Greg Goldsmith

Cloud Forests, Tropical Plants, Weather, Water Cycle, Canopy

Greg is a tropical plant ecologist who studies how plants respond to seasonal changes in rainfall. He is particularly interested in understanding the canopy of the tropical montane cloud forest. Greg has done science research in arctic, alpine, and tropical ecosystems. His research has taken him to Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, California and Alaska! Greg grew up near Boston, Massachusetts and studied biology and environmental studies in college in Maine. You can ask Greg questions about tropical montane cloud forest ecosystems, tropical plants, weather and the water cycle, and the canopy!

Drew Fulton

Photography, New Media, General Project Questions

Drew is a photographer with a passion for creating unique photographs of the natural world. He has a special love of birds and even spent an entire year living in the back of car while traveling across Australia photographing birds. In addition to that project, he has worked extensively throughout Florida, particularly in the Florida Everglades, where he spent his "semester abroad" while in college. Having grown up in Orlando, Florida, he now lives in Ithaca, New York and spends his time developing online resources for students and photographers, pursuing a Masters in Education Media Design & Technology, and photographing in the region. Feel free to ask him questions about photography, media creation, or anything related to Canopy in the Clouds!

Maria Angela Echeverry-Galvis

Birds

Maria is an ornithologist studying the relationship between birds in moutain cloud forests and their environment. She aims to understand how birds go about deciding and regulating when to breed, when to change their feathers or when to move, in relation to the environment where they are living in. Maria grew up surrounded by mountain cloud forest, living in Bogota, Colombia, and has had the chance to work on social insects in the tropics, coral reef biology, and nesting behavior of some African birds. She recently started climbing trees to get a closer look at the nests of some elusive mountain cloud forest birds, not an easy task. She is passionate about bird biology, ecology, and the importance of physiology in the interaction between individuals and their habitats.

Sean Rovito

Amphibians and Reptiles

Sean Rovito studies herpetology (amphibians and reptiles) at the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on understanding how past climatic changes, geological events and other factors have led to the formation of new species of amphibians and reptiles. He is especially interested in the group of tropical salamanders from Mexico and Central America. Many of these salamanders live in the cloud forest and are specialized to spend their entire lives in the trees. He got interested in nature by finding salamanders, frogs, and insects in his backyard in Virginia, and studied biology and environmental studies in St. Louis, Missouri. He has worked in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States and lived in Mexico City for a year studying salamanders. You can ask him questions about the diversity, ecology, physiology, and natural history of amphibians and reptiles.

Bier Kraichak

Mosses, Liverworts, Hornworts

Bier is interested in bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, hornworts), lichens, and other tiny organisms that grow on plants and rocks. He enjoys seeing their diversity in nature and admiring their beautiful structures under the microscopes. He has been to many places in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and French Polynesia to collect this group of organisms. His current work focuses on adaptation and distributions of bryophytes that grow on leaves (epiphyllous bryophytes), which are believed to be unique to tropical forests. Bier grew up in Thailand, but moved to the U.S. to study biology and education at a college in Maine. He is now based in Berkeley, California, working on his graduate work in Integrative Biology. He would be happy to help you learn more about bryophytes, lichens, and epiphytes of the tropics.

Leighton Reid

Bats, Reforestation

Leighton is a restoration ecologist studying tropical forest recovery in southern Costa Rica. His research focuses on identifying and overcoming barriers to the recovery of degraded lands, like abandoned cattle pastures. Because most rainforest tree seeds are dispersed by animals, much of his research focuses on questions of animal behavior – especially with fruit bats! Leighton grew up on the Virginia piedmont and studied Ecology at the University of the South in Tennessee. Previously he has worked on forest dynamics in the southeastern U.S. and coastal California; and bird biology in Ecuador and Arkansas. Leighton is currently a doctoral student at the University of California – Santa Cruz. Ask him questions about tropical forest restoration and bat conservation in Latin America!

Sam Diaz-Munoz

Mammals, Primates, Animal Behavior, Evolution

Sam is an evolutionary biologist who studies the social behavior of animals and other organisms. He is especially interested in cooperation in the natural world across different environments. Sam grew up in Puerto Rico, where hiking, camping and snorkeling through tropical habitats led him to study biology in college. He continued his studies in California where he now lives. He studied the behavior of small monkeys (tamarins) in the rain forests of Panama, including tracking their movements through the forest, studying their parental care and examining the genetics of populations. Ask him questions about mammals, animal behavior and what it is like to work in the rain forest.

Sarah Batterman

Plant Ecology, Nitrogen Cycle, Tropical Forests, Climate Change

Sarah Batterman studies biogeochemistry from the lens of a plant ecologist. She focuses on understanding the role of symbiotic nitrogen fixing trees in forests as they develop from cleared land to old growth forest, and how they help to take nitrogen gas from the air, use it to grow, and then return it to the soil, increasing soil fertility. Most of her research occurs in Panama, but she has also worked in other parts of Latin America, England, Australia, and the Midwestern US. Sarah grew up in Wisconsin, went to college in Iowa, and now lives in Princeton, NJ, where she is a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology. She would love to answer questions about tropical plants and forest dynamics, plant ecology in general, nitrogen cycling, and climate change.

Steven Hall

Plants and Soil, Carbon Cycling, Soils

Steven is an ecosystem ecologist who studies the environmental function of soils and their role in climate systems. He is currently studying the carbon cycle in the rain forests of Puerto Rico, which will be the focus of his doctoral research at the University of California Berkeley. Steven was born in Wisconsin, where he studied botany and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has previously conducted research in Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru. Ask him about soils, element (nutrient) cycling, climate change, and plant-soil relations.