Yearly Archives: 2016

/2016

Study on bird-flowering plant interactions published

By | December 31st, 2016|Andes, birds, graduate students, Peru, research|

The main product of Dr. Oscar Gonzalez dissertation was recently published in the open access journal PeerJ.  This study examined the interactions between birds and flowering plants in elfin forest of the high Andes in Peru.  The study tests the importance of neutral processes and biological constraints in influencing species interactions and network properties.  Biological [...]

Lower-ranking manakin males display more at larger leks

By | September 30th, 2016|Atlantic Forests, birds, Brazil, lek, Manakin, manakins, sexual selection|

Our paper on "Trade-offs in male display activity with lek size" is now published on PlosOne: Cestari, C., B. A. Loiselle, and M. A. Pizo. Trade-offs in male display activity with lek size. PloS ONE: 11(9): e0162943 Click here to see the publication. The field research was led by Cesar Cestari and involved simultaneous filming [...]

Hernan Alvarez joins other WCS Gators in Ecuador

By | September 22nd, 2016|conservation, Ecuador, graduate students, TCD|

Hernan Alvarez received his TCD graduate certificate and M. Sc. degree from Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at UF in the Loiselle lab in 2015.  Shortly after that he returned to Ecuador as the "Technician in Community-based and Participatory Management" at Wildlife Conservation Society program in Ecuador.  He uses his experiences working with indigenous communities and conservation [...]

Oscar Gonzalez accepts Assistant Professor position at Emmanuel College

By | September 11th, 2016|graduate students, Peru|

Oscar earned his PhD in 2015 from UF's School from Natural Resources and the Environment.  His dissertation research explored species interactions between flowering plants and birds in elfin forests of the high Andes in Peru.  In August 2016, he moved to a new faculty position teaching undergraduate biology at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia.  [...]

Manakin Genomics Research Coordination Network group meets in SERC

By | September 11th, 2016|Genomics, Manakin, RCN, research|

The second annual meeting of the NSF-funded Manakin Genomics Research Coordination Network met from 13-16 August at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland.  43 individuals participated including graduate and undergraduate students, post-docs, faculty and research scientists from Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, and Peru.  This meeting focused on advancing activities of 7 working groups.  [...]

Diego Garcia receives Peruvian government fellowship!

By | July 15th, 2016|birds, graduate students, Peru, WEC|

Congratulations to incoming PhD student Diego Garcia for receiving a prestigious Peruvian CONCYTEC fellowship to cover years 3-5 at University of Florida in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation graduate program.  This fellowship will complement funding he has received from LASPAU-Fulbright program for years 1 and 2, together with tuition support from the Center for Latin American Studies.  [...]

New publication on Bolivian bat assemblages by Flavia Montano

By | July 6th, 2016|Andes, bats, Bolivia, ecology, graduate students|

Hot off the press!  PhD candidate Flavia Montano with colleagues Luis Aguirre, Mercedes Gavilanez, and Richard Stevens published "Taxonomic and phylogenetic determinants of functional composition on Bolivian bat assemblages" in PLoS ONE (released 6 July 2016).  You can access the publication here.  Their work compiles a rich data set on bats from many habitats within [...]

Flavia Montano receives two field grants for Bolivia research

By | July 1st, 2016|Andes, birds, Bolivia, graduate students, research, WEC|

Great news for PhD candidate Flavia Montano.  Not one, but two research awards came this past week.  The Rufford Foundation and World Wildlife Fund Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program both selected Flavia for funding in their competitive grants programs.  Her dissertation research is focused on revealing what drives bird community assembly (especially mixed-species [...]

Welcome to Diego Garcia

By | June 5th, 2016|birds, conservation, graduate students, Peru, TCD, WEC|

Diego will be joining the Gator Nation in August 2016 as he enters the PhD program in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.  He completed his undergraduate degree at Peru's National University in Piura. He studies the ecology and conservation of endemic birds in an important bird area in nw Peru.  Climate change, land use changes, and [...]

Exciting week of nothing but seed dispersal

By | May 22nd, 2016|birds, ecology, interdisciplinary, research, seed dispersal|

From 9-13 May, Bette spent one glorious week talking about seed dispersal at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under the excellent leadership of a dynamic trio of young women scientists: Noelle Beckman (SESYNC), Clare Aslan NAU) and Haldre Rogers (Iowa State University).  This team had assembled a stellar cast of empirical, mathematical and theoretical biologists together [...]