Lyndall Pereira

Postdoctoral Researcher (2017-2018)

Project Title: Southern Africa’s freshwater diversity: Digitisation and DNA barcoding

Funding: Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Rutherford Fund

Research Focus: Lyndall’s postdoctoral research focused on documenting and understanding the freshwater biodiversity of Southern Africa through a combination of traditional taxonomic approaches and modern molecular techniques. Her work involved digitising historical museum collections and developing DNA barcode libraries for freshwater organisms, particularly focusing on regions with high biodiversity and endemism.

Key Research Areas:

• Freshwater biodiversity assessment
• DNA barcoding and molecular identification
• Museum collection digitisation
• Southern African aquatic ecosystems
• Taxonomic documentation and description

Research Outcomes: Lyndall’s work contributed significantly to our understanding of Southern African freshwater ecosystems and established important baseline data for biodiversity monitoring and conservation efforts. Her research produced several publications on freshwater macroinvertebrate communities and the application of molecular techniques to biodiversity assessment.