Marlene Neethling

Population Genetic Structure of the Southern African Banded Goby ( Caffrogobius caffer )

South Africa has a good network of reserves to protect terrestrial biodiversity, but marine reserves in our country have been designated either at random or in response to declining commercial fish stocks, therefore offering poor protection to our coastal biota. The need to designate marine reserves to include all possible habitats, including intertidal and subtidal habitats, has only recently been acknowledged, but in order to identify areas where increased protection will aid in conserving coastal ecosystems and biodiversity, it is important to understand biogeographical patterns and be aware of geographical barriers to gene flow along the coast.

South Africa has three biogeographical regions with differences in species composition between them, but many species occur along the entire coastline and it is unknown at present whether there are also genetic breaks in these species. Intertidal species are useful study organisms to investigate genetic population structure, as they are restricted to rockpools and fishes in particular show a variety of reproductive modes, allowing the investigation of the role of a species' reproductive mode and dispersal abilities on population genetic structure. The aim of my project is to look at the population genetic structure of an intertidal fish with presumably poor dispersal abilities, the southern African banded goby ( Caffrogobius caffer ), using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. This will contribute towards a larger project where comparable genetic data will be generated for at least 6 independent species, in order to help clarify processes that are driving speciation along the South African coastline.

 

• Evolutionary Genomics

Supervisors: Dr. Sophie von der Heyden, Prof. Conrad Matthee, Dr. Rauri Bowie ( University of California, Berkeley, USA )

Other Relevant Links

Western Cape Nature Conservation Board
The CAPE Project, CAPE Action Plan for the Environment
WWF South Africa
ZSSA
SASSB

Contact Details

Department of Botany & Zoology
University of Stellenbosch
Private Bag X1
Matieland 7602
South Africa

EMAIL: 14340674@sun.ac.za