Belgium
I am an Ecology student with two main interests: - Marine food webs, and how they are impacted by human activities, maritime spatial planning and climate change. I am currently writing my Master's thesis within this field of study, and previously took part in related research projects in the North Sea area (Belgium, the Netherlands), the English Channel area (France), and the Baltic Sea area (Denmark). I am dreaming of applying the skills learned during my Master's thesis to a PhD project. - Urban biodiversity and conservation, especially the impact of blue-green infrastructure (public green spaces, green railway tracks, permeable pavement) on the livability of cities and on ecosystem functions provided by plants, pollinators, and soil invertebrates. I designed my own research project within this field in Ghent (Belgium) as an intern at INBO, and took part in a similar project – but focused on agricultural landscapes – in Denmark. Finally, I am fascinated by all sorts of marine invertebrates, such as the ctenophore you can see me holding in my profile picture, or the charismatic cuttlefish I had the privilege of meeting during one of my internships! I am also enthusiastic about waterbirds and pollinator insects such as bumblebees and moths.
Helping setting up a common garden experiment in the port of Zeebrugge with marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) populations from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France and Australia.
Goal: developing a simplified habitat diversity index for urban green spaces, in order to facilitate the assessment of ecosystem quality by non-expert demographics, e.g. local authorities, stakeholders, and advocacy groups. Tasks: developing a comprehensive survey scheme, performing prior GIS and in-situ exploration, carrying out the survey on 18 parks across the city of Ghent during the summer months, and communicating results to a multidisciplinary scientific audience at an INBO symposium.
Tasks: maintaining the animal facility at Unicaen Marine Station, taking care of hundreds of eggs and approx. 60 juvenile cuttlefish, designing and building an experimental setup using simultaneous recording by two cameras under different angles, processing the resulting video clips.