Projects
My research area lies at the intersection of population dynamics, conservation biology, ecological risk assessment and decision theory.
Currently, I collaborate in the following research:
Dormancy in plants
Through a comparison between threatened and not threatened species, we want to see if seed dormancy helps the plants to be less prone to extinction.
This is a collaboration with researchers:
Aleyda Acosta Rangel: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Florida. Specialized on Plant Physiology, Agroecology and Molecular Biology.
Eleinis Ávila Lovera: Tupper Postdoctoral Fellow at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Specialized on Plant Physiology.
Fly population dynamics
I developed a model for Philornis downsi, an invasive parasitic fly that is decreasing the viability of the iconic Darwin finches in the Galapagos Islands, and a model for Conura annulifera, a natural enemy of P. downsi in mainland Ecuador, as a biological control agent in the Galapagos Islands. Characterizing the host-parasitoid dynamics between P. downsi and C. annulifera across habitats with different bird composition is crucial to the management plans for Darwin finches in the Galapagos.
The outcomes will be published in the Ecologies journal as: Population dynamics of the Avian Vampire Fly in the Galapagos Islands, a matrix modeling approach and applications to biological control.
This is a project with the research group:
Heimpel Lab: A lab focused primarily (but not exclusively) on biological control interactions that involve parasitoids.
Host-parasitoid times series
Time series of the host-parasitoid system of Aphelinus certus and the soybean aphid.
This is a project with the research group:
Heimpel Lab: A lab focused primarily (but not exclusively) on biological control interactions that involve parasitoids.