and their favourite insects
Pollination is important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health

“Pollination is important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health.” So says Dr Lize Joubert, lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State. “Research helps to understand the interaction between insects and flowers and their many implications on real-world problems.”

Plant systematics and pollination biology, Dr Joubert’s research field, looks at how plants diversify, adapt to environmental changes and how their flowers evolve to keep attracting insects to pollinate them for reproduction. 

Dependency on pollination

Crop production is, in many cases, dependent on pollination. About 75% of the world’s crops are to some extent dependant on pollination. “Pollination is really important for us as human beings, but it is also important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health.”

Dr Joubert obtained her PhD in plant systematics in 2013 and was subsequently awarded the EM van Zinderen-Bakker Prize for an outstanding PhD dissertation in Botany.

She is also the curator of the Geo Potts Herbarium in Bloemfontein, the internationally accredited herbarium housing over 30 000 plant specimens, mainly representing the flora of central South Africa and several special collections from Marion Island, the Okavango Delta, and KwaZulu-Natal. 

Learning from the experts

As a young researcher Dr Joubert became part of the Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) at the UFS which led her to Cambridge University where she became part of a research group for nearly two years under an expert in her field, Prof Beverley Glover. The PSP at UFS identifies and promotes promising young academics at the university to become full professors with excellent research accomplishments. 

Dr Joubert views the PSP Programme to a large extent as her academic home. She is proud to be part of the programme that has brought her closer to other experts in her field and resulted in collaborations in which she is involved in cutting-edge research. 

News Archive

UFS closes pedestrian entrances to improve safety on campus
2010-08-05

The University of the Free State (UFS) will remove pedestrian gates on its Main Campus in an extra effort to improve safety on this campus.

It was decided to implement this plan because the campus covers a huge area and people who are not part of the campus community hang around on the campus, sometimes causing damages. This idea is also strongly supported by students, in particular with regard to the removal of the pedestrian thoroughfares close to the hostels.

The following pedestrian gates will not be removed:

- The pedestrian thoroughfares on both sides of the DF Malherbe Gate (next to the Faculty of Health Sciences). Both the main gate and the pedestrian thoroughfares at the DF Malherbe Gate remain open 24 hours a day.
- The pedestrian thoroughfares at the Badenhorst Street Gate (close to Roosmaryn Residence). The Badenhorst Gate is not open 24 hours a day, but the pedestrian thoroughfare will remain open 24 hours a day.

The following pedestrian thoroughfares will be removed with effect from 1 September 2010:

- The pedestrian thoroughfare to the east of Pellies Park
- The pedestrian thoroughfare to the west of Pellies Park (directly behind JMB Hertzog Residence)
- The turnstile between the Kovsie Church and the Wynand Mouton Gate
- The pedestrian thoroughfare behind the tennis courts
- The pedestrian thoroughfares behind the rugby fields

A request was also directed at the Kovsie Church to close down the pedestrian thoroughfare between the Kovsie Church and the UFS. This gate will then be opened during church activities.

From 1 September 2010, the personnel of Security Services will regularly patrol the fences. Trespassers that flatten the fencing to enter the campus will be prosecuted.

Students, personnel and visitors are encouraged to make use of the main entrance gates of the UFS. These include the Main Gate (in Nelson Mandela Drive), the Wynand Mouton Gate (in DF Malherbe Drive), the DF Malherbe Gate (in Wynand Mouton Drive), the Badenhorst Street Gate (close to Roosmaryn Residence) and the Furstenburg Gate (in Furstenburg Road).

Media Release:
Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
5 August 2010

 

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