The Bruna Lab - Members

Emilio Bruna

El Jefe

Postdoctoral Researchers

Thiago Izzo (izzo[AT]inpa.gov.br)
Postdoctoral Researcher

Thiago earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia. He is interested in the ecology of ant-plant mutualisms.

Selene Baez (sbaez[AT]ufl.edu)
Postdoctoral Researcher

Selene earned her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on plant community ecology and arid ecosystems. In addition to research on these topics conducted with long-term datasets, she is setting up a series of projects in longleaf pine savannas at the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station

Paul Gagnon
Postdoctoral Researcher

Paul has a Master's Degree from Yale and a PhD in Plant Biology from LSU. He has done research on topics ranging from plant use and indigenous identity to how disturbance influences the demogrpahy of bamboo. He is interested in stochastic plant demography.

Graduate Students

Antônio Aguiar Neto (patriota[AT]ufl.edu)
Ph.D. Student - WEC

Antônio earned his BS and MS degrees at Brazil's Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. He is interested in the population dynamics of trees in the Atlantic rain forests of Brazil's northeast.

Christine Lucas (chlucas[AT]ufl.edu)
Ph.D. Student - WEC

Christine graduated from Vassar and most recently conducted research in Varzea forests. She is interested in seed dispersal and forest regeneration.

Stella Copeland(smcope3[AT]ufl.edu)
M.S. Student - WEC

Stella is a graduate of Colorado College. Her interests are in the ecology and conservation of rare plants, and will be doing field work in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Cris Follman Jurinitz
Ph.D. Student - U. de São Paulo

She is interested in comparing tree demography in primary and regenerating Atlantic rain forests. I co-advise Cris with Alexandre Oliveira.

Ernane Vieira Neto
Ph.D. Student - WEC (starting Fall 2008)

Ernane completed his BS and MS degrees at the Universidade Federal de Uberlandia. His PhD will investigate facotrs influencing the demography and dynamics of leaf-cutter ants (Atta).

Undergraduate Researchers

Irina Skinner, WEC

Irina is a CALS University Scholar conducting her research on the effect of nutrient enrichment on wiregrass. Her field work is conducted at the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station.

Technicians

Paulo Rubim
Head Field Technician, Manaus

Paulo completed his BS and MSc at UNESP under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Morellato. He is interested in plant phenology and seed dispersal ecology.

Lab Associates

Diego Andrés Delamônica Bruna
Lab Productivity Monitor

Diego's research interests continue to evolve. While he continues testing hypotheses regarding the origins and limits of parental authority, he has recently expanded his repertoire of study organisms to include garbage trucks, trains, tractors, and other heavy machinery. He has developed a fondness for ants and any art medium that requires making a large mess.

The Rogues Gallery: Lab Alumni

Gwen Iacona, M.S. in WEC (2008)

MS Thesis Research: Seedling establishment along productivity gradients in Longleaf pine savannas

Current position: Biologist for the Florida Natural Areas Inventory.

Alana Vaz Ferreira, M.S. in Biology, U. Federal de Uberlandia (2007)

MS Thesis research: Seed predation by ants, birds, and rodents in Brazil's Cerrado

Current Position: Cadet in the State Police, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Ian Fiske, M.S. in WEC (2006)

MS Thesis Research: Sampling in plant demographic studies and implications for matrix model projections.

Current position: Ph.D. student in Statistics at NCSU.

Camila Castanho, Postgraduate Scholar (2006)

Camila recently completed her Master's degree at the Universidade de São Paulo, and came here in Spring 2006 to learn new techniques in ecosystem ecology.

Alexandre Oliveira, Sabbatical Visitor (2006)

Alexandre is a faculty member at the Universidade de São Paulo. He is a forest ecologist and is interested in plant demography who conduced sabbatical research here in Spring 2006.