Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Creating awareness about the plight of giraffes

21 December 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied

read more — The research team helps a giraffe to get up after they have finished collecting data.

Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) hope their research to investigate why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats, will also create awareness for the plight of giraffes which have lost more than 80% of some of their subspecies in East Africa and are facing extinction in the wild.

Dr Marietjie Schutte-Smith, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, says the collaborative research being done in South Africa is very unique and could help save subspecies from the brink of extinction – as South Africa has managed to double its giraffe numbers whilst subspecies have declined tremendously.

Why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats

“By using modern analysis techniques and instruments (such as drones and GPS devices), it is possible to study complex environments on a spatial ecology scale and has created the opportunity to investigate why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats,” explains wildlife expert Dr Francois Deacon.

“This in turn opened the door to explore geographic, soil and nutritional qualities the giraffe might prefer or avoid. This is one of the main reasons we are exploring the different factors and driving forces behind a large herbivore’s habitat selection, well-being, body condition parameters and physiological adaptations,” Dr Deacon says.

Veld conditions, plant species composition, tree densities and other available resources such as production yield and water quality determine reproduction successes and how animals disperse, move and distribute over an area. Spatial and ecological distributions of giraffe specifically depend on habitat resources and qualities that in turn affect their complex behavioral tactics and survival.

Strange habits

The research was started back in 2010 by Dr Deacon and Prof Nico Smit from the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS with the pioneering of GPS devices to investigate giraffe spatial ecology and habitat use. The current study was initiated as to why the giraffe would utilise one area more than the other, even if the two habitats had the same tree species, says Dr Schutte-Smith.

Dr Deacon contacted Prof Hendrik Visser and Dr Schutte-Smith from the Department of Chemistry for a possible collaborative effort. Ms Jeaneme Kuhn started her MSc research degree on this project in January 2019 and completed her degree in August 2020 with distinction.

Dr Schutte-Smith says from research done at Rooipoort Nature Reserve it was found that a certain group of giraffes had the strange habit of only eating from specific trees, avoiding similar trees a few metres away. “We wanted to see if this behaviour was due to chemical influences, i.e. if there are specific minerals that are possibly in excess at some places which they avoid, especially since there are mines close by.”

Aim of the research

The main aim of this MSc Chemistry degree, according to Dr Schutte-Smith, is to validate an analytical method for testing leaves and soil samples, using IPC, to see if heavy metals (in excess) are present in the soil, leaves and water and whether this has an influence on the browsing pattern of the giraffes. “Then as secondary aims (for the collaborative effort) we would like to investigate if the giraffe can select one area above the other (core home ranges), to understand what the qualities are that they would select for in the preferred area and what the qualities they avoid are in the other. And lastly to understand what the minimum requirements are to keep the animals happy and healthy, but also to investigate how they search for these qualities,” says Dr Schutte-Smith.

Giraffe conservation

Besides creating awareness of the plight of giraffes, the researchers also aim to create a model for conservation via research and education to be used as an example for other countries. This model incorporates students, academia, professionals, sponsors and stakeholders that cover various topics relating to giraffe education, management and conservation.

They would also like to see the UFS as the institution that has contributed the most to giraffe conservation strategies in Africa by being the leading university in the collection and analysis of information about giraffes and their habitats, increasing conservation education awareness about giraffes and African biodiversity and to develop national and/or regional plans aimed at giraffe conservation.

The research team successfully applied for funding which they used for chemicals and solvents to perform testing as well as sampling.

News Archive

Researcher part of project aimed at producing third-generation biofuels from microalgae in Germany

2016-05-09

Some of the researchers and technicians among the tubes of the Novagreen bioreactor (Prof Grobbelaar on left)

A researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Johan Grobbelaar, was invited to join a group of scientists recently at the Institute for Bio- and Geo-Sciences of the Research Centre Jülich, in Germany, where microalgae are used for lipid (oil) production, and then converted to kerosene for the aviation industry.

The project is probably the first of its kind to address bio-fuel production from microalgae on such a large scale.

“The potential of algae as a fuel source is undisputed, because it was these photoautotrophic micro-organisms that were fixing sunlight energy into lipids for millions of years, generating the petroleum reserves that modern human civilisation uses today. However, these reserves are finite, so the challenge is marrying biology with technology to produce economically-competitive fuels without harming the environment and compromising our food security. The fundamental ability that microalgae have to produce energy-rich biomass from CO2, nutrients, and sunlight through photosynthesis for biofuels, is commonly referred to as the Third-Generation Biofuels (3G),” said Prof Grobbelaar.

The key compounds used for bio-diesel and kerosene production are the lipids and, more particularly, the triacylglyserols commonly referred to as TAGs. These lipids, once extracted, need to be trans-esterified for biodiesel, while a further “cracking” step is required to produce kerosene. Microalgae can store energy as lipids and/or carbohydrates. However, for biofuels, microalgae with high TAG contents are required. A number of such algae have been isolated, and lipid contents of up to 60% have been achieved.

According to Prof Grobbelaar, the challenge is large-scale, high-volume production, since it is easy to manipulate growth conditions in the laboratory for experimental purposes.

The AUFWIND project (AUFWIND, a German term for up-current, or new impetus) in Germany consists of three different commercially-available photobioreactor types, which are being compared for lipid production.

Manipulated Chlorella with high lipid contents (yellow) in the Novagreen bioreactor

The photobioreactors each occupies 500 m2 of land surface area, are situated next to one another, and can be monitored continuously. The three systems are from Novagreen, IGV, and Phytolutions. The Novagreen photobioreactor is housed in a glass house, and consist of interconnected vertical plastic tubes roughly 150 mm in diameter. The Phytolutions system is outdoors, and consists of curtains of vertical plastic tubes with a diameter of about 90 mm. The most ambitious photobioreactor is from IGV, and consists of horizontally-layered nets housed in a plastic growth hall, where the algae are sprayed over the nets, and allowed to grow while dripping from one net to the next.

Prof Grobbelaar’s main task was to manipulate growth conditions in such a way that the microalgae converted their stored energy into lipids, and to establish protocols to run the various photobioreactors. This was accomplished in just over two months of intensive experimentation, and included modifications to the designs of the photobioreactors, the microalgal strain selection, and the replacement of the nutrient broth with a so-called balanced one.

Prof Grobbelaar has no illusions regarding the economic feasibility of the project. However, with continued research, optimisation, and utilisation of waste resources, it is highly likely that the first long-haul flights using microalgal-derived kerosene will be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Prof Grobbelaar from the Department of Plant Sciences, although partly retired, still serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is also involved with the examining of PhDs, many of them from abroad. In addition, he assisted the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa in the formulation of an algae-biotechnology and training centre. “The chances are good that such a centre will be established in Upington, in the Northern Cape,” Prof Grobbelaar said.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept