Staff Members
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Dr
Name: Matthew Bird
Location: D3 Lab 220 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Zoology Academic Staff Staff Members
Contact Details:
Tel: +27 (0) 11 559 2930
Email: mbird@uj.ac.za
About Matthew Bird
My main interests focus on the community ecology of shallow aquatic environments, including wetlands, rivers and estuaries, predominantly using field investigations. The bulk of my work focusses on using aquatic macroinvertebrate communities as indicators of human impacts on freshwater environments.
Recent publications (since 2018):
Epele LB, Williams‐Subiza EA, Bird MS, Boissezon A, Boix D, Demierre E, Fair CG, García PE, Gascón S, Grech MG, Greig HS, Jeffries M, Kneitel JM, Loskutova O, Maltchik L, Manzo LM, Mataloni G, McLean K, Mlambo MC, Oertli B, Pires MM, Sala J, Scheibler EE, Stenert C, Wu H, Wissinger SA, Batzer DP (2024) A global assessment of environmental and climate influences on wetland macroinvertebrate community structure and function. Global Change Biology 30: e17173.
Bird MS, Bilton DT, Mlambo MC, Perissinotto R (2023) Water beetles (Coleoptera) associated with Afrotemperate Forest patches in the Garden Route National Park, South Africa. ZooKeys 1182: 237-258
Bilton DT, Bird MS (2023) Eupotemus tuberculatus sp. nov., the first hooded shore beetle confirmed from southern Africa (Coleoptera, Epimetopidae). Zootaxa 5339 (2): 196-200.
Odountan OH, Sidi OI Massara N, Janssens de Bisthoven L, Bird MS, Abou Y (2022) Comparison of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities of Lake Ahémé (Benin, West Africa) across the short and long wet seasons. African Journal of Ecology 60: 591-606.
Epele LB, Grech MG, Williams-Subiza EA, Stenert C, McLean K, Greig HS, Maltchik L, Pires MM, Bird MS, Boissezon A (2022) Perils of life on the edge: Climatic threats to global diversity patterns of wetland macroinvertebrates. Science of the Total Environment 820: 153052.
Roussouw N, Bird MS, Perissinotto R (2021) Effects of aquatic vegetation cover (Schoenoplectus decipiens) on microalgal biomass and assemblage structure in temporary wetlands of a semi-arid region (Eastern Cape Karoo, South Africa). South African Journal of Botany 137: 183-196.
Rishworth GM, Adams JB, Bird MS, Carrasco NK, Dänhardt A, Dannheim J, Lemley DA, Pistorius PA, Scheiffarth G, Hillebrand H (2020) Cross-continental analysis of coastal biodiversity change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375: 20190452.
Mabidi A, Bird MS, Perissinotto R (2020) Relationships between vegetation cover (Schoenoplectus decipiens) and wetland macroinvertebrate assemblages in a semi-arid landscape (Eastern Cape Karoo, South Africa). Hydrobiologia 847: 2049–2064.
Bird MS, Mlambo MC, Wasserman RJ, Dalu T, Holland AJ, Day JA, Villet MH, Bilton DT, Barber-James HM, Brendonck L (2019) Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands. Hydrobiologia 827: 89-121.
Rishworth GM, Perissinotto R, Bird MS, Pelletier N (2018) Grazer responses to variable macroalgal resource conditions facilitate habitat structuring. Royal Society Open Science 5: 171428.
Mabidi A, Bird MS, Perissinotto R (2018) Increasing salinity drastically reduces hatching success of crustaceans from depression wetlands of the semi-arid Eastern Cape Karoo region, South Africa. Scientific Reports 8: 5983.
Roussouw N, Bird MS, Perissinotto R (2018) Microalgal biomass and composition of surface waterbodies in a semi-arid region earmarked for shale gas exploration (Eastern Cape Karoo, South Africa). Limnologica 72: 44-56.
Shelton JM, Bird MS, Marr SM (2018) Evidence for diet partitioning among three coexisting native freshwater fishes in South Africa’s Cape Fold Ecoregion. African Journal of Aquatic Science 43: 89-100.