Kim Daniels

Hailing from Cape Town, Kim developed a fascination with plants while training to be an education assistant at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens during her gap year. In consequence, she applied for and was accepted at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to study Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. She completed her degree in 2018.

In 2019, Kim began an internship with the Plant Conservation Unit. Here she learnt a variety of field techniques and volunteered at the Bolus Herbarium. With the experience she gained, she presented a poster on leaf epidermal structures in Ruschia species at the Arid Zone Ecology Forum in 2019.

Kim returned to UWC for her Honours studies in 2020. Due to her interest in lowland fynbos and urban conservation, she completed her honours thesis on vegetation change at the Cape Flats Nature Reserve using repeat photography.

After her Honours year, Kim worked for the Centre for Invasion Biology. In this capacity, she undertook training to become an assessor of alien species. As part of the course, she composed a risk analysis report for Tithonia rotundifolia which is currently (January 2022) under review.

Kim has volunteered at Edith Stephens Nature Reserve where she took part in patrols, led alien clearing and did environmental education. Later, she worked as a field assistant for the Valuing Orchard Integrity and Crop Ecosystems project where she did insect trapping and collected field data at apple orchards. She has also worked as an intern at Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden and briefly volunteered for Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots.

In her free time, Kim enjoys attempting to bake and painting.

Thesis: Mistletoe as thermal refugia for birds in the Kalahari. (Supervisors: Susie Cunningham, Andrew McKechnie, Mia Momberg).