Email:willie.vanaardt@nwu.ac.za
Phone: +27 18 299 2377
Cell Phone:  083 324 5487

SHORT CV - Willie J. van Aardt

Willem Johannes van Aardt was born in 1935 at Ermelo, South Africa. He matriculated in 1953 at Piet Retief High School and obtained his B.Sc (1956, with distinction in Zoology) and M.Sc. (with distinction, 1961) at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. In 1964 he was awarded an Ernest Openheimer Bursary to study abroad on the subject of freshwater snail osmoregulation. In 1968 he obtained the D.Sc (with distinction) at the Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

From 1957 to 1960 he was employed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and from 1961 to 1995 he served, first as lecturer, from 1968 as Senior Lecturer and from 1978 as full professor at the Potchefstroom University for CHE. From 1996 he was appointed as Professor Emeritus at the School for Environmental Sciences and Development, PU for CHE.

During 1974-75 he studied in Bristol, England on respiration physiology of fishes and during 1982-83 in Austin, Texas on haemoglobin function of Bilharzia snails. In 1987 he was appointed as Director of Research at the Zoology Department, PU for CHE.

During his academic career he established the first laboratory and courses in comparative animal physiology at the PU for CHE, and published, with his students, 61 accredited research publications on various aspects of animal respiratory physiology.

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RESEARCH INTERESTS - Willie J. van Aardt

Professor van Aardt is interested in the effects of manufactured chemicals and other anthropgenic and natural materials on aquatic organisms at various levels of organization, especially freshwater fish. To acquire a working knowledge of aquatic ecology the subdiscipline of respiration physiology is used to understand the effects of toxic agents on aquatic organisms. Fish are exposed to heavy metals in the laboratory or field and the oxygen consumption rate is measured under various ecological conditions. Because the Potchefstroom area is surrounded by gold mining activities the possible effects of toxic substances from the mines are tested in fish and sediments from the Mooi River and its dams.

Services

Routine analysis of:

Heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe) at the parts per billion level in sediments and in fish tissue

Standard water quality tests (nitrates, nitrite, phosphate,hardness, pH and conductivity)

Cyanide and Arsenic in water at the 2 part per billion level.

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CONTACT DETAILS - Willie J. van Aardt

Prof. Willie J. van Aardt
School of Environmental Sciences and Development
Potchefstroom campus
North-West University
Private Bag X6001
Potchefstroom 2520
South Africa 

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