Born and raised in the Tropical Andes, I am an interdisciplinary ecologist broadly interested in tropical ecology and conservation. My research explores the patterns and processes behind biodiversity across spatial scales in different taxa, and the role of species traits and species interactions (mainly positive interactions) in shaping diversity. I hold a PhD in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida.
I was a postdoctoral researcher at LSU where I mostly focused on macroecological patterns of biodiversity. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University and an Associate Researcher at the Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia.
Isabel is a conservation ecologist with extensive experience in tropical ecosystems. Her research focuses on unraveling the processes and factors that drive species rarity and using this knowledge to inform effective conservation practices in tropical regions. She worked for several years in the Andes region, where she studied the dimensions of species rarity and explored how these dimensions interact and how this can be used to inform conservation practices.
Karthik has wide-ranging research interests but is most intrigued by macroecology. He enjoys a quantitative challenge, and values principles of open science. Although tropical forests were his first love, he has also grown particularly fond of more open ecosystems. While at work, especially on some code, he tends to catch colleagues off-guard with his intense head-bopping to rap music. When not working, and not entranced by the poetries of language, numbers, and maps, he is probably out on a birding trip or planning his next one.
Kaitlyn is an early career ornithologist interested in movement and migration ecology, as well as research that promotes conservation while involving local communities. Growing up surrounded by deciduous forests in the midwestern United States, she fell in love with cloud forests after visiting several Central and South American countries. When she isn’t working, you can catch her playing roller derby under the pen name Kestrel (#56), cuddling with one (or all) of her four cats, birding on the fly, or trying a new dish.
Lissa is a postbacc research scholar through the Lagniappe program interested in evolutionary biology and conservation with a broad fascination in plants and animals. Lissa graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a bachelor’s in Conservation Biology. She has experience in museum activities and with the US forest service. Their hobbies include taking walks to nature watch, strength training, playing video games, and making art – mainly digital illustration, although she also does traditional drawing and painting.
Explore community ecology with us, focusing on species interactions and community assembly in tropical ecosystems. Join our team and contribute to impactful ecological research.
