Dr Kristine Maciejewski
MSc (Stellenbosch), PhD (NMMU)
Kristine grew up in the heart of Zululand where she developed a deep love for nature. After school, she decided to embark on her journey towards pursuing a career in Zoology and studied a BSc at the University of Stellenbosch. She then continued with an MSc in Conservation Ecology, studying the Nile crocodile in the Okavango Delta. This is where her interest in applied ecology developed, as she started focusing on global climate change and investigated the impact of increasing ambient temperatures on temperature-dependent sex determinant species such as crocodiles. After spending time in Botswana, Kristi’s love for nature had developed into a strong passion. She remained in Botswana and worked for Wilderness Safaris, managing lodges in the Savuti and Linyanti Consession. She then moved to Zambia where she managed a small exclusive lodge in the Kafue National Park.
After spending time in pristine wilderness, she decided to move back to South Africa to pursue her career in research and to do her doctorate. Kristi did her PhD at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where she investigated the linkages between biodiversity conservation and protected areas in the Eastern Cape. The value of biodiversity was explored from the perspective of ecotourism in a hierarchical series of studies. She analysed the biome and landscape level of protection of protected areas to determine their contribution to national conservation targets. The value of different large mammal species was analysed to determine the role that extralimital species play in ecotourism. Kristi quantified the relationship between species abundance and tourist attraction and investigated how the use of contraception to control elephant populations would impact ecotourism.
After completing her PhD, Kristi moved to Cape Town to expand her research in protected areas and biodiversity and started a postdoc at the FitzPatrick Institute with Graeme Cumming. During her postdoc she covered various social-ecological aspects, looking at ecosystem services, cross-scale feedbacks and the interaction between spatially congruent networks by viewing protected-areas as social-ecological systems.
Kristi now leads Panthera’s Conservation Action team across Southern and East Africa as they strive to implement their regional action plan and meet associated species conservation targets.
Recent peer-reviewed publications
2022
Cumming, G.S., Rafael A.M, and Maciejewski, K (in review) Quantifying cross-scale patch contributions to spatial connectivity. Landscape Ecology.
2020
Clements, H., de Vos, A., Bezerra, J.C, Coetzer, K., Maciejewski, K., Mograbi, P.J. and Shackleton, C. 2020. The relevance of ecosystem services to land reform policies: Insights from South Africa. Land Use Policy 100: 104939
Achieng, T., Maciejewski, K., Dyer, M. and Biggs, R.. 2020. Using a social-ecological regime shift approach to understand the transition from livestock to game farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Land 9: 97; doi:10.3390/land9040097
Pereira, L., S. Drimie, K. Maciejewski, P. Bon and R. Biggs. 2020. Food system transformation: Integrating a political-economy and social-ecological approach to regime shifts. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(4): 1313.
2019
Shackleton, C.M., P.J. Mograbi, D. Fay, P. Hebrinck, M. T. Hoffman, K. Maciejewski. 2019. The deactivation of field cultivation in communal areas of South Africa: patterns, drivers, and socio-economic and ecological consequences. Land Use Policy 82: 686-699.
2018
Coetzee, B., Maciejewski, K, and Ferreira, S. 2018. Challenges and opportunities for monitoring wild Nile Crocodiles with scute mark-recapture photography. Koedoe 60(1): a1504.
2017
Shelton, J., Weyl, O., van der Walt, J., Marr, S., Impson, D., Maciejewski, K., Tye, D., Dallas, H. and Esler, K. 2017. Effect of an intensive mechanical removal effort on a population of non-native rainbow trout Oncorhybchus mykiss in a South African headwater system. Aquatic Conservation: Marine Freshwater Ecosystem 1-5. DOI 10.1002/aqc.2752
Cumming, G.S. and Maciejewski, K. 2017. Reconciling community ecology and ecosystem services: cultural services and benefits from birds in South African National Parks. Ecosystem Services 28: 219-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.02.018
2016
De Vos, A., Cumming, G.S., Cumming, D., Ament, J.M., Baum, J., Clements, H., Grewar, J., Maciejewski, K. and Moore, C. 2016. Pathogens, disease, and the social-ecological resilience of protected areas. Ecology and Society 21: 20. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07984-210120
De Vos, A., Cumming, G.S., Moore, C.A., Maciejewski, K. and Duckworth, G. 2016. The relevance of spatial variation in ecotourism attributes for the economic sustainability of protected areas. Ecosphere 7: e01207. http://dx/doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1207
Maciejewski, K., Baum, J. and Cumming, G.S. 2016. Integration of private land conservation areas in a network of statutory protected areas: implications for sustainability. Biological Conservation 200: 200-206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.027
2015
Cumming, G.S., Allen, C.R., Ban, N.C., Biggs, D., Biggs, H.C., Cumming, D.H.M., De Vos, A., Epstein, G., Etienne, M., Maciejewski, K., Mathevet, R., Moore, C., Nenadovic, M., and Schoon, M. 2015. Understanding protected area resilience: a multi-scale, social-ecological approach. Ecological Applications 25:299-319.
Maciejewski, K. and Cumming, G.S. 2015. The relevance of socioeconomic interactions for the resilience of protected area networks. Ecological Society of America 6(9): 1 – 14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00022.1
Maciejewski, K. and Cumming, G.S. 2015. Multi-scale network analysis shows scale-dependency of significance of individual protected areas for connectivity. Landscape Ecology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0285-2
Maciejewski, K., De Vos, A., Cumming, G.S., Moore, C.A. and Biggs, D. 2015. Cross-scale feedbacks and scale mismatches as influences on cultural services and the resilience of protected areas. Ecological Applications 25:11-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-2240.1.
2014
Maciejewski, K. and Kerley, G.I.H. 2014. Determining tourist preferences for large mammal species: is there an ecotourist value in the stocking of extralimital species in private protected areas. PLoS One 9(2): e88192. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088192