Graduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate, Stony Brook University

Biologist, Universidad del Azuay, Ecuador, 2003

I have been studying Ecuadorian birds since 2002. During these years I have gained a vast knowledge about tropical birds, especially from montane and dry forest habitats in the Andes, a region that harbors the greatest biodiversity of birds in the world.

In 2006, with the participation of Dr. Catherine Graham and Dr. Steven Latta, we started an avian research program in Cajas National Park, located in the Andes of southern Ecuador. The aim of the program is to gather data about the effects of habitat degradation on bird communities and to obtain natural history data of poorly known species from the Andes. We are working in close collaboration with the administration of the National Park to use the results of the research to inform conservation management policies.

I recently started my Ph.D. studies in Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Dr. Graham is my advisor in Stony Brook, but I also have the guidance of Dr. Latta. Habitat disturbance is widespread in the Andes, and knowledge about its effects on biodiversity is a priority if we want to take actions for its conservation. I plan to study bird communities across a disturbance gradient to investigate what patterns and processes rule modified habitats. I will study patterns by monitoring bird communities dynamics across landscapes composed of natural and disturbed habitats and processes by conducting behavioral studies and measuring demographic responses of specific species in the same landscapes.