A Post-Graduate Research Project on fish diversity in the Knysna Estuary

Andrew Meiklejohn – Masters Candidate Rhodes University, Department of Icthyhology and Fisheries Science The final two samples for my master’s were made up of the second seine net sample set and second beam trawl sample set. Seine netting is a method of sampling used to target a wide variety of fish in shallow water habitats of estuarine systems. The use of a beam trawl is a new method of sampling in the Knysna estuary, it has however been used in other South African estuaries. Beam trawl sampling allows better targeting of early juvenile fish species. It was hypothesised that a large number of fish species would be present in this summer sample set as well as a large number of...

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Educator Empowerment Project – Knysna Basin Project

Teachers who have knowledge of a topic teach with confidence and, conversely, are not confident in their teaching with content which they are not familiar. In South Africa, education research has shown that unfamiliarity in environmental content knowledge is a problem as for many teachers this content is new (having not been exposed to it in the previous schooling and tertiary education systems). To take this one step further, international studies have shown that: “Concurrent with the need to understanding the complex content, is establishing pedagogies that support the designing of teaching and learning in an interactive, learner-centered way…”(Unesco 2014).  That is, the methods of teaching affect the way in which the content is understood and learnt. To address these...

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This has become home

Knysna Basin Project

Hi, my name is Merrisa Naidoo and I greet you with the warmth of Durban because its summer back home all 365 days. My initial welcome to Knysna was a rather cold one mainly because I arrived in winter last year, however this was balanced by the warmth of the Knysna community. I have been apart of the small family at the Knysna Basin Project since May 2018 conducting my Masters research in Marine Science. (more…)

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The Truncated Mangrove Snail

The Truncated Mangrove Snail

Each month we feature a new species. This month we discuss Cerithidea decollata (Linnaeus, 1767) (text and photograph by Alan Hodgson). This marine snail is commonly known as the Truncated Mangrove Snail. It has a wide subtropical to tropical distribution in the West Indian Ocean, but in South Africa extends south into the Western Cape. As its common name suggests it mainly lives in mangroves, but south of East London it can be found in the salt marshes of estuaries. (more…)

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The Green Bubble Shell

Green Bubble Shell

Each month we feature a new species. This month we discuss Haminoea alfredensis Bartsch, 1915 (text by Alan Hodgson, photograph by Peter Smith). This opisthobranch gastropod mollusc (Order Cephalaspidea) is commonly known as the Green Bubble Shell and is endemic to South Africa. It is found all around the South African coastline and is very common in estuaries especially on sea grasses such as the eelgrass Zostera capensis (as shown in the image). (more…)

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