The South African government’s Covid-19 portal at sacoronavirus.co.za site contains information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, plus statistics on its spread in SA and related government press releases.
The Natural Science Collections Facility is a network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, established as part of the Department of Science & Technology’s Research Infrastructure Roadmap and co-ordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Participating institutions are committed to collaborating to achieve the following objectives:
Collections secured and accessible physically and virtually for research
Data from specimens in collections accessible and used for managing collections, research and decision-making
Research on collections and associated data addresses issues of national and global relevance
Collections and associated research provide services to identify natural science specimens for a range of stakeholders including in the agriculture, health, environmental management and academic sectors
Latest News
Species collected after 50 years
Kirstin Williams, KZN MuseumA field trip to Umtamvuna Nature Reserve on the south coast in October 2021 yielded an interesting find. A horse fly specimen was collected that was last collected in 1971! The species, Tabanus albilinea, was last collected from Port St...
Sharing Is Caring
Siyabonga Zamisa, KZN MuseumOne of the most important aspects of the museum is to share information and Departments like the Natural Science Department strives to do just that with its collections. One of the mandates for the Natural Science Department, is to publish...
SPNHC Virtual Attendance Grants
The NSCF recognises the value of staff attending international conferences related to natural science collections, specifically conferences dealing with collection and data management, in order to develop local capacity and to establish global networks. The NSCF is...
New species described from South African collections
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Iconic specimens
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Use of Collections
Shale Gas Exploration SEA
Barcode of Wildlife Project
Red List Assessments
Virtual Museum
The NSCF aims to increase the accessibility and use of natural science collections for research and also to secure collections.
One mechanism of achieving both these objectives is to establish a “virtual museum” which will take the form of detailed images of important specimens such as types, and to also provide digital access to documents such as historical field notes, old catalogue books and accession registers and other documents related to the collections. Over the next two years we will initiate a project to digitise specimens and important documents and to make these available online. We also aim to show some of the collection store rooms online to provide a sense of the scope and scale of these for the public who rarely have the chance to see these hidden treasures.
