The Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology

Stellenbosch University (SU) is hosting its annual Undergraduate On-Campus Open Day, today, from 08:00 to 15:00. Look out for Conservation Ecology & Entomology!

The BioSCape Team has been awarded the prestigious 2024-2025 NASA Honor Group Achievement Award (bioscape.io/award) in recognition of their outstanding contributions and dedication to BioSCape. Congratulations to the team, including Dr Alanna Rebelo, who is an affiliate of ConsEnt!

The BioSCape Science team has been productive, with 185 scientific outputs, including 24 Journal Articles, 8 Conference Papers, 130 Presentations, 2 Theses, 9 Datasets, 7 Preprints, 2 Reports, and 1 Film.

The BioSCape film, The Spectrum of Life, is now on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcbbs3c7jE8

The Spectrum of Life | NASA's first biodiversity-focused airborne campaign (BioSCape) The Spectrum of Life documents NASA’s first airborne campaign dedicated to studying biodiversity from above in one of the most diverse parts of the planet, S...

The 2026 academic year started with a week of welcoming activities. Today, ConsEnt is participating in AgriSci First year Welcome activities on Welgevallen research farm. Welcome all to Stellenbosch University - may your studies be fulfilling and inspiring!

https://www.su.ac.za/en/news/sub-saharan-africa-has-lost-nearly-quarter-its-biodiversity

Sub-Saharan Africa has lost nearly a quarter of its biodiversity Sub-Saharan Africa has already lost 24% of its biodiversity since pre-industrial times. Large mammals have declined most severely. 80% of remaining wild plants, animals live outside of formally protected lands.

Prof. Leslie’s group @ ConsEnt has contributed to research focused on leopard movement across our landscapes.

https://capeleopard.org.za/news-media/news/story/leopard-movement-corridors-building-connections-between-leopards-and-landowners?fbclid=IwZnRzaAOKqxlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeffGI8kdBFPtUQh1C3pD9ptKgVaeNg5tKuHuiuI-m8Cj32di2nNTuUdi9do8_aem_EU9uFfnpB04uihrAjT_n9g

Leopard movement corridors – building connections between leopards and landowners The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) Research & Conservation team is excited to share some updates on an ongoing comprehensive project to investigate and protect...

See below, an article based on research emanating from the Department’s “Wildlife Free to Roam” association.

https://africageographic.com/stories/eden-to-addo-cape-wildlife-corridors/g

A link to the paper is here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-025-03140-8

Connecting the Cape: Wildlife corridors from Eden to Addo Scientists map 40 potential wildlife corridors to link the Garden Route, Baviaanskloof & Addo: a vision of a Cape mega-living landscapes

This research-informed policy brief has been published by the Water Research Commission. Go to https://www.wrc.org.za/ click on Resources and Tools, and search for POLICY BRIEF Alien tree invasion. Along with expert collaborators, staff, students & affiliates of ConsEnt were involved in its compilation.

Prof Esler is attending the Society for Ecological Restoration’s International meeting in Denver, Colorado. So many good people doing exceptional things, often in the face of great adversity. Ecological restoration holds a message of hope - ordinary people coming together to figure out how to fix things. Here’s a link to a short video explaining her role in ecological restoration over the past 13y:

https://youtu.be/Aq-vure6oUA?feature=shared

This has been a long term collaboration with Prof Pat Holmes and the City of Cape Town.

Living Lab Where Science Meets Action The Blaauwberg Sand Fynbos large-scale ecological restoration project. This project began in 2012 as a collaboration among City of Cape Town, Stellenbosch U...