Colaboradores – Instituto Juruá

Researchers

Andressa Scabin is a biologist and holds an MSc. and a PhD degree in ecology with an emphasis on tropical forest ecology. Andressa has been working in the Amazon since 2007, with an interest in understanding how human activities impact tropical forests. She began her activities in the Mid-Juruá Project in 2016, through her doctoral research which investigated the effects of hunting wild animals on the vertebrate community, forest dynamics and carbon stocks. Currently she has been supporting scientific research from different areas of knowledge in both terrestrial and aquatic environments.

ANDRESSA BÁRBARA SCABIN

Researcher in Tropical Forest and Wildlife Ecology

Camila is a biologist, she graduated from UFSM (2009), with an interest in ecological issues and how to understand the patterns of the diverse Amazon. She has a master's degree from INPA (2011), having worked with the impact of fires in seasonally flooded forests, known as igapós. She obtained her PhD at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2018), investigating the diversity of the Amazon with environmental DNA. She also completed her post-doctorate at the University of Duisburg-Essen (2021), Germany, working with ecological networks of co-occurrence with environmental DNA data. She is currently a researcher at Instituto Juruá.

CAMILA DUARTE RITTER

Researcher in Tropical Ecology

Born in Belém, Brazil, Carlos Peresis Professor of Tropical Conservation Ecology at the University of East Anglia and studies wildlife community ecology in Amazonian forests, the population ecology of key tropical forest resource populations, and the biological criteria for designing large nature reserves. He co-directs four ecology and conservation research programs in Amazonian forests, including the ecology of key timber and non-timber forest resources; patterns of vertebrate assemblage structure in Amazonian forests; the biological dynamics of hyper-disturbed and fragmented forest landscapes, and the biodiversity consequences of land-use change. He has published ~400 papers on neotropical forest ecology and conservation at different scales and he has received several international awards including the "Environmentalist Leader for the New Millennium" by Time Magazine and CNN network (2000).

CARLOS A. PERES

Researcher in Tropical Ecology

Eduardo is a biologist holding a master’s degree in zoology and a doctorate in ecology. His career path was mainly developed in the Amazon, researching social-ecological systems in protected areas and indiginous land. He coordinated the Programa de Monitoramento e Uso de Fauna (PROMUF) for Instituto Piagaçu. He has worked for Fundação Pró-TAMAR in Fernando de Noronha, on the island of Trindade on the coast of Espirito Santo, and for the Instituto Argonauta on the coast of São Paulo. He is also a founding member of the Aliança para a Conservação da Onça-pintada na Amazônia.

EDUARDO VON MÜHLEN

Researcher in Community-Based Conservation and Wildlife Ecology

Environmental engineer, biologist, and master’s in botany from the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA). Originally from the Amazon region, born in Tefé, she has been dedicated to projects focused on the morphology and taxonomy of fruits, seeds, seedlings, and Amazonian trees since the beginning of her professional career in 2014, with a special focus on biodiversity and species conservation. She currently works as a researcher, providing technical support to the Juruá Institute in assessing the ecological, social, and economic impacts of the supply chain for oilseed seeds collected by residents of the Médio Juruá region.

ELZINEIDE MOREIRA DO CARMO

Researcher

Hugo Costa is a biologist, holds a master's degree in Zoology from the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, and is currently a PhD student in Ecology at the National Institute for Amazonian Research. His main research interest is the ecology of vertebrate movement in different scenarios of land use and anthropogenic pressures. He is also interested in species distribution modeling and remote sensing.

HUGO C. M. COSTA

Researcher in Spatial Ecology

João has a broad research interest including invertebrate ecology, ecosystem services, protected areas, community-based conservation, traditional populations, hunting, fishing, and human conservation dimensions. João is an associate researcher at UFAL – the Federal University of Alagoas – and at INPA – the National Institute for Amazonian Research – where he advises master and doctoral students.

JOÃO VITOR CAMPOS-SILVA

Researcher in Community-Based Conservation and Fisheries

JJoseph is an ecologist of tropical forests interested in the consequences of human disturbance and the sustainability of the use of natural resources. He holds an MSc. and a PhD degree from the University of East Anglia and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. His research includes monitoring biodiversity, forest inventories and carbon stocks; fruit characteristics and plant-animal interaction networks; animal behavior and food ecology; and the sustainable use and community management of natural resources and ecosystem services.

JOSEPH E. HAWES

Researcher in Tropical Ecology

Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Centro Universitário Fametro, Law student at UEA, and a master's candidate in Protected Areas Management in the Amazon at MPGAP-INPA. I work as a project technician for the Association of Agroextractivist Women of Médio Juruá (ASMAMJ) and as a researcher in Protected Areas Management for the Juruá Institute. I am engaged with community-based associations in the Médio Juruá Territory, supporting the development and execution of projects that aim to provide financial, technical, and socioterritorial management autonomy to residents of Conservation Units and surrounding areas, promoting conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

JULIAN SANTIAGO

Protected Areas Management in the Amazon

Maria Julia Ferreira is a Forest Engineer (UNESP), holds a Master’s Degree in Botany (INPA), and Ph.D. Degree in Ethnobiology and Nature Conservation (UFRPE). Throughout her professional trajectory, her main research interest has been to understand the role of communities and traditional people in the conservation of ecosystems and various natural resources. Currently, she is conducting a postdoctoral research project at Instituto Juruá focusing on the bioeconomy of products managed by communities in the Mid-Juruá region, covering both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

MARIA JULIA FERREIRA

Researcher in Community-Based Conservation and Natural Resources Management

Nathália Messina holds a master's degree in Urban Development (UFPE), a technical degree in Agroecology (SERTA-PE), and graduations in Tourism (UVV-ES) and Architecture & Urbanism (Univix-ES). For the last five years, she has been dedicating herself to the 3rd Sector with socio-environmental collaborative projects, applied research, and agroecological praxis. In Pernambuco-Br, she co-created the Jardim Secreto do Poço da Panela community garden. In Espírito Santo-Br she co-created and co-manajed the RUCA Agroecology. In Amazonas-Br, she works as a socio-environmental analyst at the Juruá Institute.

NATHALIA MESSINA

Researcher in Agroecology and Territorial Planning

Phamela Barbosa Coelho is a Biologist and holds a Master’s Degree in zoology from the Federal University of Amazonas. She started her scientific career working in the fields of zoology, genetics, and ecology. Today, she collaborates on research projects related to zoology, and ecology conservation of Amazonian vertebrates. Furthermore, her main interests are also critical socio-environmental and anti-colonial education, and her efforts are focused on understanding how to make her research, the spaces she collaborates, and science public communication less colonial.

PHAMELA BARBOSA COELHO

Researcher in Zoology, Ecology, and Conservation Amazonian Vertebrates

Native of Carauari, from the Gumo do Facão community, where she was raised with the values of the Amazonian riverside culture, Raimunda Antonia Gomes de Souza, better known as Tonha, is a nursing technician from the Shalom Institute, a logistics assistant at the Juruá Institute, and a collaborating researcher. She has been involved for 11 years in expeditions along the Juruá River with our research boat Hylea, getting to know different realities along the river. In addition to providing technical and logistical support to the team on board, especially in the areas of food and health, she currently participates in the Institute's research involving the food security of the communities, working with the children and mothers residing in these communities.

RAIMUNDA ANTÓNIA GOMES DE SOUZA

Food Security and Nutrition Researcher

Graduated in fisheries engineering from UFAM, with a master's degree in freshwater biology and inland fisheries (BADPI/INPA). Participates since graduation with scientific initiation through PIBIC's in the Amazon Fish Ecology Laboratory - LEPA/INPA, where she could get to know her interest in scientific research. During her master's degree she developed a research line in fish management and conservation, with particular interest in the Arapaima and its interactions in the environment. Currently she is developing research with pirarucu management and pisciculture in collaboration with other members of the Instituto Juruá.

SIMELVIA VIDA

Researcher in Fish Management and Conservation

Graduated in Biological Sciences at the Amazonas State University (UEA) in the Centro de Estudos Superiores de Tabatinga (2021). Mastering in the Graduate Program in Freshwater Biology and Inland Fisheries (PPG BADPI) by the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA). He has experience in management and conservation of arapaima, diversity and ichthyological composition in Amazon floodplain lakes. Develops research with taxonomy and genetics of arapaima at the Laboratory of Evolution and Animal Genetics at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM).

VALDENOR MAGALHÃES SILVA

Researcher in Fish Ecology and Taxonomy

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCHERS

Ana Carla is developing her doctoral thesis in Biological Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL). She is a biologist graduate from the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) and holds a master's degree in Ecology and Conservation from the University of Mato Grosso State (UNEMAT). Her research project focuses on bioeconomics, the valuation of ecosystem services involved in participatory fisheries management systems, seeking population recovery of overexploited species, income generation, and increased quality of life for local peoples.

ANA CARLA RODRIGUES

Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL)

Ana is an ecologist (UNESP 2000), with a post-graduate degree in Biodiversity Conservation (Spain 2002) and a PhD in Ecology (University of Oxford, England 2008). Currently she is a professor at the Federal University of Alagoas, working at the Laboratory of Conservation in the 21st Century (LACOS21), developing research on biodiversity conservation, assets in Protected Areas, Cultural Ecosystem Services, Scientometrics, Culturomics, etc. Ana is also mother of Jasmine and Beatrice and always dreamed of taking research closer to society, since 2020 she has intensified the actions of scientific dissemination to children and society as a whole.

ANA MALHADO

Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL)

André is an ecologist and postdoctoral researcher at ICTA-UAB. He holds a PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation (Wageningen University), an MSc. in Biological Sciences - Botany (National Institute for Amazonian Research) and a BSc. in Biological Sciences (University of São Paulo). He is broadly interested in interdisciplinary research on the fields of ethnoecology, traditional resource management systems, ecology of agroecosystems, and historical ecology. His current research at the LICCI Project (Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts) focuses on understanding the complementarities between traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge on climate change.

ANDRÉ JUNQUEIRA

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)

Andrew is an ecosystem modeller and post-doctoral researcher at Northern Arizona University. He holds a PhD in EcoInformatics (Northern Arizona University), MSc. in Environmental Change and Management (University of Oxford) and an MA in Geography (University of Cambridge). His research integrates ecological models with field and remotely sensed data to quantify ecosystem services by different communities of animals. Specifically, he focuses on nutrient/seed dispersal by animals and the importance this has for ecosystem composition and function throughout the world.

ANDREW ABRAHAM

Northern Arizona University (NAU)

Carine is an ecologist with a PhD from the University of Bristol, UK. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Unisinos University, a master's degree in Ecology from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), and four years of postdoctoral research at the Paulista State University (UNESP, Rio Claro) and Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC, Spain). Her line of research combines ecological network theory and evolutionary thinking with natural history and statistical tools.

CARINE EMER

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute (JBRJ)

Carolina Freitas has been working in the Amazon since 2011, with great interest in the use of natural resources by local peoples, and in their strategies to achieve sustainability. Her main professional objective is to find alternatives that can reconcile biodiversity conservation with the quality of life of local peoples. Carolina holds a master's degree from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) and a doctorate in Ecology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), and her current work focuses on the management of arapaima (Arapaima sp.), a successful example of participatory management that has been taking place in several areas of the Amazon.

CAROLINA FREITAS

Felipe holds a biology degree from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and holds a master's degree in Freshwater Biology and Inland Fisheries from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA). He has been working for 15 years in the Amazon with research and extension projects in conservation and promotion of sociobiodiversity. He has experience in implementation and maintenance processes for participatory fisheries management with riverside and indigenous communities. He is an indigenist at OPAN and in recent years has been dedicated to strengthening the Value Chain of the managed arapaima.

FELIPE ROSSONI

Operation Native Amazon (OPAN)

Filipe is a biologist, he worked in Minas Gerais at the beginning of his career. In 2019 he became a Master in Ecology and is currently pursuing his PhD in Ecology at the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA). With the start of his career as an ecologist in the Brazilian Amazon in 2017, Filipe found his passion in studying the conservation of these biomes and better understanding the ecology of Amazonian Birds. With an even greater interest in helping the conservation of the Amazon, Filipe joined the Instituto Juruá as a way to engage studies in bird ecology and remote area conservation, assessing impacts of community-based conservation in the Mid-Juruá region, using tools such as acoustic landscape and studying migration patterns and habitat use.

FILIPE ARAMUNI

National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA)

Flávia is a researcher at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA, Manaus), where she also developed her PhD thesis in the Ecology Program. She is a biologist and holds a Master's degree (Environmental Science) from the University of São Paulo. She has been working for 25 years in the Amazon, developing research in Plant Ecology. Her main interest at the moment is to understand how shallow water table forests work, to determine if they can act as refuges for biodiversity and ecosystem services as drought conditions become more frequent due to climate change.

FLÁVIA COSTA

National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA)

Franciany is a biologist and PhD candidate in Zoology at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), being part of the UFPB Mammals Laboratory. She develops research in socio-ecological systems, biodiversity conservation, anthropic impact on fauna and community-based management of hunting in the Amazon and sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, she is also part of the Fauna Network, a research group engaged in the conservation and management of Amazonian fauna.

FRANCIANY BRAGA

Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB)

Gabriela Vedovello is a biologist (UFSCar), and is currently developing her master's research in ecology at INPA with the support of the Instituto Juruá. She is studying the ethno-ecology and occupation area of the Amazon manatee. Her project involves the perception and memory of the residents of Juruá, seeking to understand the variation in population size of the Amazon manatee over time and its current distribution. Her main interests include ethnobiology and the use of natural resources by traditional Peoples and communities.

GABRIELA BORGES VEDOVELLO

National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA)

Hani is a biologist, with an MSc in Animal Health and Production from the Federal Rural University of Amazon (UFRA). He is currently a PhD candidate at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), UK. Hani has been working in the Amazon since 2007, studying the ecology and reproductive biology of game mammals through a community-based approach. His main goal is to refine population data for game species in order to implement robust and sustainable hunting management strategies. In 2016, Hani was awarded the Green Talents Award, offered by the German Ministry of Research and Education, for his career path on behalf of hunting sustainability in the Amazon.

HANI EL BIZRI

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)

Helder Espírito-Santo is an ecologist who studies fish behavior and population dynamics in the Amazon. Since his arrival in Manaus in 2005, Helder has been studying how the seasonality of the Amazonian environment regulates fish life strategies and how these strategies affect growth rate in natural populations over time.

HELDER ESPÍRITO-SANTO

Izeni is a biologist, holds a MSc in Freshwater Biology and Fisheries and inland fishing (National Institute of Amazonian Research), a PhD in Biological Sciences (Federal University of Pará). Currently, she is a professor at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) and coordinator from the Laboratory of Evolution and Animal Genetics (LEGAL ) where its research group obtains DNA sequencing data (mtDNA and Genomics) from the Amazon fauna to answer questions related to conservation genetics, molecular ecology and phylogeography.

IZENI FARIAS

Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM)

Jessica is a Forestry Engineer through Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), with a master's degree in Tropical Forestry Science from the National Amazonian Institute of Research (INPA). She is a socio-environmental analyst at the Chico Mendes Memorial and works with socio-environmental projects that aim at ensuring territorial management, the improvement of the quality of life of traditional peoples and communities of the Amazon. She studies sustainable production systems focusing on value chains of socio-biodiversity, agroecology, and gender climate justice. She has been working with Instituto Juruá by helping with studies about climate change, gender and productive chains, as well as the management of arapaima.

JÉSSICA PEREIRA DE SOUZA

Memorial Chico Mendes (MCM)

João Henrique is a biologist and holds a MSc in Freshwater Biology and Continental Fisheries and a Ph.D. in Biology-Ecology from the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA). João Henrique has academic and professional research experience in the ecology of tropical freshwater ecosystems with an emphasis in limnology, biogeochemistry and ecological processes. Currently, he is a postdoc, at the Earth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara USA, where he is investigating Amazon floodplain metabolism and greenhouse gases dynamics.

JOÃO HENRIQUE FERNANDES AMARAL

University of California (UC)

John Terborgh is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Science at Duke University and has current affiliation with the University of Florida (Gainesville), and James Cook University (Cairns, Australia). His work focuses on tropical ecology. He conducted research in the West Indies, South America, Africa, Malaysia and New Guinea and published more than 300 articles and 8 books. He was awarded a Pew scholarship in 1992 and became a MacArthur Fellow the same year. He received the Daniel Geraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. John remains active working in research and conservation.

JOHN TERBORGH

Duke University

Jorge is a biologist and holds a PhD in Ecology at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). Currently, he is a professor at the University of Santa Catarina State (UDESC), where he coordinates the Lab. of Applied Ecology and Conservation (LEAC). His main research interests are quantitative ecology, fish ecology, evaluation of fisheries resources, and fisheries management.

JORGE LUIZ RODRIGUES FILHO

Santa Catarina State University

Júlio holds a degree in biology from UFSC, a master's degree from USP and a doctoral degree from UNESP. He is currently a professor and researcher in the Department of Biology of the University of Taubaté and coordinator of the Conservation Biology Research and Teaching Group (ECOTROP group) at CNPq with lines of research in Conservation Biology and Ecology Teaching through Research Projects. Júlio develops undergraduate research activities with school students going through all stages of the scientific method and using the Project-Based Learning instructional approach. He also develops photography workshops in schools and educational centers.

JÚLIO CESAR VOLTOLINI

University of Taubaté

Leandro holds a bachelor's degree in Oceanology (FURG) and a doctorate in Conservation Biology (College of Environmental Science). He has experience in fishing resources and fishing engineering. He studies the ecology and conservation of fish and fisheries in relation to the global change processes. More recently, he sought to understand how fishing in the Amazon depends on soil cover and hydrology of rivers. Leandro teaches Fishing Techniques and Systems’ Ecology and Conservation at the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation in Virginia Tech. He is a member of the Global Change Center faculty.

LEANDRO CASTELLO

Polytechnic Institute (IPE) | Virginia State University (VSU)

Léo is a Biologist and works as a project manager for Operação Amazônia Nativa (OPAN). He holds a master's degree in Agriculture from the Humid Tropics from the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA). He was a founding partner of Espaço Cultural Muiraquitã, in Manaus (AM), and has worked for more than 15 years in the Amazon, working on projects related to the use of natural resources in partnerships with indigenous peoples and riverine communities in the Negro, Solimões, and Juruá river basins.

LEONARDO PEREIRA KURIHARA

Operation Native Amazon (OPAN)

Lisa Davenport is a research scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville. She is also an adjunct research fellow in the College of Science and Engineering at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. Lisa has a BSc. in physics (Colorado College), a MSc. of environmental management (Duke University), and a Ph.D. in Biology (University of North Carolina). She collaborated on numerous research studies in tropical countries and was a founding member of ParksWatch. Her current research focuses on animal movement and migration within the Amazon Basin.

LISA DAVENPORT

University of Florida (UF)

Livia is a biologist and holds a master's degree in ecology from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). She joined Instituto Juruá in September 2021 and has been studying local perceptions on climate change, gender equality, and community-based conservation initiatives. She was awarded a Fulbright-CAPES scholarship and will accomplish her doctorate in the USA, studying community management arrangements for Amazonian species of ecological, cultural and economic relevance.

LÍVIA CRUZ

Arizona State University (ASU)

She is a biologist, with a master's degree (University of São Paulo) and a doctorate (Unicamp) in Ecology. She has worked as a professor at UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) and as a researcher in several NGOs in the Amazon. She is interested in public policies applied to conservation with attention to protected areas. She loves population ecology and demographic models, especially to better understand the use of natural resources. She works a lot in the interface between the academic area and works applied for conservation.

MARIA ROSA DARRIGO

Pulitzer Brasil

Mark has a master degree in Conservation Science from the Imperial College London, with dissertation on above ground biomass and tree diversity in DRC. His PhD was based at the University of East Anglia focusing on hunting and community-based natural resource management in the Juruá and Uatumã, Brazilian Amazon. His main line of research is community-based conservation and natural resource management in the rural tropics including Brazil, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Madagascar.

MARK ABRAHAMS

Bristol Zoological Society (Bristol Zoo)

Paulo is an agronomist with improvement in the Regional Wildlife Management Program for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean (National University of Costa Rica). Holds a master's degree in Animal Science and Pastures (Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture) and a doctorate in Fresh Water Biology and Inland Fisheries (National Institute for Amazonian Research). He is currently a professor at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM). He has experience in the area of Zootechnics, with an emphasis on Animal Production. He works in: breeding and management of wild animals (turtles, capybaras, catetus, agouti and pacas), conservation of fauna by communities and fauna surveys.

PAULO ANDRADE

Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM)

Priscila has a degree in ecology (UNICAMP), but has been working with interdisciplinary research since her master's studies, particularly with aspects related to small-scale fishing. Since 2009, she has been a professor at UFRN (Natal/RN), where she has been developing research in fisheries management and socioecological resilience, always taking into account the ecological knowledge accumulated by fishermen and fisherwoman.

PRISCILA LOPES

Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)

Rafael Assis is a biologist with a master's degree in botany and a doctorate in ecology and natural resource management. For over a decade, he has been working on different aspects of vegetation ecology in the Amazon, with forest ecology of periodically flooded forests, patterns of endemism and habitat specificity, ecological processes involving the effects of land use and climate change. Rafael is the current coordinator of the Biodiversity Research Consortium (BRC), a bilateral collaboration between researchers from Brazil and Norway, which develops projects in the Brazilian Amazon.

RAFAEL ASSIS

Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo (Naturhistorisk Museum)

Richard Ladle is an interdisciplinary conservation scientist. He graduated in Zoology (Newcastle University, 1990) and has a doctorate in Theoretical Ecology from the University of Oxford (1993). He works on conservation, biogeography, evolutionary theory, ecology, public understanding of environmental science, culturomics, and development and sustainable tourism. Richard is currently a Full Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas.

RICHARD LADLE

Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL)

Roberto is an oceanographer graduate from the University of Rio Grande (RS) and an independent researcher. He has a PhD in Ecology of Fish Communities and a master's degree in Age, Growth, Reproduction and Fishing from a marine fishing resource, both at the Oceanographic Institute of USP. He has been working on environmental diagnostics and monitoring in the coastal region of the state of São Paulo since 2006. His current interest is to develop a multidisciplinary program to evaluate the sustainable production of living resources and to monitor species indicating environmental quality and climate change in the Amazon.

ROBERTO ÁVILA BERNARDES

Avila Consultoria Ambiental Ltda

Rona is a biologist, she holds a master's degree in Freshwater Biology and Inland Fisheries from the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) and has been working in the Amazon since 2011. She is a collaborator of the Mid-Juruá Territory since 2017, when she assumed the first executive secretariat of Mid-Juruá Benefit Sharing Fund. She focuses on the well-being and development of freedom in the countryside, gender-sensitive value chains and strengthening of community organizations.

RONNAYANA SILVA

Sitawi

Torbjørn has been working in the Brazilian Amazon for almost 20 years. He has a doctorate from the University of East Anglia (UEA), where he examined the structure and dynamics of plant and animal communities in a large mosaic of floodplain and dryland forest in the Brazilian Amazon. He is also a postdoctoral fellow from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) and UEA. Torbjørn is currently a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He works in: studies of plant-animal interactions, animal movements, ecology and seasonality of floodplain forests, impacts of land use change on biodiversity and ecology, etc.

TORBJORN HAUGAASEN

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

Whaldener is an ecologist and nature enthusiast, studying and contemplating various aspects related to conservation in the neotropics and more particularly, the ecology and conservation of terrestrial vertebrates. He joined the Mid Juruá Project in the first years of its existence. He holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP), a master's degree in Ecology from the National Institute for Amazonian Research, and a PhD in Ecology and Natural Resource Management from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Whaldener currently works as an adjunct professor at the Federal University of Roraima.