Research Students and Projects
Students of the Whales and Climate Program 2018-2025
Griffith Uni (10)
PhD students:
Lindo Woudenberg (Uni Antilles) – Climate change and whale watch industry adaptation in the Carabeen
Sarah McCulloch – The role of supplementary feeding for humpback whales on the east coast of Australia.
Coni Fariello – Humpback whale distribution and environmental drivers.
MSc students:
Jana Dujaric (Uni Stockholm) – Spatial and temporal habitat use of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in relation to vessel traffic in the Gold Coast Bay, Australia.
Giorgia Marzorati (Uni Milano-Bicocca) – Using photo ID to assess humpback whale habitat connectivity on the east coast of Australia.
Patrick Woletz – Abundance of humpback whales on the Gold Coast.
Hons students:
Milly Street – Temporal and Seasonal Variation in Passive Acoustic Detections of Humpback Whales Along Australia’s East Coast Migration Pathway
Jill Corey – Resident time and habitat usage in resting areas of humpback whales along the east coast of Australia determined by Photo ID.
Coni Fariello – Influence of climate drivers on humpback whale distribution in the Great Barrier Reef.
Georgia Boyde – Migratory patterns of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on the east coast of Australia: A temporal analysis using citizen science data.
CPUT (6)
MSc students:
Bianca Tree – Population structure and migration links of Southern African east coast humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) using photographic identification techniques. Thesis submitted and under examination.
Jeffrey Slater – The distribution of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, in Southern Ocean waters in relation to environmental parameters, 1978 to 2019.
Nokwazi Msweli – Seasonal distributions of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, off the west coast of South Africa, 2012 – 2020.
Antonia Immerz – Migration and reproduction of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales on the east coast of South Africa, UP.
Christopher Wilkinson – Estimation of the population changes in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrating past Cape Vidal, South Africa, 1988 – 2019.
Bernard Nyamarebvu – Seasonality and distribution of cetacean species in the coast of South Africa evaluated from citizen science data, and the relationship with whale-watching activities.
UP (5)
MSc students:
Jeffrey Slater – Distribution of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, in Southern Ocean waters in relation to environmental parameters, 1978 to 2007
Sheroma Surajnarayan – Feeding ecology and body condition of humpback whales in South Africa
Lea Smith – Sexing and genetic interchange of humpback whales on the east coast of South Africa
Antonia Immerz – Migration and reproduction of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales on the east coast of South Africa
Hons students:
Emma de Bruyn – Whale-watching industry in South Africa
Stellenbosch (25):
PhD students:
Thapelo Ramalepe – Physical speciation of Iron and Manganese in the vicinity of Gough and Marion Islands, Southern Ocean.
Jean Loock – Bioactive trace metals Co and Cd in Atlantic sector of Southern Ocean.
Margaret Ogundare – CO2 Fluxes and ocean acidification in the Southern Ocean.
Ryan Cloete – Bioactive trace metals Cd and Zn cycling in Indian sector of Southern Ocean.
Natasha von Horsten – Insights into early winter Southern Indian Ocean dissolved iron distributions and remineralisation using excess barium.
MSc students:
Lide Jansen van Vuuren – Dynamics of dissolved iron in the marginal ice zone in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean
Kriyanka Pillay – Particulate and dissolved iron supply to South Atlantic by Orange River
Alice Edwards – Manganese distribution in marginal ice zone
Kayla Buchanan – Is South Atlantic winter sea ice a viable source of iron to support productivity in Spring?
Miranda Sitofile – Seasonality of physical speciation of dissolved iron and manganese in the open ocean waters of the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.
Andile Mkandla – Mo distribution in the African sector of the Southern Ocean.
Lide Jansen van Vuuren – Dynamics of dissolved iron in the marginal ice zone in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean.
Tara de Jong – Fluorescence detection of trace aluminium using a sequential injection analyser.
Andile Mkandla – The distribution of dissolved molybdenum along the 30˚ E meridian (GEOTRACES Process Study (GIpr07)): First assessment of the factors affecting its behaviour in the African sector of the Southern Ocean.
Nadine Ellis – Seasonality of Cd and Zn along the South Atlantic zero meridian.
Honours students:
William Day – Cadmium and Zinc dynamics near Antarctic shelf
Nina Woithe – Autumn distribution of Iron and manganese around the Astrid ridge
Sky Hasseriis – How low can we go? Determination of nutrients in seawater using digital image analysis
Skyla Thornton – Role of baleen whales in iron fertilization in Benguela Upwelling System
Alice Edwards – Particulate trace metals in the lower orange river: Suspended load and flux.
Nicholas Schapers – Trace metal distribution in coastal waters of the east coast of South Africa
Andile Mkandla – Trace metals in soils around Saldhana Bay as a source of coastal sediment contamination
Sage Grushenka – Trace metal contamination of coastal sediments in Saldhana Bay
Robert Boreham – Spatial distribution of trace metal ion concentrations along the South African coastal transect with emphasis placed upon lead.
Lide Jansen van Vuuren – Distribution of iron in the water column of the marginal ice zone.
UCT (12)
PhD students:
Riesna Audh – Ice observations and sampling during cruises
Ehlke Audh – Sea ice observations during cruises
Ayanda Mpalweni – Antarctic sea ice seasonality and its relationship with humpback whales’ and other marine mammals’ distribution.
Giles Fearon – Regional model development
Mark Hague – Southern Ocean model development
Jarryd Son – research assistantship for the development of SHARC buoys for sea ice tracking in the marginal ice zone
Magata Mangatane – support for the development of the Southern Ocean sea ice model
MSc students:
Keagan Petersen – Lagrangian biogeochemical modelling in the southern Benguela
Cayla de Souza – An indicator for supergroups prediction in the Southern Benguela
Mbali Mthethwa – Sea-ice habitat conditions for cetaceans during the IWC-SOWER campaign
Thando Mazomba – Assessment of early 20th-century climate model simulations of Antarctic sea ice using historical commercial humpback whale catch data.
Naadir Vorajee – research assistantship for the development of SHARC buoys for sea ice tracking in the marginal ice zone
FURG (2)
PhD students:
Julieta Cebuar – Diet and trophic transference of micro plastics in Antarctic seals
Ana Carolina Martins – Supporting research