Population Ecology and Conservation Lab
Demography, dynamics and distribution
January 2024
We are just back from the field! During three days undergrads had the opportunity of training ecological field methods and conducting short projects. Hopefully instigating future ecologists. The world needs us!
September 2023
We welcome Regina Guimarães, Isabel Alves and Gustavo Lopes, our new undergrad students! They will be focused on investigating the effects of urbanization on populations of different taxa. Let´s roll, people!
The group in a rocky outcrop, in an ecotone region between Cerrado and Caatinga, two major Brazilian biomes, during a field trip for Field Methods in Ecology. Aroazes, state of Piauí, Brazil
June 2023
After a long hiatus, we are back! Many things have changed, including our home! In case your around northeast Brazil, please come visit us! Soon, more news.
July 2020
Congratulations to Bruno who defended his Master´s dissertation! Very important work on sound detectability by acoustic devices. Well done Bruno!
December 2019
Congratulations to Amanda for her major in Marine Biology! Great presentation of her research on the persistence on sea turtles carcasses and the implications for long-term monitoring! Let's get this out!
October 2019
Andressa was awarded the Best Student Oral Presentation Prize during the Jornada de Iniciação Científica of FZB with her amazing work on spider-plant co-occurrence patterns in the Pampa grasslands!! Amazing work Andressa!! Congratulations!!
August 2019
After almost 10 thousand eggs she survived! Congratulations Débora for the amazing work on red-belly toad breeding site selection. Great team, great work!
April 2019
Congratulations to Julia, who just defended her masters dissertation on the effects of roadkills on amphibian demography. Nice work Julia!
March 2019
Congratulations to Stephanie, who just defended her masters dissertation on the effects of the invasive alien bullfrog on native anuran habitat use and activity! Well done Ste, we will miss you!
October 2018
Congratulations to Arthur, who defended his masters dissertation on the effects of Pine plantations on the occupancy probability of the endemic and threatened lizard, Contomastix vacariencis!
September 2018
Where are the toads when not breeding? Our new paper on toad habitat use, led by Karoline Gilioli, was just accepted for publication in PLOS ONE! Check out soon!
March 2018
Guilherme received a Neotropical Grassland Conservancy student grant to support his research on the impacts of cattle grazing on orb-weaver spiders. Congratulations!
January 2018
Congratulations to Matheus, who defended his master's dissertation!! The new expert on the Franciscana distribution! Well done my friend!
August 2017
Congratulations to Karoline, who defended her master's dissertation!! We will miss you Karol!!
July 2017
Our new paper on the relationship between sexually selected traits, survival and fitness was just accepted for publication in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society! Although usually said to be under selection on lizards, bright colors and the jaw size were not related to survival probability in the fast running whiptail lizard, Cnemidophorus cf. ocellifer. Besides that, natural selection doesn't seem to be strong on both traits. Check it out soon!
July 2017
We were delighted to welcome a visiting friend, Dr. Larissa Bailey from Colorado State University. Students and faculty members had a chance to discuss their ongoing projects and see some of Dr. Baileys's projects during a nice talk she gave. We also had some fun in the field, looking for the red-bellied toad, Melanophryniscus admirabilis and to see some of the nicest views from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Thanks a lot for visiting us Larissa! You are always welcome!
The crew at Cascata da Forqueta, Maquiné
The crew at Arvorezinha, site of the amazing red-bellied toad
February 2017
The Guimarães Lab welcomes Stephanie Silveira and Bruno Noronha, our two new Master's students, and Guilherme Oyarzabal, our new Ph.D. candidate! Stephanie will be looking at the effects of the American bullfrog on native amphibian occupancy probability; while Bruno will be working with bat detection probability determinants using automated sound recorders. Guilherme will be studying the effects of grazing on spider individuals, populations and communities. Good luck to you all! Let's roll!
October 2016
Thanks to all participants of the III Porto Alegre Workshop on Hierarchical Modeling for Ecologists. Such a great week!
September 2016
I am looking for a new Masters student interested in animal population biology. Candidates should have fieldwork experience and interest in statistics. Potential applicants please contact me. Also, have a look at the Programa de Pós Graduação em Biologia Animal webpage from UFRGS.
Upcoming workshop
The III Porto Alegre Workshop on Hierarchical Modeling for Ecologists will take place in October 9-15. The main theme for the 2016 edition is Site Occupancy and Species Distribution Modeling. More info on http://ferrazlab.org/workshops
June 10, 2016
The second “Models in Population Ecology” course was taught in June 2016 at the PPG Bio Animal UFRGS! Students had the opportunity of learning about maximum likelihood estimation, some of the most used mark-recapture and occupancy models within program MARK.