Her work is part of a programme on the 'Governance of ecosystem services under scenarios of change in southern and eastern Africa', led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). She is collaborating with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, and aims to investigate ecosystem service dynamics and regime shifts in a regional poverty hotspot.

After completing her MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town, Maike worked in both the government and NGO sector on natural resource management issues in South Africa and Madagascar. These experiences led her to the Stockholm Resilience Centre to pursue research on the human-environment interface.

Of particular interest are the ways in which bundles of ecosystem services relate to the human landscape, the trade-offs and synergies between different services, as well as the changes in social-ecological systems that lead to regime shifts and their impact on human well-being.