Prof CA Matthee

My Research Focus

Constructing an accurate phylogeny for any group of organisms is fundamental to understanding biology. Amongst others, it can serve to provide a robust classification system, supply valuable information on evolution and speciation and assist in explaining complex biological patterns. Recent technological advances (largely due to the human genome project) have enabled the generation of large quantities of accurate sequence data. Due to the continued efforts in genomics we have identified unique independent intron markers that segregate independently and these are useful for recovering robust phylogenies for various mammalian taxa at different taxonomic levels. My research also focuses on terrestrial and marine phylogeography and for this aspect we are particularly interested to identify geographic regions in Southern Africa that are characterized by high levels of genetic diversity. These geographic regions act as biodiversity hotspots and, once identified, will enhance our ability to make informed management decisions.