http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1891 2026-10-16T01:14:07Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/10930 Title: Exploring competencies of environmental health students in South Africa> Insights from work-integrated learning Authors: Daries, Louella; Hudson, Lizel; REDDY, LALINI Abstract: Although the value of work-integrated learning is well documented, limited reports showcase the students' perspectives. Self-perceived competencies gained by undergraduate Environmental Health (EH) work-integrated learning (WIL) students from a University of Technology in South Africa were obtained through in-depth focus group discussions and analysis of their workplace reflection journals. The Legitimation Code Theory Specialization dimension guided the qualitative data analysis. The analysis uncovered a tension between current assessment criteria and tasks, professional verification and auditing criteria for workplace learning, and real-world competence norms. Exploring this tension revealed a shift in students' competency focus, fluctuating between conceptual knowledge for classroom success, process- and procedural skills for the professional body evaluation, and a combination of knowledge, skills and behaviours for the workplace. This shift reveals ambiguity, limitations and biases in current assessments favouring the assessment of knowledge and skills. Uncertainty in graduates' professional identity may further exacerbate the prevailing misconceptions about the EH profession and its contribution to public health among allied health professionals and within society. This research confirms that knowledge and skills are essential in EH practice. However, these are limited as the comprehensive competency range includes soft skills, i.e. professional behaviours consisting of attitudes and values. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/10929 Title: A framework for holistic assessment of professional competencies in Environmental Health WIL at a University of Technology Authors: Daries, Louella; Hudson, Lizel; REDDY, LALINI Abstract: The benefits of work-integrated learning (WIL) in higher education are well documented. Conversely, the assessment thereof, across disciplines, remains challenging. WIL is embedded in the environmental health (EH) degree at a University of Technology (UoT) in South Africa (SA), with similar challenges. The absence of explicit competency indicators and associated assessment criteria in the current curriculum necessitates an understanding of the full range of professional competencies necessary for achieving environmental health goals. Concomitantly, research relating to EH WIL and its assessment in EH programmes are sparse. The aim of this study is to present a holistic assessment framework for competencies developed due to WIL. Using a qualitative design, data collection occurred through in-depth interviews, document analysis and focus group discussions. Data analysis was guided by the Legitimation Code Theory’s (LCT) Specialization dimension. The results foregrounds competencies beyond mere knowledge integration and technical skill development in WIL. It is thus recommended that current assessment be altered to adopt holistic assessment of EH WIL and include the full range of professional competencies essential for EH practice success. Further research may explore where additional opportunities exist for authentic assessment of the foregrounded competencies, throughout the programme, additional to the WIL assessments. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/10921 Title: Longitudinal dietary resilience of lion (Panthera leo) in a semi-arid fenced reserve of South Africa Authors: Le Brun, Robert Graeme; Naude, Vincent Norman; Tambling, Craig; Ferreira, Salamon; Lottring, Cairestine; Radloff, Frans Gustav Theodor Abstract: Understanding the dietary composition of large carnivores and how these relate to the availability of suitable habitat and prey is crucial to population management, especially in fenced reserves. This study aimed to determine the current diet of the lion (Panthera leo) in the Karoo National Park and to establish whether prey preference has changed over the 12 years post-introduction. Global positioning system-collar-based kill-site cluster investigations and scat analyses were used to determine contemporary lion diet, while multinomial logistic regressions were used to investigate longitudinal changes in prey preference by comparing a decade of historical kill and aerial census records. Lion (n = 8) collar fixes identified 358 (12%) ‘potential’ kill-site clusters across 2945 discernible clusters over 15 months (i.e. 2021/2022). The subsequent in-field investigation of 227 (63%) ‘potential’ kill sites yielded 144 (63%) and 103 (45%) independent lion kill and scat samples, respectively. While these two methods offered different sampling advantages, both provided sufficient data to show lion preference for greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), common eland (Tragelaphus oryx) and red hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus caama). Other prey species included gemsbok (Oryx gazella), springbuck (Antidorcas marsupialis), common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) and mountain zebra (Equus zebra). Historical carcass records (n = 1035, 19499 = 89.6 ± 13.8 Standard Error [SE] per annum), since the reintroduction of lions in 2010, indicate no significant change in dietary composition over time (Χ2 = 1.98, df = 5, p = 0.85), when controlling for lion population size, despite post-introduction acclimation with substantial inter-annual variability in rainfall and prey availability. Conservation implications: Understanding dietary changes in response to systemic disturbances is crucial to ensuring that lions are ethically and sustainably managed for their ecological efficacy in fenced metapopulations. With no significant change in hunting behaviour, management concerns are unlikely to be driven by reduced prey suitability or availability. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/10918 Title: A camera trap appraisal of large mammals' seasonal space use around permanent point water sources in Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi Authors: Overmeyer, Joshua T.; Amin, Rajan; Reece, Sally J.; Leslie, Alison J.; Tambling, Craig J.; Radloff, Frans Gustav Theodor Abstract: Human population expansion and infrastructural developments increasingly result in the confinement and isolation of large mammals to small, fenced reserves. This disrupts seasonal migration and behavioural patterns, necessitating management strategies, including using artificial point water sources to alleviate water shortages during dry seasons. Theory suggests that areas heavily used around dry season water sources (<4 km) will be abandoned for better forage as alternative water sources like pans and seasonal streams fill up during the wet season. Within Majete Wildlife Reserve (MWR), a small (691 km2) and fenced reserve in southern Malawi, an extensive dry season camera trap study indicated that the space use of some large mammals was affected by both water and grass availability. In this study we investigated potential relationships between large mammals and proximity to water by comparing estimated dry and wet season site abundances of the large herbivore species at 15 camera trap locations, within four kilometres of permanent point water sources over 40-day periods within MWR. We used a Bayesian Royle-Nichols occupancy model and found differences in space use between the wet and dry season for herbivores of different feeding guilds and digestive tract physiologies. Both hindgut fermenter species, two ruminant browsers, and a ruminant mixed-feeder species showed a significantly higher dry season abundance near point water sources. Ruminant grazers and the non-ruminant elephant (Loxodonta africana), however, showed no significant seasonal difference in estimated abundances around water sources. Understanding how permanent water sources affect large mammals' seasonal behaviour is crucial for management decisions relating to water provision. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z