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Research currently underway on the subtidal fauna includes taxonomic studies and
natural product research. Little is known about the organisms and their habitat,
but is clear that the subtidal reef of Algoa Bay and the rest of southern Africa
is species rich and hosts a large number of new and undescribed species in most
of the taxa present.
Taxonomists are few and far between and this is also the case in the South African
scientific community. Taxonomists are essentially gatherers of information, they
not only describe species which are studied in other research fields but use all
available information on a species to describe and classify it. So it can be said
that taxonomy is the beginning and the end result of science and our knowledge of
the organisms that share this planet with us.
It is essential that researchers and scientists work together to get a better understanding
of the organisms being investigated. It is not only the morphology, biology, behaviour
or where the animals are found that determine if a organism is one or the other
species but also the chemistry and genetics of an organism that makes it unique.
- April 1999, Spain, University of Vigo
- November 1999, Mauritius, Coral Reef
Research Foundation
- August 2000, Sapporo, Japan
- August 2000, Palau, Coral Reef Research
Foundation
- November 2000, Vanuatu, Coral Reef Research
Foundation
- March 2004, Sea Samples, Florida Keys
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