Adriaan Engelbrecht 12th International Mammalogical Congress

Adriaan Engelbrecht

I am a first generation scientist working since 2014 in the department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. I have vast experience in molecular biology covering chromosomal evolution, taxonomy and population genetics. I also have 12 years fieldwork experience involving small mammal investigations across southern Africa. In particular I investigated speciation processes in these taxa, using chromosome painting, phylogenetics and phylogeography describing one new small mammal species. Recently I have been actively involved in parasitology. In this field I pioneered molecular systematics studies on ecto-parasitic mites of small mammals in South Africa and described five novel species. My research here has been at the cutting edge of the field which is centered at investigating how parasites co-evolve with their hosts. A key area of interest which I am pursuing is the impacts that these pervasive organisms (rodents and parasites) have on animal communities and investigating how they change ecosystems. The overarching outcome of this research is detailing the wealth of biodiversity in South Africa adding to the global knowledge gap centered around parasite systematics and population genetics and how best to implement conservation practices in these groups.