Professor, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation/Latin American Studies
380 Grinter Hall
P.O. Box 115530
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
Tel: 352-846-0634 Fax: 352-392-7682
E-mail: embruna@ufl.edu
Research Interests
Tropical conservation, plant population and community ecology
Geographic Expertise
Brazil (Amazonia, Cerrado)
Background
Bruna has a joint appointment with the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department and the Tropical Conservation and Development Program. He joined the Center in 2002 after completing an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (Brazil). Bruna’s research focuses on the consequences of deforestation and other human activities on tropical ecosystems. Much of this work has been conducted at Brazil’s Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, where Bruna also helped develop and implement an internship program for Brazilian undergraduates interested in Amazonian ecology. His research awards have included grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and SUNY International Development Group. Results of Bruna’s research have been published in Ecology, Nature, and Conservation Biology. He received his Ph.D. in Population Biology at the University of California Davis, where he specialized in plant ecology.
Bruna advises students focusing on tropical conservation and development, and is particularly interested in advising students studying topics such as (1) Understanding the consequences of climate change for Latin American ecosystems, (2) Evaluating the ecological impacts of Brazil’s expanding production of biofuels, (3) conservation strategies for Brazil’s Cerrado, and (4) Understanding the factors that drive within- and between country patterns of scientific productivity in Latin America.
Curriculum Vitae
Courses
- WIS 3434 Tropical Wildlife
- WIS 6934 Plant-Animal Interactions
- LAS 6292 Research Methods in Tropical Conservation and Development