Astika Bhugeloo

Astika Bhugeloo’s MSc explored the use of tree rings are archives of past climate change. Despite the lack of dendroclimatological research in southern Africa, dendroclimatology is vital in understanding previous changes in the Earth’s climatic system which will help predict the sensitivity of southern Africa to future climate change. There is a significant lack of long tree ring chronologies from the southern hemisphere. There have been very few dendrochronological studies done in South Africa. For her MSc research, Astika selected Acacia nilotica as her study species. This research was funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Astika went on to complete her PhD in biology.