About me
Hi!
I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Ecological Interactions Lab led by Dr. Jef Vizentin-Bugoni (Institute of Biology, UFPel) in Pelotas (RS), Brazil. I was born in Colombia and started my career hoping to become an agronomist, but somehow I ended up as a biologist interested in community ecology, species interaction, ecosystem processes, and ecological modeling.
I created this website to share my work and my general interests outside academic formality.
Research topic
I’m an ecologist with a deep curiosity for understanding how species interactions and functional diversity drive ecological processes. In my research, I have used model systems like mammals, birds, and pollinators, combining quantitative methods and field experiments to address my questions. During my PhD, I studied the mechanisms regulating pollinator contributions to the production of pollination-dependent crops in Argentina (South America). This research focused on developing management strategies to enhance pollination service and crop productivity. Currently, I’m investigating mechanisms underlying non-trophic interactions of tropical birds in Panama (Army Ant Followers Project), and temporal dynamics of seed dispersal networks in Hawaii (Hawaii-VINE Project). I also collaborate on projects focused on pollinator conservation in large-scale citrus crops and the factors that cause honeybee males to congregate in agricultural landscapes of Northern Argentina. Thus, my work consistently bridges basic and applied ecology to understand the consequences of species interactions for both natural and human-dominated ecosystems. You can find more specific details here.
Interests
- Ecological interactions
- Pollination and frugivory
- Ecosystem services
- Community ecology
- Functional diversity
- R programming
- Bayesian statistics
What I like/love
- Biking.
- Literature (Dostoyevski, García Márquez, Sábato, and Vasili Grossman are personal friends).
- Dark beer.
- Muay thai.
- Animals in general, but particularly pollinators, bats, cats and dogs.
