Costa Rica
EDUCATION
B.S. in Biology,
University of Costa Rica (COSTA RICA)
M.S. in Tropical Ecology and Conservation),
University of Missouri-St. Louis (MO, USA)
Ph.D. in Tropical Ecology and Conservation (Ecophysiology),
University of Missouri-St. Louis (MO, USA)
TEACHING
- Directed Research EE 491/492
Language, Culture and Society of Costa Rica LS 205E - Multivariate Statistics, Natural History of Costa Rica, Ecology of Palms as Associate Professor, University of Costa Rica
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Member, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC)
- Member, Society for Economic Botany
- Member, Botantical Societry of America
- Member, Editorial Board of Oecologia (Ecophysiology section)
STAFF PROFILE
Gerardo Avalos holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in plant physiological ecology and conservation from the University of Missouri at St. Louis. After obtaining his B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Costa Rica, Gerardo began his graduate studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and then he transferred to the University of Missouri - St. Louis, where he investigated the physiological ecology of lianas and using a construction crane to reach the canopy working with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His dissertation examined the light acclimation of tropical lianas to temporal and spatial changes in light availability at the surface the forest canopy. His current research interests include the biomechanics of tropical palms, the impact of illegal extraction on the population biology of palms, the ecophysiology of lianas, the effects of habitat fragmentation on species conservation of local and migratory birds, and the abundance cycles of aquatic macroinvertebrates. After serving for 6 years as the Center for Sustainable Development Studies resident ecologist, Gerardo became the Center Director in 2007. He is aslo associated with the University of Costa Rica where he teaches Botany, Natural History, and Multivariate Statistics.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am interested in the physiological adaptations of tropical plants to spatial and temporal changes in the availability of light, especially the characters that are responsible for the expression of plasticity at the extremes of the light gradient in a tropical forest: the understory and the canopy. In my PhD dissertation I explored the physiological ecology of canopy lianas and their adaptation to light gradients working 50 m above the ground form the top of a construction crane located in a jungle in Panama. Currently, I am doing research on the biomechanics of tropical palms to understand the limits to height increases and the strategies of leaf display in plants that only have primary growth.
These interests led to research projects looking at the dynamics of the extraction of non-timber forest products coming from palms, such as heart of palm. I have explored the ecological consequences of palm extraction, as well as the social and cultural interface determining extraction preferences. I also have studied the effects of fragmentation of roads on neotropical birds, especially understory insectivores, implementing plant ecology techniques (hemispherical photographs) to describe habitat structure and to predict habitat quality for many understory insectivore species. Finally, I have studied the temporal cycles of tropical aquatic macroinvertebrates and their utility as biological indicators. In all these research areas I apply the latest multivariate statistics techniques to understand the interactions among multiple variables across space and time.
Research Projects
SFS projects
The effectiveness of aquatic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators in tropical streams
This project uses an 8-year database on the diversity and distribution of aquatic macroinvertebrates across 6 sites in Costa Rica, two of them located within Braulio Carrillo National Park. The streams in this project included pristine sites located at similar elevation but with different structure and different sources of impacts. We implement different bioindication indices, and expanded the data base for Río Santa Clara in Guápiles. I have found stability in Order composition at the local level, but great dynamism across temporal scales, justifying the idea of maintaining long-term monitoring programs to detect temporal changes in the structure of bioindicator Orders .
Outputs: Manuscripts in the works looking at changes across space and time over 8 years, and at the use of hierarchical diversity at the Order and Family level to track changes in the structure of macroinvertebrate bioindicators.
Growth of the palm Euterpe precatoria in fragmented forests, and assessment of its potential as a source of heart of palm
This project monitors the growth of seedlings of the palm Euterpe precatoria in response to canopy changes measured with hemispherical photos. Euterpe precatoria concentrates the bulk of illegal extraction of heart of palm from national parks. Seedlings of E. precatoria were planted in 2005 in two forest fragments in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. Sets of photographs are analyzed and correlated with seeling growth. Canopy changes at both field sites have been very stable, and that most seedlings experienced negative growth and increased mortality. We are now monitoring E. precatoria palms growing in the open. In addition, seedlings of Geonoma edulis (another extracted species are being grown in the greenhouse of the University of Costa Rica, and will soon be planted in Braulio Carrillo National Park to start a different monitoring study).
Outputs: Manuscripts are the works looking at shade tolerance in Euterpe precatoria and Geonoma edulis.
Grants and Awards
Keynote speaker to the International Palm Society meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, May 2008.
Publications and Presentations (last updated June 2011)
Peer-reviewed journals (in bold denotes SFS student / intern)
1. Avalos, G., S.S. Mulkey and S.J. Wright. 1994. Assessment of the effects of microsite factors on liana physiology. p. 35-37. In: S.J. And M. Wright Colley (eds). Accessing the canopy: assessment of biological diversity and microclimate of the Tropical Forest Canopy: Phase 1. United Nations Environmental Program, 84 pp.
2. Avalos, G. 1999. Photosynthetic acclimation of canopy branches and seedlings of lianas to light changes in a tropical dry forest. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
3. Avalos, G. and S.S. Mulkey. 1999. Photosynthetic acclimation of the liana Stigmaphyllon lindenianum to light changes in a tropical dry forest canopy. Oecologia 120: 475-484.
4. Avalos, G. and S.S. Mulkey. 1999. Seasonal changes in liana cover in the upper canopy of a neotropical dry forest. Biotropica 31 (1): 186-192.
5. Avalos, G., S.S. Mulkey and K. Kitajima. 1999. Leaf optical properties of trees and lianas in the outer canopy of a tropical dry forest. Biotropica 31 (3): 517-520.
6. Avalos, G. 2004. Production of second set of roots still in Iriart palms: a solution to the puzzle. Palms 48 (2): 83-85.
7. Avalos, G and S.S. Mulkey. 2005. Photochemical efficiency of adult and young leaves in the neotropical understory shrub Psychotria limonensis (Rubiaceae) in response to changes in the light environment. Revista de Biologia Tropical 52 (4): 839-844.
8. Avalos, G., D. Salazar & A. Araya. 2005. Stilt Root Structure in the Neotropical Palms Iriartea deltoidea and Socratea exorrhiza. Biotropica 37 (1): 44-53.
9. Avalos, G. 2005. Banded-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata) at low elevations in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica. Neotropical Ornithology 16: 1-2.
10. Avalos, G., K. Hoelle, J. Gardner, S. Anderson and C. Lee. 2006. Impact of the invasive species Syzygium jambos (Myrtaceae, Rose Apple) on patterns of understory seedling abundance in a Tropical Forest Premontane, Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical 54 (2): 414-421.
11.Chaves, O. and G. Avalos. 2007. Is the inverse leafing phenology of the dry forest understory shrub Jacquinia nervosa (Theophrastaceae) a strategy to escape herbivory? Revista de Biologia Tropical 54 (3): 951-963.
12. Avalos, G. 2007. Changes in size preference of illegally extracted heart of palm from Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae) in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica. Economic Botany 61 (1): 96-98.
13. Avalos, G., S.S. Mulkey, K. Kitajima & S.J. Wright. 2007. Colonization strategies of two liana species in a tropical dry forest canopy. Biotropica 39 (3): 393-399.
14. Alvarez, S. & G. Avalos. 2007. Light interception efficiency of the understory palm Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana under deep shade conditions. Ecotropica 13: 1-8.
15. Avalos, G. 2007. Book comment for the journal Revista de Biologia Tropical: Kapelle, M. & S. P. Horn. 2005. Páramos of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Santo Domingo, Heredia, Costa Rica. 767 pp. Vol 55 (2): 743-744, June 2007.
16. Avalos, G. 2007. Book comment for the journal Ecotropica: Kapelle, M. & S. P. Horn. 2005. Páramos of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Santo Domingo, Heredia, Costa Rica. June 2007.
17. Chaves, O. & G. Avalos. 2008. Do seasonal changes in light availability influence the inverse leafing phenology of the neotropical dry forest understory shrub Bonellia nervosa? Revista de Biologia Tropical 56 (1): 257-268.
18. Sylvester, O. & G. Avalos. 2009. Cultural Dynamics and Associations of Palm Heart Wild Illegal Extraction from Geonoma edulis in Montane Zones of Costa Rica's National Parks. Economic Botany 63(2): 179-189.
19. Avalos, G. and M. Fernández. 2010. Allometry and stilt root structure of the Neotropical palm Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae) across sites and successional stages. American Journal of Botany 97(3): 1-8.
20. Avalos, G. & O. Sylvester. 2010. Allometric estimation of total crown leaf area in the neotropical palm Euterpe oleracea. Trees: structure and function 24(5): 969-974.
21. Vargas, LE, Sánchez, NV & G Avalos. 2011. Forest structure and territory size relationship in the neotropical understorey insectivore Henicorhina leucosticta. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27:65–72.
22. Avalos, G., A. Soto & W. Alfaro. 2011. Effect of artificial feeders on pollen loads of the hummingbirds of Cerro de La Muerte, Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical (in press).
23. Seas, C. & Avalos, G. 2010. Distribution and identification of bioluminescent fungi across old-growth and secondary forests in a tropical rain forest. Submitted to Fungal Ecology.
24. Avalos, G. & R. Schneider. 2011. Quantification of ramet production in the neotropical palm Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae) in Costa Rica. Submitted to Ecotropica.
25. Avalos, G. & S.S. Mulkey. 2011. Influence of light environment and mechanical support on morphological and physiological acclimation responses of seedlings of tropical lianas. Submitted to Oecologia.
26. Avalos, G. & M. Fernández. 2011. Effects of Successional Stage and Fragmentation on the Population Structure of Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae). Submitted to Biotropica
Presentations (in bold with interns and SFS students)
Avalos, G. & S.S. Mulkey. 1997. Impact of seasonal changes in light availability on the physiological adaptation of tropical lianas. Tropical Diversity: Origins, maintenance and conservation. Symposium and Annual Meeting. Association for Tropical Biology and OTS, Costa Rica San Jose June 1997.
Avalos, G. 1998. Effect of medium and light availability on photosynthetic acclimation of tropical lianas. VII Congreso Latinoamericano de Botanica: Diversity and Conservation of plant resources in Latin America. Mexico DF, Mexico, in October 1998.
Avalos, G., A. Soto, J. Veenstra, T. Smith and C. Keller. 2002. Fragmentation Effects of a Major Highway on Bird Distribution in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica. Proceedings of the Association for Tropical Biology, Panama city, Panama, June 2002.
Avalos, G. 2003. Spatial and temporal changes in the distribution and diversity of aquatic insects in the Braulio Carrillo National Park. IV Congreso Nacional de Biología Clodomiro Picado, San José Costa Rica.
Avalos, G. & E. Bermúdez. 2005. Impact of highway 32 on the bird community of the Braulio Carrillo National Park. Congress of Conservation and Wildlife Management, 21 to 25 February 2005, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Avalos, G. & M. Mauricio Fernandez. 2005. Impact of illegal extraction of palm Euterpe precatoria. Congress of Conservation and Wildlife Management, 21 to 25 February 2005, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
M.G. Gei and G. Avalos. 2006. Plasticity and allometry in the Stilt root structure in 8 woody palms across successional stages and soil types at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. IX latinamerican Interntional Symposium of Botany, Santo Domingo, Domenic Republic, May 2006.
Participation in the workshop of The Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) in NBIO, Costa Rica November 20-22, 2006.
Participation Symposium Functional Ecology of tropical trees in the annual reunion of the Association for Tropical Ecology and Conservation in Michoacán, Mexico, July 2007.
Keynote speaker to the International Palm Society meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, May 2008. The conference dealt with the Functional Ecology of Palms in Costa Rica.
Participation in the Symposium on Protected Areas, San Ramon, Costa Rica, July 2008.
Sylverster, O. and G. Avalos. 2009. Morphology and Growth of a Harvested Cloud Forest Understory Palm in Relation to its Local Light Environment. Meeting of the Latinamerican Network of Botany, San Jose, Costa Rica, November 2009.
