Reports from field research grants provide an example of the range of projects pursued by graduate students at the University of Florida working on conservation and development issues. These projects are either pilot studies for PhD research or Master’s research. As pilot projects, some projects have limited research goals and are designed to test feasibility of working on a particular topic in a particular region. To learn more about their projects, please contact the lead investigator (i.e., the graduate student).
2023
- Are climate and habitat changes affecting butterfly communities in one of the world’s most diverse protected areas?
- The Santa Marta Screech Owl, Colombia.
- Three species of small cats around the Kolkata Metropolitan area.
- Where El Dorado can be found? Indigenous communities’ body-territory relations around gold mining areas from the Colombian Amazon.
- Harvesting naidi (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) futures: Sovereignties, Governances and Affects in Colombian Agro-Forest Landscapes.
- Understanding the Impact of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) change on a threatened flagship species in a savanna ecosystem: a case study on giant anteaters in the Brazilian Cerrado.
- The governance of the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Territory: environmental justice and community management
2022
- Improving community-based monitoring skills to understand biotic communities in natural dry-wet gradients of Amazonian forests.
- Sherpa perceptions of conservation and social-ecological wellbeing in two protected areas in the Himalayas of Nepal.
- Using an interdisciplinary approach to understand non-compliance behaviors in the illegal wildlife trade in the Western Amazon of Ecuador.
- Intra-canopy variation of leaf economics: insights for restoration of high Andean Forest.
- An initial evaluation of a systems thinking program in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Habitat use and threats of the Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti), a terrestrial bird facing extinction.
- Does tropical forest restoration lead to the recovery of interspecific interactions? Tests with mixed-species flocks in India’s Western Ghats.
2021
- Institutional arrangements for fire management in Quechua communities in the Peruvian Andes.
- Matching species diversity and phenology in forest remnants using UAVs and field observations in Paraguay.
- Identifying Effective Strategies for Community Engagement in Coral Reef Restoration.
- An integrated approach to unraveling the effects of hunting and poaching in a global deforestation hotspot.
2020
- Research-Policy-Practice Gaps in the Promotion of Reduced-Impact Logging in Indonesia: Construction of a Theory-of-Change for One Forestry Concession.
- A pathway to nature conservation: the role of long-distance trails in connecting hikers, communities, and landscapes. My Appalachian Trail Journey.
2019
- Gender and Community Management of Mangrove Forests in Isla de Chira, Costa Rica.
- Jurisdictional REDD+ and socio-environmentalism in Acre, Brazilian Amazon.
- Comparing Afro-Mexican and Yucatec Maya Agro-biodiversity Knowledge and Practice.
- Linking bird conservation and residents’ perceptions a case of study in the Peruvian Andes.
- Lè Fanm Andeyó Travay: a micro-level analysis of agro-sustainability practices of rural women heads of households in northern Haiti.
- Assessing Traditional and Ecological Knowledge for Tinamous (Tinamidae) Conservation in an Amazonian Landscape.
- Attitudes toward wildlife in Southern Africa.
- Human-Wildlife interaction into the Podocarpus-Sangay Conservation Corridor, Andes of Southern Ecuador: A socio-ecological and geographic characterization.
- Factors affecting spatial distribution, cultural perceptions, and sustainability of Palm Management in Madre de Dios, Peru.
- Complex Systems Approaches for Understanding the Exploitation and Conservation of Wildlife in the Peruvian Amazon.
- Frontier development in the Central Brazilian Amazon Basil.
2018
- Forest degradation and biodiversity of terrestrial mammals across disturbance gradient in the Chico Mendez Extractive Reserve in Acre, Brazil.
- The promise of swidden fallows to increase landscape-level Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) production.
- Guayaramerin-Porto Velho Reservoir reaches hydrodynamics and sediment transport.
- Impact assessment of the environmental policy on biodiversity conservation programs in the Brazilian Amazonia: a local-level approach.
- Does establishing Community Conservation Areas lead to greater protection of existing forest? A case study from the Northern Peruvian Tropical Andes.
- Governance, policies, and institutions for water conservation: The case of the Tempisque Basin in Costa Rica.
- The Role of Rural Communal Tourism in Protected Area Sustainability by Strengthening Social Capital Market Access Development in the Peruvian Amazon.
- Investigating tourists’ motivation for visiting National Park: Case of Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
- Modeling distribution of giant pandas in a coupled human and natural system using GIS and participatory mapping.
2017
- Livelihoods Across Time and Space: An Analysis of Dynamic Traditional Societies in Sustainable-Use Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Effects of climate and land management on a bird community of the dry forest of northwest Peru.
- Breakdown of mutualistic flocking interactions across an Andean fragmentation gradient.
- Effectiveness and effectivity of non-governmental organizations’ initiatives to control and prevent deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Implications of ecotourism and tourist satisfaction for conservation and biodiversity in Lapa Rios Ecolodge, Osa Peninsula.
- The future of fisheries in a global biodiversity hotspot: analyzing socio-economic and cultural influences on fisher adaptations to climate change on Lake Tanganyika, East Africa.
- Mammals Conservation within Palm Oil Plantations in Indonesia: Do Mammals Use Areas Set Aside as High Conservation Value Areas.
- Multi-partner strategies for community-based timber co-managed forests in Brazilian Amazon.
2016
- Research and conservation of Antillean manatee in the east of Cuba.
- Indigenous autonomies and natural resource governance in the Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS) – Bolivia.
- Exploring Biocultural Resilience Along the Aguarico River of Amazonian Ecuador.
- Under what conditions will NTFPs policies promote forest conservation in Brazil?
- Analysis of corrective action from FSC audits of natural forest management certification in Indonesia.
- Small-scale subsistence farmers: Unusual suspects of forest conservation.
- Soil carbon sequestration and biochar use in silvopastoral systems for climate-change mitigation.
- Exploring forced displacement and sustainable development in the wake of large Clean Development Mechanism.
2015
- More than Cashmere: Engaging herders and buyers in Wildlife-Friendly Certification to help save endangered Andean Cat in Patagonia.
- Effects of Rainfall on Phenology of Plants, Invertebrates and Birds in Tropical Montane Forests of Northern Peru.
- Response of pumas to the migration of guanaco population in La Payunia Reserve, Mendoza, Argentina.
- Environmental Education at a National Park in Kenya: A Case Study.
- Outlook for Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) in a changing climate.
- Considering wildlife protection in REDD+ programs in Colombia.