ANIMAL ECOPHYSIOLOGY -- ANTHROPOLOGY -- BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY -- FEEDING BEHAVIOR  -- NUTRITIONAL ECOLOGY -- 

Since 1995, I have studied the role of ecology in the behavior, physiology, diet selection, and habitat use of different organisms. To do this, I adopted a multidisciplinary and multitaxonomic approach, using insects, mollusks, birds, bats, and primates as models. My interests revolve around the factors that influence diet selection and nutrient regulation in several organisms, and their behavioral and physiological adaptations to acquire food and meet their nutritional goals. 

I obtained my PhD in Anthropology in 2014 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My doctoral research examined the foraging strategies and nutritional ecology of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra), an endangered primate species characterized by rapid growth rates and a high reproductive output compared to closely related species. Specifically, I analyzed patch and food choice, food intake rates, and the nutritional composition of the diet of adult howler monkeys in order to test hypotheses based on Optimal Foraging Theory and a Nutrient Mixing Framework. My research supported the increasing recognition that nutrient balancing is a dietary strategy used by non human primates to exploit nutritionally imbalanced and complementary foods in order to meet their dietary needs.

During 2014-2016 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Instituto de Ecologia, A.C. in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico (Red de  Manejo Biorracional de Plagas y Vectores), where I worked on several projects that included the application of the "Geometric Framework for nutrition" to the study of diet selection and nutrient compensation in fruit flies (Anastrepha spp.) that are known to be major pest of fruit crops in North, Central, and South America.

During 2017-2019 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Jorge Schondube's Functional Ecology Lab, at Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (UNAM, Morelia, Mexico), where I used models of nutritional geometry to study protein intake regulation in nectarivorous bird and mammal species that inhabit urban areas and play a critical role in ecological processes.