Profile
Abstract
I am currently in my first year of my PhD at the Leipzig University, in the Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity working group. I am part of the TreeDi project from iDiv, which is based in the BEF-China experiment.
I grew up in South Africa in the beautiful town Stellenbosch, where I completed my Bachelors in Conservation Ecology in 2020. After that I took a year off to gain practical experience in the field and returned to the Stellenbosch University in 2022 to do my Masters in Botany, at the Centre for Invasion Biology. I completed this in March 2024, shortly after which I moved to Germany.
Throughout my studies I volunteered at several organisations, as I am passionate about nature and the plants and animals it entails and want to share this with others.
Professional career
- 06/2023
Attended the National Symposium for Biological Invasions, in Elgin - 09/2021 - 03/2024
Front of House Manager at La Pineta Restaurant, Stellenbosch - 09/2021 - 12/2021
Field work Assistant, working in the Fynbos with Protea and Leucadendron - 03/2021 - 06/2021
Research Assistant for the Dwarf Mongoose Research Project in Hoedspruit, Limpopo - 02/2019 - 12/2020
Member of Lessons in Conservation (LiC): Head of logistics and additional events - 01/2013 - 12/2015
Volunteer work at the Animal Welfare Society Stellenbosch, South Africa - 06/2017 - 07/2017
2 Weeks of volunteer work at Samara Game Reserve, Graaff Reinet, South Africa - 12/2017 - 02/2018
Watressing work at Jordan Bakery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Education
- 01/2018 - 12/2020
BSc in Conservation Ecology - 01/2016 - 12/2027
BSc in Animal Science - 02/2022 - 03/2024
Masters in Botany (Cum Laude) - 03/2019 - 06/2019
Volunteering at the Cheetah Outreach in Somerset West, South Africa
My PhD focuses on looking at the growth and water-use efficiency (WUE) of shrubs inside the subtropical forest in the BEF-China experiment. Specifically, I want to see what impacts the diversity of the neighbouring trees has on the shrub itself, and if there are other intermediate drivers (such as light, soil moisture, basal areas of neighbouring trees) that effect this relationship. To calculate the light availability, I took hemispherical photos and used the WinSCANOPY software.
For the growth of the shrubs, I am measuring the basal diameter of the shrubs in two consecutive years, to calculate the difference in basal areas during this time. This is a measure of its productivity. I will also measure the shoot increments for the shrubs, to have a second growth measure. To determine the WUE of the shrubs, we will be performing Stable Isotope Analyses from the leaves of the shrubs (d13C and d18O).
Lastly, we will also perform these isotope analyses on leaves collected from trees in the arboretum in Großpösna (ARBOFun), for which there is a lot of other hydraulic trait data available, to better understand the WUE of these trees.
Understanding the growth of shrubs in the forest understory and the WUE of plants in general is critical for biodiversity and becoming increasingly important during times of Climate Change, which is resulting in increased drought events.