Kent Lawrence

Field Technician, Grasslands, Forests & Wetlands Node.
MSc Aquatic Ecology, UZ.

From a very young age growing up along the northern KZN coast, I have had the privilege of experiencing nature first hand. This interest grew into a passion for biology and the environment which ultimately lead me into following a career in the natural sciences and I have never looked back since. My interests lie in the evaluation, monitoring and remediation of anthropogenic impacts to ecosystems and their environments, especially in a hydrological sense, as water is the most impacted and threatened resource in South Africa. I obtained a first class MSc in aquatic ecology focussing specifically in estuarine ecology at the Department of Zoology, University of Zululand. My MSc project looked at the zooplankton community structures of polluted and unpolluted canalised estuary remnants in the Richards Bay Harbour, and their correlations with environmental variables such as physico-chemical, water nutrients and heavy metals. Prior to joining SAEON GFW node, I was a research technician for the Coastal Research Unit of Zululand (CRUZ), University of Zululand. During this time I got to work on many coastal lakes, rivers and estuaries along the Zululand coast, collecting data on fish, invertebrates and environmental variables. To add, I have been involved in preliminary ecological studies for environmental consultancies within the Richards Bay Harbour looking at the impacts and rehabilitation of polluted estuarine systems. As a hobby, I have over 15 years of experience with reptiles specifically snakes, and for many years I ran a reptile rescue service in Zululand.