Welcome to the Plant Ecology Lab at the University of Cape Town!

Our mission is to improve our fundamental understanding of African ecosystems and translate that knowledge into tools to assist the management and conservation of their biodiversity and contributions to people.

Lab members

Kagiso Nhlapo

MSc candidate mapping hydrological refugia in the Cape Floristic Region. Co-supervised by Tony Verboom.

Amour McCarthy

MSc candidate exploring the need for local knowledge in developing global data products to inform environmental management.

Ashleigh Smith

MSc candidate (starting 2025) working on ecological condition mapping using the AVIRIS-NG imaging spectroscopy data collected during the NASA BioSCape Campaign

Simcelile Chenge

PhD candidate exploring the relationships between culm (~leaf) and canopy reflectance spectra and hydrological niche preferences in Restionaceae. Co-supervised by Adam West.

Hana Petersen

PhD candidate exploring the mechanisms by which climate change impacts plant community diversity across Mediterranean Climate Ecosystems. Co-supervised by Glenn Moncrieff.

Samukelisiwe Msweli

PhD candidate mapping landscape flammability in the Cape Floristic Region by linking flammability metrics from experimental burns with plant traits and trait maps from imaging spectroscopy.

Áine Nicholson

Áine is a visiting PhD candidate from Charles Darwin University working on ignition catchments and vegetation change in the Western Ghats. She’s supervised by Lindsay Hutley, Jayashree Ratnam and Mahesh Sankaran, and collaborating with Glenn Moncrieff and I.

Anabelle Cardoso

Postdoc (University at Buffalo and University of Cape Town)

Anabelle is the Science Team Manager for the NASA BioSCape Campaign

Cherie Forbes

Postdoc (University at Buffalo and University of Cape Town)

Cherie is the Applications Coordinator for the NASA BioSCape Campaign

Geethen Singh

Postdoc (University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University & SAEON)

Geethen is mapping invasive species, fire scars and other related phenomena using satellite data and machine learning.

Jasper Slingsby

Principal Investigator

Following my PhD exploring the interface between ecology and evolution in the Cape Floristic Region, I worked at the Fynbos Node of the South African Environmental Observation Network for almost a decade, focusing on global change and long term ecological research in African ecosystems. My current research blends the two, following the ethos that understanding the origins of diversity is essential if we are to understand how ecosystems function, how they are being altered by global change, and how best to manage them for desirable outcomes.