Browsing Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences by Author "Rajakaruna, Nishanta"
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Burrowsia, a new genus of lichenized fungi (Caliciaceae), plus the new species B. cataractae and Scoliciosporum fabisporum, from Mpumalanga, South Africa
Fryday, Alan M.; Siebert, Stefan J.; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Medeiros, Ian D.; Pope, Nathaniel (Elsevier, 2020)The new genus Burrowsia (Caliciaceae) is proposed to accommodate the new species B. cataractae, which is known from only a single locality in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Burrowsia is characterized by its pigmented, submuriform ... -
Calcium : magnesium ratio affects environmental stress sensitivity in the serpentine-endemic Alyssum inflatum (Brassicaceae)
Ghasemi, Rasoul; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Chavoshi, Zohreh Zare; Boyd, Robert S. (CSIRO Publishing, 2015)Plants endemic to serpentine soils are adapted to harsh environmental conditions typical of those soils, particularly, low (<1) calcium (Ca) : magnesium (Mg) ratios. We compared survival of two perennial Alyssum species ... -
Ecotypic differentiation of mid-Atlantic Quercus species in response to ultramafic soils
Burgess, Jerry; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Szlavecz, Katalin; Swan, Christopher (CSIRO Publishing, 2015)Spatial heterogeneity of soil conditions combined with intraspecific variation confer site-specific edaphic tolerance, resulting in local adaptation and speciation. To understand the geoecological processes controlling ... -
Global research on ultramafic (serpentine) ecosystems (8th International Conference on Serpentine Ecology in Sabah, Malaysia): a summary and synthesis
Van der Ent, Antony; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Boyd, Robert; Echevarria, Guillaume; Repin, Rimi; Williams, Dick (CSIRO Publishing, 2015)Since 1991, researchers from approximately 45 nations have participated in eight International Conferences on Serpentine Ecology (ICSE). The Conferences are coordinated by the International Serpentine Ecology Society (ISES), ... -
A preliminary study of the role of bacterial-fungal co-inoculation on heavy metal phytotoxicity in serpentine soil
Seneviratne, Mihiri; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Seneviratne, Gamini; Madawala, H.M.S.P.; Iqbal, M.C.M. (CSIRO Publishing, 2015)This study was conducted to understand the role of bacterial–fungal interactions on heavy metal uptake by Zea mays plants. A pot experiment was conducted for 90 days with Z. mays in serpentine soil inoculated with a ... -
A preliminary survey of the diversity of soil algae and cyanoprokaryotes on mafic and ultramafic substrates in South Africa
Venter, Arthurita; Levanets, Anatoliy; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Siebert, Stefan (CSIRO Publishing, 2015)Despite a large body of work on the serpentine-substrate effect on vascular plants, little work has been undertaken to describe algal communities found on serpentine soils derived from peridotite and other ultramafic rocks. ... -
Transfer of heavy metals through terrestrial food webs: a review
Gall, Jillian E.; Rajakaruna, Nishanta; Boyd, Robert S. (Springer, 2015)Heavy metals are released into the environment by both anthropogenic and natural sources. Highly reactive and often toxic at low concentrations, they may enter soils and groundwater, bioaccumulate in food webs, and ...