Blog

Rosa León Zayas explores some of the most remote places on the planet. A microbial ecologist, she explores the diversity and metabolic capabilities of microbial communities, spending weeks at sea far from land.

Pedro Peloso is the epitome of a modern field biologist, planning, studying and making connections that help us understand our world. His work in herpetology focuses on frogs and involves everything from organizing field expeditions to less-understood areas of Amazonia, describing species discovered during these expeditions and using state-of-the-art techniques that yield insights about genetic and morphological evolution.  

Marta Kolanowska’s field work documents tropical orchids in the biodiversity hotspots of Andean Colombia, Papua New Guinea and the Isthmus of Darien in Panama. She addresses conservation issues by using biogeographical analyses and ecological modeling that help us understand how climate change is affecting orchids and their specialized pollinators. 

Karl Berg’s field work has advanced our understanding of how birds communicate. Shortly after concluding his Ph.D., Berg took over the long-term green-rumped parrotlet study, initiated by Steven Beissinger in the Llanos of Venezuela. Parrots, with their colorful tropical plumages and charismatic “talking,” represent the pinnacle of behavioral and vocal complexity among birds.

Anela Choy’s pioneering research traces the flow of organic matter through deep, open ocean marine ecosystems and explores animal feeding and movement across surface and midwater ocean layers. A seagoing biological oceanographer, Choy also studies how marine food web processes shift with global environmental change and increasing human impacts such as fishing and mining.

Douglas Rasher’s unique perspective and ability to formulate innovative hypotheses have led to important advances in understanding how ecological processes affect the structure and function of coastal ecosystems.

Colleen Durkin’s passion for research, intellectual fearlessness and creativity have led to her making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the biological processes that result in the production and export of carbon and other nutrients in the open ocean.

Alejandro Pietrek uses age-dependent birth and death rates of birds and mammals to understand the population structure and dynamics of species of conservation concern in high elevation terrestrial and wetland environments.

Asha de Vos, Executive Director of Oceanswell in Sri Lanka, is a pioneering researcher studying blue whales in tropical oceans. She was one of the first researchers to recognize the importance of tropical marine ecosystems in the basic biology of the largest organisms of our planet.