March 6, 2023

12:00pm, PST 1100 TLSB and Zoom

Alejandra Echeverri Ochoa
Stanford University

" How can ecology help conserve biodiversity and culture in a changing world? "

*Please note the day of this seminar.

As countries develop, it often comes at the expense of biodiversity and cultural diversity. My research program uses ecological science, psychological principles, and quantitative methods to study the interactions between people and nature. It addresses three main questions: 1) How are Neotropical avian communities responding to human-induced changes to the environment? 2) What are the ecological underpinnings of the cultural values of nature? 3) How can we conserve biodiversity and culture through the tourism sector?
With empirical examples from Latin America, I will show which birds are able to persist in human-dominated landscapes, why people love manakins but despise grackles, and why people are drawn to visit certain places more than others. I will also present my vision for making ecology a more inclusive community; as well as the role of games, decolonial practices, and outdoor education in teaching, mentoring, and training the next generation of ecologists and evolutionary biologists.

Host: Elsa Ordway