Student projects
Bachelor and Master thesises supervised (since 2013)
2017-2018
James Hagan – Increased late season rainfall has limited effects on winter annual communities during drought
Laure Van Lauwe – Habitat selection in bromeliad dwelling insects and amphibians
Mario Driesen – How unique is the aquatic biodiversity of tropical inselbergs?
Adwine Vanslembrouck – Responses of ephemeral pond invertebrate communities to 25 years of climate change
Leendert Plaetinck – The effect of herbivore dung addition on freshwater communities in a subtropical savannah habitat – a mesocosm study
2016-2017
Justine Vansynghel Insect and pollinator diversity in cacao plantations – a case study in Nicaragua
Catherine Turner You can’t ignore your neighbors, context dependent habitat selection in bromeliad infaunal communities. (Beneficiary of the Tropimundo Best student award)
Mirna Fernandez Pradel Drivers of diversity patterns in bromeliad aquatic communities along an elevational gradient in the Tropical Andes
2015-2016
Barbara Hendus Exploring effects of nutrient addition by bat colonies on aquatic biodiversity in tropical cave systems, a case study with cenotes in Yucatan. (Beneficiary of the Tropimundo Best student award)
Yannick Coeckelberghs – Dissecting the drivers of diversity patterns across spatial scales: a case study with rock pool metacommunities in Western Australia
Celina Ben Saadi – Prey selectivity and aquatic community structure in Nepenthes pitcher plants in Peninsular Malaysia.
photo credit: C Ben Saadi
Sofie Vermaercke Island biogeography of invertebrates of Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean
Gisela Duran Rodriguez Climatic control of biodiversity in bromeliad infauna.
2014-2015
Nathalie Massa – Exploring links between management strategies and fitness in captive killer whales (Orcinus orca).
Daniel Montecinos – Links between forest degradation and metacommunity structure of bromeliad infauna in a Bolivian humid mountain forest. (Beneficiary of the Tropimundo Best thesis award)
Mathil Vandromme – Disentangling drivers of alpha and beta diversity in bromeliad metacommunities along a tropical elevational gradient. (Beneficiary of the Tropimundo Best student award)
VUB BSc students 2015-2016
Mario Driesen
Adwine Vanslembrouck
2014-2015
Jill Eeckhout – Associaties tussen verstedelijking en dispersie-morfologie in waterwantsen (Dutch)
Loïc Gillerot – Disentangling the drivers of alpha, beta and gamma diversity in pond metacommunities
Llewelyn Buidin – Assessing the drivers of habitat selection in Sigara lateralis water boatmen (Corixidae) via a reductionist experimental approach.
2013-2014
Yannick Coeckelberghs – Local and regional drivers of diversity patterns in Swedish rock pools
Jonathan Favaits – Assessing potential impacts of nutrient addition by vertebrates on diversity patterns in rock pool communities in the Australian outback
Nene Lefaible – Investigating the potential adaptive origin of buoyancy in zooplankton resting eggs
KULeuven MSc students (co supervisor with Luc Brendonck as main promoter):
2013-2014
Elien Bauweleers – The effects of drought-stress and habitat type on the morphology and fitness of the European common frog.
Wouter Hawinkel – Het belang van reproductieve energie allocatie en ontuikingsstrategieën voor overleving in onvoorspelbare tijdelijke poelen (Dutch).
2014-2015
Enya Wynants – Bet hedging in branchiopod crustaceans and the impact of resting egg morphology on dormancy
Eli Thoré – The genetic and epigenetic contribution to phenotypic variation in a vertebrate an an invertebrate model
