Antje Ahrends' Home Page
I joined the Genetics and Conservation Section in May 2009. My research interests are
- Impact of environmental change on plant diversity, forest condition and carbon storage.
- Impact of data quality and biases on modelled predictions and conservation priority area selection.
- Design of protected area networks and protected area management.
Background
I studied landscape ecology, and specialised in vegetation ecology and conservation. After a short spell in Patagonia, Chile - where I investigated vegetation successional patterns in Nothofagus forests, I worked for a few years in East Africa - initially in sustainable development and conservation projects in Kenya (for the German BirdLife partner NABU), and subsequently with WWF and TRAFFIC in Tanzania on the impact of illegal timber logging and charcoal burning on forest resources and carbon storage. Following a six month scholarship at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, I worked towards my PhD at the York Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Dynamics (KITE), University of York, using Tanzanian forests as a model system to investigate the impact of data biases on the identification of conservation priority areas, and patterns in the spatial distribution of tropical forest degradation.
Publications and Reports
2011
Ahrends, A, Burgess ND, Gereau RE, Marchant R, Bulling MT, Lovett JC, Platts PJ, Wilkins Kindemba V, Owen N, Fanning E and Rahbek C (2011). Funding begets biodiversity. Diversity and Distributions 17, 191-200.
Ahrends A., Burgess N.D., Milledge S.A.H., Bulling M.T.,
Fisher B., Smart J.C.R., Clarke G.P., Mhoro B.E. & Lewis S.L. (2011).
Predictable waves of sequential forest degradation and biodiversity loss
spreading from an African city. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America. 107, 14556-14561.
Supporting Data: Dataset I and Dataset II
Ahrends, A, Rahbek C, Bulling MT, Burgess ND, Platts PJ, Lovett JC, Kindemba VW, Owen N, Sallu AN, Marshall AR, Mhoro BE, Fanning E and Marchant R (2011). Conservation and the botanist effect. Biological Conservation 144, 131-140.
2010
Chaigneau, T., Ahrends, A., Argent, J., Riddhiraska, N. and Marchant, R. Moist lower montane rainforest classification: a case study from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. African Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01182.x
Platts P.J., Ahrends A., Gereau R.E., McClean C., Lovett J.C., Marshall A., Pellikka P., Mulligan M., Fanning E. & Marchant R. (2010). Can distribution models help refine inventory-based estimates of conservation priority? A case study in the Eastern Arc forests of Tanzania and Kenya. Diversity & Distributions 16 (4): 628-642. DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00668.x
2008
Blomley, T., Pfliegner, K., Isango, J., Zahabu, E., Ahrends, A. and Burgess, N. (2008). Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Towards an objective assessment of the impact of Participatory Forest Management on forest condition in Tanzania. Oryx 42: 380-391.
Ahrends, A. and Marchant, R. (2008). Vegetation data analysis - Ukwiva Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
Ahrends, A. and Marchant, R. (2008). Vegetation data analysis - Pala Ulanga Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
2007
Milledge, S.A.H., Gelvas, I.K. and Ahrends, A. (2007). Forestry, Governance and National Development: Lessons Learned from a Logging Boom in Southern Tanzania. An Overview. TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa, Tanzania Development Partners Group, Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dar es Salaam.
Milledge, S.A.H., Gelvas, I.K. and Ahrends, A. (2007). Forestry, Governance and National Development: Lessons Learned from a Logging Boom in Southern Tanzania. TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa, Tanzania Development Partners Group, Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dar es Salaam.
Ahrends, A. and Marchant, R. (2007). Vegetation data analysis - Kanga Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
Ahrends, A. and Marchant, R. (2007). Vegetation data analysis - Nguru South Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
2006
Ahrends, A. and Marchant, R. (2006). Vegetation data analysis - Sali Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
Ahrends, A., Jump, A., Lovett, J.C. and Marchant, R. (2006). Vegetation data analysis - Mselezi Forest Reserve. Unpublished report to Frontier Tanzania. York/Dar es Salaam.
2005
Ahrends, A. (2005). Patterns of degradation in lowland coastal forests in Coast Region, Tanzania. A thesis submitted to the University of Greifswald, Germany in candidacy for the degree of ‘Diplom'.
Ahrends, A. and Mohoro, B.E. (2005). Pugu forest - going, going... The Arc Journal. 17:23
