I'm very pleased to announce that I've been awarded the 2012 Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns Junior Kaptein Scottgedenkmedalje (South African Academy of Science and Art Junior Captain Scott Memorial Medal). The medal is awarded to the best zoology or botany MSc thesis at a South African university.

My MSc focused on some of the basic ecology of the Marion Island killer whale population: diet and seasonal occurrence, abundance and the potential impact of the killer whale population on seals and penguins. It resulted in the following papers:

Predatory impact of killer whales on pinniped and penguin populations at the Subantarctic Prince Edward Islands: fact and fiction
REISINGER RR, de Bruyn PJN, Bester MN
Journal of Zoology, London 285(1): 1-10
doi 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00815.x

Prey and seasonal abundance of killer whales at Subantarctic Marion Island
REISINGER RR, de Bruyn PJN, Tosh CA, Oosthuizen WC, Mufanadzo NT, Bester MN
African Journal of Marine Science 33(1): 99-105
doi 10.2989/1814232X.2011.572356

Abundance estimates of killer whales at subantarctic Marion Island
REISINGER RR, de Bruyn PJN, Bester MN
Aquatic Biology 12(2): 177-185
doi 10.3354/ab00340