About me

I am a Landscape Ecologist and Conservation Scientist who uses predictive models and remote sensing to understand biodiversity dynamics in production landscapes. Recently, I received my PhD in Conservation Ecology from Stellenbosch University, supervised by Prof James Pryke and Prof Michael Samways. My research focused on using remote sensing and integrative modelling to perform biodiversity assessments for improved conservation management. I specifically explored the benefits of functional connectivity analysis using Circuitscape in Julia, stacked species distribution modelling in R, creation of time series data using Google Earth Engine and super-resolution satellite imagery.

I have accepted a two year contract as an Analyst and Researcher in Ecology and Machine Learning at Habitat based in Montréal, under the supervision of Dr Sylvia Wood and Prof Andrew Gonzalez. At Habitat, I will be predicting the occurrence of forest-related biodiversity across southern Québec using data from GBIF, estimate urban tree growth patterns using neural networks, perform forest cover classification and calculate forest composition in peri-urban landscapes using Google Earth Engine.

My broad research interests cover topics from landscape ecology, macroecology, entomology and agroecology to earth observation, machine learning and GIS. I am a firm believer in open source and open access and perform all my analyses in freely available software. I also share my code publicly so others can learn from it.

I am available for consultations and collaborations. Send me an email if you feel I can add value to your project.

Education

PhD Conservation Ecology at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University

Biodiversity assessments using remote sensing and integrative modelling for improved conservation management
January 2019–April 2022

MSc Conservation Ecology cum laude at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University

Conservation of spider diversity within an agricultural mosaic: insights from the Greater Cape Floristic Region, biodiversity hotspot
January 2015–December 2017

BSc Conservation Ecology at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University

January 2011–March 2015

Publications

TreeForecastR

Theron KJ, Wood SLR, Delmas E, Martins K, Vanoverbeke F, Desrousseaux E.
Github repository.
Repo

Mapping an alien invasive shrub within conservation corridors using super-resolution satellite imagery

Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Latte N, Samways MJ.
Journal of Environmental Management, 321:116023.
Paper

Maintaining functional connectivity in grassland corridors between plantation forests promotes high-quality habitat and conserves range restricted grasshoppers

Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Landscape Ecology, 37:2081-2097.
Paper

Identifying managerial legacies within conservation corridors using remote sensing and grasshopper bioindicators

Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Ecological Applications, 2022, 32:e02496.
Paper

Abandoned fields and high plant diversity support high spider diversity within an agricultural mosaic in a biodiversity hotspot

Theron KJ, Gaigher R, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 2020, 29:3757-3782.
Paper

High quality remnant patches in a complex agricultural landscape sustain high spider diversity

Theron KJ, Gaigher R, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Biological Conservation, 2020, 243:108480.
Paper

Opposite latitudinal patterns for bird and arthropod predation revealed in experiments with differently colored artificial prey

Zvereva EL, Castagneyrol B, Cornelissen T, Forsman A, Hernández-Agüero JA, Klemola T, Paolucci L, Polo V, Salinas N, Theron KJ, Xu G, Zverev V, Kozlov MV.
Ecology and Evolution, 2019, 9:14273-14285.
Paper

Active projects

Mapping trees for urban forest management using artificial intelligence and remote sensing

Here I stand as lead author.

Mapping the distribution and densities of deciduous trees within urban areas using PlanetScope satellite imagery

Here I stand as a scientific advisor and co-author.

Meta-analysis focussed on understanding the factors driving urbanisation effects on biodiversity

Here I stand as a co-author and spatial analysis.

Conference talks

Machine learning and satellite-based multi-scale segregation coniferous and deciduous trees: a case study for Montreal city, Canada

Khare S, Bharadwaj T, Wood SLR, Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Latte N, Samways MJ.
Contributed to poster presentation at GEO BON Global Conference: Monitoring Biodiversity for Action 2024, Montreal, Canada

Mapping an invasive shrub within grasslands using super-resolution imagery

Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Latte N, Samways MJ.
Presented an oral presentation at the World Biodiversity Forum 2022, Davos, Switzerland.

Assessing grassland corridors between plantation forests for biodiversity conservation through measuring species distribution, turnover and functional connectivity

Theron KJ, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Accepted for a poster presentation at the International Statistical Ecology Conference 2022, Cape Town, South Africa.

Citizen science, big data and open source hardware could help us understand insect declines

Wasielewski C, Cox T, Theron KJ.
Presented a poster presentation at the Royal Entomological Society 2021, online.

Spider diversity within the agricultural mosaic of the Cape Floristic Region: landscape context and edge effects

Theron KJ, Gaigher R, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Presented an oral presentation at the Symposium of Contemporary Conservation 2017, Howick, South Africa.

Response of spider diversity to landscape and patch heterogeneity in remnant natural patches within agricultural landscapes of the Cape Floristic Region

Theron KJ, Gaigher R, Pryke JS, Samways MJ.
Presented an oral presentation at the ESSA and ZSSA combined congress 2017, Pretoria, South Africa.

Certificates

Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain course at Udemy

The fundamentals of deep leaning short course at the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University

August 30–September 3 2021

Introduction to data science short course at the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University

Competence certificate 92%, July 2020–August 2020

Introduction to earth observation short course at Centre for Geographical Analysis, Stellenbosch University

August 2018–September 2018

Teaching

Head tutor at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University

January 2019–February 2022

Lecture on Insect Conservation Ecology with a focus on using remote sensing for inventorying, mapping and prioritisation, Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University

September 2019