Staff Profiles

MSc from University of Cape town, "Elephant space use in relation to ephemeral surface water availability in the eastern Okavango Panhandle, Botswana". Awarded 2022

BSc Hons Geographical Information Systems from Kingston University, First class. Awarded 2015

Anastacia Makati has completed her MSc with University of Cape town in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science. Her research was on Elephant space use in relation to ephemeral surface water availability in eastern Okavango Panhandle, Botswana. She also holds a BSc (Hons) in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) from Kingston University London and obtained a “first class”. She has been concentrating her research in GIS and remote sensing applications. Her expertise includes Geospatial data creation, Remote Sensing, Spatial Statistics, R Statistics, Python and 3D modelling using Sketch Up and web design. She currently works as a GIS technician for the University of Botswana, Okavango Research Institute (ORI) based in Maun, Botswana whose objectives are to be research intensive, to practice engaged research and to disseminate research supported information to its stakeholders. To contribute towards this endeavor, her everyday duties as GIS Technician are to provide technical support in earth observation studies to graduate students and academic staff and to extend services to external researchers and the community. Additionally, her duties include collection of raw GPS data using GPS as well as creation and management of geographic databases. She aspires to be a researcher in the area of GIS and remote sensing disciplines.

• Introduction to applied Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Annual lectures presented to undergraduate students during GEC 431 Winter Course at ORI and MDP students
• Introduction to remote sensing and its applications, Annual lectures presented to undergraduate students during GEC 431 Winter Course at ORI and MDP students
• Introduction to Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Annual lectures presented to undergraduate students during GEC 431 Winter Course at ORI and MDP students

GIS

Remote sensing

ecology

spatial analysis

machine learning

• GEC 431 Winter Course at ORI and MDP students

Helfter, C., Gondwe, M., Murray-Hudson, M., Makati, A., Lunt, M. F., Palmer, P. I., & Skiba, U. (2022). Phenology is the dominant control of methane emissions in a tropical non-forested wetland. Nature communications, 13(1), 1-11, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27786-4.

Helfter, C., Gondwe, M., Murray-Hudson, M., Makati, A., & Skiba, U. (2022). From sink to source: high inter-annual variability in the carbon budget of a Southern African wetland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 380(2215), 20210148; DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2021.0148.

Babayani, N. D., & Makati, A. (2021). Predictive Analytics of Cattle Host and Environmental and Micro-Climate Factors for Tick Distribution and Abundance at the Livestock–Wildlife Interface in the Lower Okavango Delta of Botswana. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8; DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2021.698395.