A biodiversity hotspot faces intensification of viticulture: The role of renosterveld remnants for the conservation of butterflies.

I am interested in biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use and human-nature relations. In my PhD research, I am investigating how butterfly populations are affected by the expansion of viticulture in the Swartland of South Africa´s Western Cape. This area is part of the Cape Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot with high levels of endemism in both plants and invertebrates. Agriculture has radically transformed this landscape resulting in fragmented, isolated patches of native renosterveld vegetation, with consequences for related flora and fauna. Together with Dr Jacqueline Loos, I aim to integrate ecological evidence, human perceptions and socio-economic drivers to understand social-ecological processes in remnant renosterveld.



I have a background in Geography and in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (Erasmus Mundus MSc. University of Copenhagen, University of Padova). Before beginning my PhD I worked for an international non-profit addressing deforestation and for a National Park authority in ecological monitoring.