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Researching aquatic parasites on Antarctica a lifelong dream

31 March 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Gerhard de Jager

Prof Linda Basson recently returned from a three-month research expedition in Antarctica. Here she is, relaxing on the ice with the ever-inquisitive Adelie penguins having a gander at these strangers in their snowy world.

Very little is known about the parasites of Antarctica, which is a highly productive part of the oceans. These small organisms can be used very successfully to determine the health of this fragile ecosystem.

“Our research data can make significant contributions to the biodiversity of parasites, for a start. The data can also be very valuable to indicate the overall health of this large ecosystem – an ecosystem that drives many of the life-giving processes on our planet.” This is the belief of Prof Linda Basson from the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of the Free State (UFS).

She is an aquatic parasitologist who concentrates on various parasites from a wide range of hosts, including vertebrates (fish and amphibians) and invertebrates (plankton, urchins, starfish, sea cucumbers and red-bait).

Prof Basson, together with PhD student Gerhard de Jager, was invited by Prof Isabelle Ansorge, Head of the School of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, to join her research team on the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAE) Voyage 59 to Antarctica.

Widen the scope of research
“Our aim on this trip was to determine how we can collaborate with the various oceanographers to widen the scope of research normally performed on these voyages, in order to also include parasitological aspects. Once we arrived on the continent of Antarctica, we worked to collect a range of hosts from the Southern Ocean to screen these for the whole array of parasites,” she explains.

No research of any kind on aquatic parasites has ever been done in Penguin Bukta and Akta Bukta, the specific areas where Prof Basson was based with other scientists and the rest of the Agulhas crew.

She adds: “Our research will contribute to the wider knowledge of parasites in marine environments, but specifically in this area where little to nothing is known.”

A chance of a lifetime
“Antarctica was literally one of the top research destinations on my bucket list. Travelling to and working in Antarctica is a lifelong dream of mine. It was a chance of a lifetime that I could not miss out on,” says Prof Basson.

Sharing her experience, she says a typical day on board the SA Agulhas II in Antarctica will start with a cup of good, quality coffee and a look at the prevailing weather on the stern of the ship.

“One would always be amazed by the beautiful, ceaselessly changing water, the restless sea ice and the impressive ancient ice shelf in very invigorating temperatures, while an ethereal Snow Petrel swirls past and the occasional Adelie penguin comes to gaze and contemplate the presence of this large red structure floating in their habitat and obscuring their view. After tearing yourself away from this, the rest of the day would be spent either in the well-equipped laboratory working through collected samples, or else planning the next exciting collection in the intensely cold water.”

Remarkable journey
To eternalise memories of this unique experience of almost three months, Prof Basson says that, “One cannot go without a fully charged camera with a large SD card, ready to capture the many facets of this exceedingly fragile but enchanting world of ice and sky, ever changing and all in innumerable shades of white”.

“This truly remarkable journey will forever be associated with a myriad of brilliant highlights.”

Finding it extremely difficult to single out a specific highlight, she listed a long list of memorable events, but as a scientist she will always remember “realising the wealth and cornucopia of microscopic life present in the southernmost of our oceans and seeing this first-hand under the microscope”.

News Archive

UFS sets trend for higher education institutions

2005-09-21

The University of the Free State (UFS) offers more service-learning courses than any other higher education institution in the country and has the highest number of students enrolled for these service-learning courses.

This was the research findings on higher education institutions conducted between 2001 and 2004 by the Joint Education Trust (JET) into service-learning courses. These are courses which seek to integrate service to the community into the academic core of higher education institutions.

The results of this research indicated that the UFS is one of the few higher education institutions in South Africa that have made progress in integrating community engagement into the mainstream academy.

According to the findings 2 233 students at the UFS participated in service-learning courses supported by JET, while 858 students at the University of Transkei (UNITRA), 636 students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and only 600 students at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) participated in service-learning courses.

In total there were 6 930 students participating in service learning courses supported by the JET at 10 institutions throughout the country.

The research also found that out of a total of 182 service-learning courses supported by JET countrywide, the UFS had the highest number of such courses at 42, followed by WITS with 28, the University of Kwazulu Natal with 26, UWC 24 and UNITRA with 22.

Nationally, most of the service-learning courses at higher education institutions are offered in the human sciences (62), followed by health sciences (37), education (26), agriculture (14), and economic sciences (11).

According to leading academics, service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational exercise in which students participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs and helps the student to gain a deeper understanding of course content and a sense of civic responsibility.

Reacting to the research findings, the Rector and Vice-chancellor of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the university feels strongly that there should be integration of service-learning into the academic core of the institution.

“Through service-learning modules the UFS can give expression to its role of service to the community as an institution of higher learning, producing quality graduates who understand the communities in which they will have to function for the rest of their lives,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Mr Jo Lazarus, the project manager of the Community-Higher Education – Service Partnership (CHESP), which falls under the JET, a number of institutions have identified community engagement as a strategic priority and have allocated significant resources from their central budget towards its implementation.

Mr Lazarus said most students have an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards service learning.

“A large percentage of students surveyed indicated that their service-learning course helped to improve their relationship skills, leadership skills and project planning abilities. As significant is the fact that these courses also benefited them in terms of their awareness of cultural differences and opened their eyes about their own cultural stereotypes,” said Mr Lazarus.

“The key challenge still hampering the integration of service-learning as a core function of academic activity is that some institutions still see service-learning as an add-on, and nice-to-have activity,” he said.

According to Mr Lazarus higher education must demonstrate social responsibility and commitment to the common good by making available expertise and infrastructure for service-learning as a form of community engagement.

Media release
Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
   20 September 2005

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