Svenja Ahlborn

Currently I am using different niche modeling techniques to assess the ecological niche of a multitude of butterfly species of the genus Lepidochrysops (African ant blues, Lycaenidae) found in South Africa. This might help to better understand the biogeographical patterns of these species and give us information about important environmental factors delimiting the niche of the species. These information can be of use in understanding how we can possibly protect the species and their niche in future. Also, using future projections simulating climate change, I will try to predict the future niche suitability of these species to understand how their niches will change or shift through time and therefore see if the different species will be able to survive in our changing climate. Moreover, comparing the results of this study with phylogenetic data, it will hopefully give a more detailed insight into the evolutionary history of the different species of this genus.