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The Departments of Botany and Zoology of the University of the Witwatersrand were founded in 1917 as part of the South African School of Mines and Technology. At that time their main function was to provide instruction for thirty eight students of medicine and dentistry. Today, we are known as the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences (APES). In our 100 year history we have taught tens of thousands of students, many who have gone on to become leaders in climate change, conservation, journalism, tourism, and education and medicine; in addition, more than 12,500 first year medical students have been taught by our staff - including Sydney Brenner, the 2002 Nobel prize winner in Physiology or Medicine. 

Teaching in the School

The Biology of a Changing World: Conserving African Biodiversity

Our studies focus at the level of living things and their interaction with the environment. Areas of specialisation include savannas, grasslands and aquatic biology, focusing on biodiversity, sustainable resources and range limitation, ecology and the behaviour of a diverse range of animals, biocontrol, conservation, restoration, ecophysiology, systematics & taxonomy, and evolutionary biology.