Featured Research
Platforms
Through funding from the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) has built up a marine research platform comprised of state of the art equipment. ACEP makes available and facilitates the use of this equipment for projects among partnering researchers and institutions from around South Africa on a competitive open call basis, which is re-advertised every three years.
The Acoustic Tracking Array Platform provides a backbone of acoustic telemetry hardware to facilitate the large-scale, long-term monitoring of acoustically-tagged marine animals.
The Aquatic Ecophysiology Research Platform provides researchers with the tools to determine the effect of global climate change on the relationship between living organisms and their surrounding environment.
The Marine Remote Imagery Platform (MARIP) provides scientists the opportunity to conduct ecological research on benthic biota across the continental shelf of South Africa, from the shallow subtidal to depths of 250 m.
Geophysics Mapping Platform uses a Teledyne Reson SeaBat 8101 multibeam echosounder which uses sound to map the seafloor.
Collections
SAIAB is the custodian of the National Fish Collection of South Africa. The size of the collection consists of approximately 122 466 lots of fish specimens (containing at least 1 012 552 individual fish specimens). This includes 2 444 types, 436 families, 2 250 genera, 5 987 species, and over 60 000 associated tissues samples from southern Africa and surrounding oceans, and elsewhere in the world.
Specialised Labs
SAIAB's specialised labs provide the necessary research infrastructure and workspace for researchers conducting molecular biological studies in the field of aquatic research.
AGRP
The platform is equipped with laboratory equipment for capabilities that extend from DNA extraction through to Sanger Sequencing as well as Next-Generation Sequencing. In addition, staff provide technical support to users of the platform. The training provided by the platform manager allows those with little or no practical experience to gain the skills needed to obtain their qualifications or to pursue a career in molecular work. The platform offers dedicated workstations for 18 users.
Information
Contributing to research and teaching in aquatic biodiversity through our heritage literature collections and a global web of data. The Margaret Smith Library is named in honour of the first Director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology.
Library
