Born 13th September 1990 in Lier, Belgium
Education
2011: BSc. in Biology, minor Environment and Sustainable Development, KU Leuven, Belgium.
2013: MSc. in Biology, major Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, KU Leuven, Belgium.
2014: Credit student, quantitative genetics, GIS, basic programming, KU Leuven, Belgium.
since 2015: Ph.D. studies in Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Thesis: Butterflies and moths as pollinators along environmental gradients in Afrotropics.
Employment
2015: Amec Foster Wheeler, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Yaoure, Côte d’Ivoire (field research assistant, 3 weeks)
2015: Institute of Botany and Microbiology, KU Leuven, Belgium (research associate, 3 months)
2016: Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic (grant research associate, 3 months)
Research and study experience
2012: Benslimane, Morocco, fieldwork master thesis (6 weeks)
2013: KU Leuven, Belgium, master thesis: Assessing the Impact of Anthropogenic Stress on Moroccan Temporary Ponds Using a Resting Egg Bank Analysis.
2014: Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium (lab volunteer: extraction and amplification of DNA, analysing genetic data)
2014: Belete-Gera, Ethiopia, field research on natural coffee forests (amphibian and large mammal diversity assessment, 3 months)
2016-2017: Mt. Cameroon, Cameroon – research on changes of pollination networks along an altitudinal gradient (3×5 weeks).
Grants
2016-2018 – Pollination networks along altitudinal gradients – the pollinators’ point of view, Grant Agency of the Charles University in Prague, principal investigator.
Publications
Mertens J.E.J., Tropek R., Dzekashu F.F., Maicher V., Fokam E.B., Janeček Š. (2017) Communities of flower visitors of Uvariopsis dioica (Annonaceae) in lowland forests of Mt. Cameroon, with notes on its potential pollinators. African Journal of Ecology.
De Beenhouwer M., Mertens J., Habtamu T. (2016). Camera trap observation of crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi, Muroidea: Rodentia) in Belete‐Gera montane rainforest, south‐western Ethiopia. African Journal of Ecology 54: 111-113.
De Beenhouwer M., Geeraert L., Mertens J., Van Geel M., Aerts R., Vanderhaegen K., Honnay O. (2016). Biodiversity and carbon storage co-benefits of coffee agroforestry across a gradient of increasing management intensity in the SW Ethiopian highlands. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 222: 193-199.
Mertens J., Jocqué M., Geeraert L., De Beenhouwer M. (2016) Newly discovered populations of the Ethiopian endemic and endangered Afrixalus clarkei Largen, implications for conservation. ZooKeys 565: 141-146.