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Anabela graduated in Biology at the University of Lisbon in 1995, and she has devoted her career to research ever since, sticking to beetle research and always curious to understand their diversity patterns and how this information can be useful for their conservation. In these nearly two decades, she tried to be involved in projects that combine faunistics and traditional taxonomic knowledge with systematics and molecular phylogenies. With this goal in mind, she got involved in entomological campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula, Canada, New Caledonia and, recently, Nicaragua; and her training includes the use of molecular methods to study biodiversity. She has worked in several European academic and research institutions, including the University of Lisbon (Portugal), the Natural History Museum (UK), the Universities of Murcia and the Balearic Islands (Spain), the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (Spain) and in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology since 2008. Her involvement in this project includes training of students and fieldwork, as well as lab work and data management. |
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This project involved several researchers from Spanish and Nicaraguan institutions, with varied scientific interests and expertise. In particular, these institutions include the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF) in Barcelona (Spain) for project coordination, the Museum of Entomology (León, Nicaragua), the Autonomous National University in León (UNAN, León, Nicaragua), with its Herbarium, and the Environmental Botanic Garden (León, Nicaragua). This team joins efforts from evolutionary biologists, systematists, ecologists, botanists and entomologists towards a common goal for the conservation of tropical dry forests. |
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Jean-Michel was born in a small town in southern Belgium in 1958. He took a degree in Biology and obtained a PhD in Ecology in the Pacific Western University (California) in 1999, always devoting himself to entomology as a true passion. He arrived in León (Nicaragua) in 1983 to work in a project for integrated management of cotton plantations in the Autonomous National University in Nicaragua. He settled in this country, where he lectured Entomological Systematics and Economic Entomology at UNAN (León) until 1988, finally devoting most of his efforts to promote Entomology and Science in general as a fundamental tool for the development of Nicaragua, contributing among others initiatives to create the Museum of Entomology of León or as a founding member of the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences. His main research lines are: (1) inventorying Nicaraguan insects; (2) taxonomy of selected insect groups (Scarabaeidae, Passalidae, Rhopalocera, Sphingidae, Saturniidae, …); (3) taxonomy of Lucanidae of the world; (4) insects associated to crops; and (5) use of insects for environmental impact assessment. |
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Ricardo is full-professor in the Biology Department at the Autonomous National University in León (Nicaragua) for more than thirty years, where he co-founded the Herbarium and the Botanical Garden. Ricardo obtained his degree at UNAN-León and postgraduated at the University and Botanical Garden in Missouri (Saint Louis MO, USA). From UNAN-León, he worked with other colleagues from the Mesoamerican region, but also Europe and the USA in several large projects, such as the Regional Project “Development of Capabilities and Sharing Technology for Biodiversity Management in Central America”, together with INBio from Costa Rica; research on Smilacaceae in consortium with CATIE-Costa Rica; or the current project, coordinated from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF). He has published many plant catalogues from the Nicaraguan reserves, as well as taxonomic articles in international journals, including taxonomic revisions and descriptions of new taxa. He is currently an associated researcher of the Missouri Botanical Garden and investigates biodiversity, particularly plant taxonomy, but also coordinates the construction of a butterfly garden in a private reserve and the creation of the first fruit tree garden in Nicaragua. |
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Graduated in Pharmacological Chemistry at the Autonomous National University of Nicaragua, she appointed as research assistant of the Herbarium (UNAN-León) in 2011, helping to catalogue the flora of several natural reserves in Nicaragua and assisting fieldwork in this particular project. |
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Researcher associated to the Herbarium of the Autonomous National University in León (UNAN-León, Nicaragua) and the Missouri Botanical Garden. She obtained her degree at UNAN-León and postgraduated at the University and Botanical Garden in Missouri (Saint Louis MO, USA). She currently works in the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Missouri Botanical Garden and in the Herbarium UNAN-León in projects related to conservation of threatened species and endemic species of the Nicaraguan flora, as well as lecturer in the International School of Agriculture and Livestock. She took courses for monitoring and conservation of plant species both in Denmark and Dominican Republic. She lectures on Nicaraguan biodiversity and herbarium management. She contributed to several projects, including inventorying of biodiversity in the BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve, coordinated with the Missouri Zoo; monitoring of useful plants in BOSAWAS, funded by MOMA-NORDECO-Denmark; or the current project, coordinated from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF). She published several taxonomic revisions, new plant species, catalogues of Nicaraguan reserves and illustrated plant guides, funded by the Chicago Field Museum. She is currently helping to set up a butterfly garden in a private reserve and the first Nicaraguan garden of tropical fruit trees. |
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Anna Papadopoulou is a postdoctoral researcher (‘Juan de la Cierva’ Program) in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona. Her work revolves around the study of beetle communities using DNA-based methods and molecular phylogenies. She is specially interested in species delimitation using DNA and the analysis of biodiversity patterns using genetic data. She has worked on several ecosystems and biogeographic setups, but she recently centered her interest on the highly threatened Mesoamerican dry forests as well as the importance of considering trophic interactions and the structure of food-webs in the study of biodiversity. She has been involved in several aspects of this project, including field- and lab-work, data analysis and bioinformatics. |
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Born in Quito (Ecuador), Gissela has been involved in biodiversity and conservation projects in Ecuador from 2003 up to 2009, and she is currently pursuing her PhD in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), studying biodiversity, insect-plant interactions and conservation of chrysomelid beetles in the tropical dry forest of Nicaragua. |
Copyright © 2012 All photographs used in this website were taken and are property of Jesús Gómez-Zurita, Anabela Cardoso, Gissela De la Cadena and Anna Papadopoulou. If you use them, please, request permission to authors. |
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