Social-Ecological Systems in the Indian rural-urban interface: functions, scales and dynamics of transition

Being fascinated by wildlife and especially by birds since my early childhood, I naturally oriented my academic training toward ecology and conservation biology. I completed my Master degree in Ecology & Evolution with a specialization in animal ecology and conservation biology at the University of Bern in Switzerland. My Master thesis brought me to Ethiopia where I spent several months to investigate the effect of small- versus large-scale farming on bird diversity. Since then, my main research interest is how to conciliate agriculture and biodiversity in tropical agroecosystems.
My PhD research project is part of the Indian-German collaborative and interdisciplinary project FOR2432/2 Social-ecological systems in the Indian rural-urban interface: Functions, Scales, and dynamics of transition. Using the Social-Ecological System framework, I will investigate the possible effects of urbanization on agricultural biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. I aim to assess services providing organisms (e.g. bees, parasitoid wasps and birds) and their spatial and temporal dynamic, to conduct a rapid assessment of multiple ecological functions as well as to study mango pollination. Thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of the project, we aim to find potential trade-offs between provisioning, regulating and cultural services.