WEC

/WEC

Ready for Spring 2023

By | January 5th, 2023|graduate students, SNRE, WEC|

Long time since we have taken a picture of our Tropical Ecology Lab group (aka "White House" group).  We are missing a few students from my lab in this picture - Vanessa Luna was in Peru (co-advised by Karen Kainer) and Akshay Anand (advised by Rob Guralnick, co-advised by Bette) was in class.  Everyone is back [...]

Introducing Dr. Mahi Puri !!

By | June 30th, 2021|conservation, ecology, graduate students, India, TCD, WEC|

Mahi Puri successfully defended her PhD dissertation on Monday, June 28th in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida.  Her dissertation "Prioritizing and Identifying Opportunities for Carnivore Conservation in Human-dominated Landscapes of India" examined three main objectives: "1) determining habitat-use patterns for 4 carnivores (tiger, leopard, [...]

Mercury accumulation in tropical bats – new paper in Ecotoxicology

By | April 24th, 2020|Amazon, bats, Peru, SNRE, TCD, WEC, wildlife management|

Gold-mining and large-scale agriculture are becoming increasingly prevalent in Amazon forests of Peru and elsewhere.  With these activities, the possibility of mercury pollution increases, which could and has had serious negative impacts on human and wildlife health.  Dr. Farah Carrasco examined the presence of mercury in tropical bats in a region of Peru where gold-mining [...]

It’s official! Dr. Michael Esbach!

By | April 21st, 2020|Amazon, biodiversity, conservation, ecology, Ecuador, graduate students, interdisciplinary, SNRE, TCD, WEC, wildlife management|

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Esbach - his dissertation "Hunting for Justice: Cofán subsistence, sustainability, and self-determination in the Ecuadorian Amazon" was just accepted by University of Florida Graduate School. Great work! Michael will graduate (virtually) in May 2020 with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) from the [...]

Hot off the Press: Using Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity to Infer Avian Community Assembly Along Elevational Gradients

By | October 23rd, 2019|Andes, birds, Bolivia, research, WEC|

Dr. Flavia Montaño-Centellas is lead author on a new research paper in Global Ecology and Biogeography "Using functional and phylogenetic diversity to infer avian community assembly along elevational gradients" which represents work from her PhD dissertation in the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department at the University of Florida. In this paper she examines bird communities [...]

Diego Garcia Oleachea teaches “Introduction to Occupancy Models”

By | October 18th, 2019|birds, courses, Peru, WEC|

Just recently, Diego Garcia visited the Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Ceja de Selva (INDES-CES) at the Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza in Chachapayos, Amazonas, Peru to lead a workshop on "Introduction to Occupancy Models using R".  Diego is a PhD candidate in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at University of Florida co-advised [...]

Members of the White House Lab in Guatemala

By | August 1st, 2019|conservation, ecology, graduate students, teaching, WEC|

Robinson Botero Arias, Thomas Smith and Diego Juarez-Sanchez, all UF PhD students in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, traveled to Guatemala and gave research talks at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala this past July.  Diego and Robinson, together with UF alumna Yasmin Quintana, and Valerie Corrado and Rony Garcia, also organized a workshop on [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]