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
TDWG 2021
Early registration now openRegister now for TDWG 2021, the virtual conference of Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), to be held 18–22 October. Register by 1 August 2021 (UTC-4) to qualify for this $50 early registration discount. Special discounts are in place...
Super Cool Mosquitoes
A Culex univittatus under magnification, one of the arbovirus vectors in South Africa.Loki Snyman, Durban Natural Science MuseumFinally, after a long waiting period, punctuated by administrative rushing, the NSFC-sponsored -80˚C ultra-low freezer arrived at the Durban...
Why you need Jack in your life: 101 reasons
Maxine Manickum, Photographic Competition First Runner-up: The ugliest specimenIf you were given one minute to describe this specimen, what would you say?What you see is not what you get. The dried specimen is deceiving, the actual fruit skin is yellow or green in...
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.
