The Plant Detective - Aviwe Matiwane
Aviwe Matiwane - Lecturer at Rhodes University, PhD student at Rhodes University and Albany Museum, InspiringFifty South Africa 2020, Mail and Guardian Young South African, Fame Lab Finalist. Twitter @UdeMischa #BlackInStem #PalaeontologyTwitter
Her Research: Aviwe is a palaeobotanist, studying ancient plants that existed millions of years ago. She studies the fossil remains of the plant Glossopteris which forms some of the oldest coal deposits in South Africa and existed for 48 million years between 252 million and 300 million years ago. This was back when the continents were one giant land mass known as Gondwana. Now you might be wondering what does an old plant have to do with me. Well if you’ve ever held a plastic cup, you’ve maybe held molecules that came from this plant. If you’ve ever used petrol or electricity, you could have burned carbon that Glossopteris capture 250 million years ago. Amazing huh?
Aviwe’s interest though, is understanding where these plants lived, how they evolved, and developing a system that allows scientists from across the world to compare different Glossopteris fossils. To do this, she is using statistics and morphometrics (morpho=shape so morphometrics is shape measurements) to determine if the fossils they find are different species. The leaves of Glossopteris are tongues shaped - glossa is tongue in Greek - so she measures the length and width and curvature and through her coding skills (even fossil hunters code) she is able to show how fossils from one site are the same or different than another. The ultimate goal is to develop a system that researchers from around the world can use and benefit from.
Her Skills: Public speaking, science communication, writing, willingness to learn from others
Her Heroes: “My grandparents, Benjamin and Nomzamo Matiwane.” Aviwe’s grandfather was a plant fundi himself and taught Aviwe all about plants when she was a child.
Her Top Tip: Follow your passion and stay true to yourself. The life of a scientist can be hard, but do not allow anyone to dim your light. Be bright in the corner where you are.
Her Superpowers: Time travel! Aviwe can use her skills to reconstruct the world as it was, telling stories from fossils that paint a picture of what the world used to be millions of years ago.
A Favourite Quote of ours “Cracking open a rock to find a fossil inside is like receiving a present that was given 250 million years ago.”
What do you need besides curiosity, communication, hard work, and creativity? Like many others, Aviwe thinks perseverance is key.