South African vegetation ecologist and conservation scientist, Distinguished Professor in Botany at Nelson Mandela University and an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. Richard Cowling’s research on the plant diversity of the Cape and its conservation has shaped protected-area planning and restoration practice in the region.
Contribution
Cowling studied botany at the University of Cape Town through to his PhD, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Curtin University in Australia, and later served as UCT’s Leslie Hill Professor of Plant Conservation and director of its Leslie Hill Institute for Plant Conservation. His research covers community ecology, plant diversity and evolution, palaeoecology, conservation planning, restoration ecology, invasion biology and ecosystem services. His research on restoring degraded subtropical thicket with spekboom guides public and private restoration programmes.
He held an NRF A-rating across five evaluation periods from 1998 to 2021, is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and received the Academy of Science of South Africa’s Gold Medal in 2023.
The research brief on Bioprecipitation cites his 2013 work with Anthony Mills and others on transformed renosterveld as part of the restoration evidence base for the fynbos biome.
Selected works
- Cowling, R.M., ed. (1992). The Ecology of Fynbos: Nutrients, Fire and Diversity. Oxford University Press.
- Van Wilgen, B.W., Cowling, R.M. & Burgers, C.J. (1996). “Valuation of ecosystem services: a case study from South African fynbos ecosystems.” BioScience, 46(3), 184-189.
- Mills, A.J. & Cowling, R.M. (2006). “Rate of carbon sequestration at two thicket restoration sites in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.” Restoration Ecology, 14(1), 38-49.
Related pages
- Bioprecipitation
- Community-Led Landscape Restoration in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Anthony J. Mills
- Brian van Wilgen
Sources
- Mills, A.J., Cowling, R.M. et al. (2013)
- Nelson Mandela University, Academy of Science Gold Medal (2023)
- Mail & Guardian, “Professor Richard Cowling” (2015)
Provenance
Written 23 October 2026 from the people named on Bioprecipitation, using public institutional profiles and published work. Public roles and publications only. The Mail & Guardian profile is an awards supplement; career facts used here are the ones the university’s own announcement repeats or that are matters of record.