Background

I am currently a NERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2009-2013) based at the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge, as well as a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University and visiting researcher at the Goeldi Museum in Belém, and Federal University of Lavras, both in Brazil.

I am interested in the ways in which science and the scientific process can contribute to solving real-world social-environmental problems. My current work is focused on evaluating conservation-development trade-offs in different land-use systems in Brazilian Amazonia. We are sampling spatial patterns of biodiversity (terrestrial and aquatic), above and below-ground carbon, soil fertility and the economic and social benefits of agricultural and forestry activities across multiple watersheds that are characterized by different land-uses. The long-term goals of the project are to employ these data to evaluate opportunities for more sustainable development strategies in managed tropical forest landscapes, including both regulation and market based conservation strategies.