dissertation

My doctoral dissertation Monitoring and quantifying forest degradation: remote sensing approaches for applied conservation in the Congo Basin was successfully submitted in 2022. This is a cumulative dissertation white unites three peer-reviewed articles: Using fragmentation to assess degradation of forest edges in Democratic Republic of Congo, Carbon Balance and Management, 2016, Forest condition in the Congo Basin for the assessment of ecosystem conservation status, Ecological Indicators, and Proximate causes of forest degradation in the Democratic Republic of Congo vary in space and time, Frontiers in Conservation Science.

talk

Lightning talk - Google Geo for Good Summit, 2020. registration required. 5 minute lightning talk on the seascape mapping approach developed for East Africa, using Google Earth Engine to map mangroves and coral reef habitats.

article

Spatial priorities for conserving the most intact biodiverse forests within Central Africa, Environmental Research Letters, 2020. The forests of Central Africa contain some of Earth's few remaining intact forests. These forests are increasingly threatened by infrastructure development, agriculture, and unsustainable extraction of natural resources (e.g. minerals, bushmeat, and timber), all of which is leading to deforestation and forest degradation, particularly defaunation, and hence causing declines in biodiversity and a significant increase in carbon emissions. Given the pervasive nature of these threats, the global importance of Central African forests for biodiversity conservation, and the limited resources for conservation and sustainable management, there is a need to identify where the most important areas are to orientate conservation efforts. We developed a novel approach for identifying spatial priorities where conservation efforts can maximize biodiversity benefits within Central Africa's most intact forest areas.

article

A climate adaptation strategy for Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site: Steppingstone to climate proofing the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, Plos One, 2020. The ecological functionality of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is threatened by the loss of wetlands which provide staging and wintering sites for migrating waterbirds. The disappearance of wetland ecosystems due to coastal development prevents birds from completing their migrations, resulting in population declines, and even an eventual collapse of the migration phenomenon. Coastal wetlands are also under threat from global climate change and its consequences, notably sea level rise (SLR), extreme storm events, and accompanying wave and tidal surges. We applied the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to simulate habitat conversion under two SLR scenarios. The results showed no discernible impact to habitats until after 2075, but projections for 2100 show that the mangroves, marshes and tidal flats could be impacted in almost all scenarios of SLR and accretion.