Compton Fellowship
Compton Fellowships in Environment and Sustainable Development
The Compton Fellowship Program in Environment and Sustainable Development is designed to contribute to the capacity of developing countries to make informed policy and resource management decisions based on principles of sustainable development and sound science and to promote integration of environment, peace and population issues in graduate level study and research. The fellowship program aims to secure long-term habitat and ecosystem protection and to change the relationship between people and the natural environment in order to promote sustainable and just balance between meeting present human needs and conserving natural systems for future generations. Compton Fellowships are available to doctoral and masters students from tropical countries who intend to return to their country or region of origin on completion of their graduate studies.
Compton Fellowships are no longer available to graduate students enrolled in programs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Compton Fellows with the International Center for Tropical Ecology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis2003 Compton Fellows
2002 Compton Fellows
2001 Compton Fellows
Miriam Ramos-Escobedo (Mexico)
1999 Compton Fellows
Katheryne Aldas Saltos (Ecuador)
1998 Compton Fellows
1997 Compton Fellows
Guillermo Paz y Mino (Ecuador)
Luis Miguel Renjifo (Colombia)
1996 Compton Fellows
Guillermo Paz y Mino (Ecuador)
Gilbert Barrantes (Costa Rica)
Guillermo Paz y MinoGuillermo Paz y Mino, came to UM-St. Louis from Ecuador in 1992 to pursue an advanced degree and the academic qualifications that would enhance his effectiveness as a leader in conservation issues affecting his country and the region. The Compton Fellowship allowed Guillermo to pursue his dissertation studies in animal behavior and complete the Graduate Certificate in Tropical Biology and Conservation. Prior to joining our program, he played a key role in developing environmental policy in Ecuador as Vice-Minister for the Environment. In that position, he was responsible for the coordination, control, development, and regulation of environmental projects in the energy sector (oil, mines, and electricity industries). Guillermo undertook an internship with the Environment Division of the World Bank. The goal of this project was to co-ordinate the Bank’s efforts with NGOs to set priorities for funding through the Global Environment Facility. Guillermo completed his Ph.D. and currently holds an academic position at the University of Kansas.
Gilbert Barrantes, from Costa Rica, comes from a very modest background (a small family farm in the mountains of Costa Rica. Before coming to UM-St. Louis, Gilbert was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), Central America’s leading academic institution. Gilbert has strong ties with Costa Rica’s National Museum as well as the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) which has its tropical base in San Jose, Costa Rica. In summer 1996, he completed a conservation research internship at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution under the direction of Dr. Gary Graves, Curator of Birds. The internship provided Gilbert with the opportunity to establish a firm relationship with one of the premier conservation and research institutions in the world. Gilbert’s Ph.D. dissertation research focused on the black and yellow silky flycatcher, a bird endemic to Costa Rica, that is under threat because of its narrow habitat range and diet. Using molecular tools, together with in-depth field studies, he developed a population model applicable to species with limited distributions and restricted habitats. Following completion of his doctoral studies in 2000, Gilbert returned to Costa Rica to resume his position at the University of Costa Rica where he will contribute to the evolution, ecology and conservation program. He will continue to study the biogeography, ecology and conservation of Costa Rica's endemic birds.
Luis Miguel Renjifo, from Colombia, conducted his Ph.D. dissertation research in the Central Andes of Colombia investigating the impact of different economic activities on the conservation of biodiversity in montane forests. He showed that forest patches surrounded by tree plantations maintain greater diversity of forest birds than do forests surrounded by cattle pastures. Cattle production has been the predominant land use in the area over the past 50 years. His results will impact land-use and forest policy in one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Luis Miguel has had a long history of leading conservation efforts in his country. Following his graduation from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, he joined the Fundacion Herencia Verde, a Cali-based NGO, as a research biologist and was appointed a research fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society. In addition, he is the coordinator of the Threatened Species Committee for the National (Colombia) Strategy for Bird Conservation and former chief of the Research Division of the Environmental Department of Colombia’s capital district. Luis Miguel completed an internship with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Washington D.C. developing conservation priorities for the Hispanic South American program. He completed his doctorate in December 1999 and is now Director of Conservation Biology for the Humboldt Institute in Colombia, which establishes the national agenda for biodiversity and conservation research in this biological diverse country. He works closely with the Ministry of Environment and other governmental agencies in implementing conservation initiatives and has received significant funding through the Global Environment Facility from the World Bank. He continues to work with Fundacion Herencia Verde, the second largest conservation NGO in the country and, with his strong international connections, is having a significant impact on conservation policies in his native country.
Diego Perez-Salicrup, from Mexico, was attracted to the graduate program at UM-St. Louis because of its close association with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the ICTE’s emphasis on conservation biology and sustainable development. As an undergraduate, Diego conducted his honors thesis integrating economics and ethnobotany. His thesis surveyed human use of medicinal plants and analyzed the economic and sociological factors, which influenced whether people were aware of indigenous knowledge. For his doctoral research, Diego investigated the impact of tropical lianas on sustainable forestry in Bolivia. A number of tropical forestry projects have been hampered by vigorous liana growth following selective logging and therefore Diego’s study has significant relevance to forestry management practices. Diego completed his Ph.D. in December 1999 and he is now a post-doctoral fellow with Harvard Forest, Harvard University conducting field research on natural forest management in Mexico. He has interacted with the Mexican NGO, EcoSur and has consulted on projects based in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
Gerardo Aymard from Venezuela received a Compton Fellowship during the final stages of his graduate training in tropical biology and conservation. Prior to entering the tropical conservation program at UM-St. Louis, Gerardo studied forestry at the Universidad de Los Andes in Caracas, Venezuela. As part of his graduate work, Gerardo studied the structure and composition of plant communities in rain forest along the interfluvial zone of the Rio Negro and Rio Orinoco in southwestern Venezuela. Gerardo’s expertise in biodiversity studies of plants in the Venezuelan Amazon led to an internship with the Smithsonian’s Man and the Biosphere Biodiversity Program. During this special training period, Gerardo and Smithsonian colleagues developed and established protocols for biodiversity research and completed inventories for critical sites in Bolivia. Gerardo has returned to Venezuela and is presently Professor of Botany at the Universidad Nacional de los Llanos Ezequiel Zamora (UNELLEZ) and Director of the University's herbarium. He continues to collaborate with scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the International Center for Tropical Ecology.
Tibisay Escalona is from Venezuela who joined our program having completed a master’s in conservation biology at the University of Kent at Canterbury, United Kingdom. Tibisay completed the Graduate Certificate in Tropical Biology and Conservation with an internship with Dr. Siegal, Southeastern Louisiana University on the endangered freshwater turtle, Graptemys flavimaculata. For her Ph.D. dissertation research, she is working on the impact of human interference on nest selection and reproductive success in the freshwater turtle, Podocnemis unifilis. This study will result in both theoretical contributions to turtle biology and practical applications for their conservation. A component of Tibisay’s dissertation is the development of a management plan for this threatened species. Tibisay has worked closely with indigenous communities along the Caura and Nichare Rivers in the Venezuelan Amazon, the site of her fieldwork. She is working with them to develop a sustainable management plan that will ensure the turtle's long term conservation but also meet the needs of the local people. Her fieldwork is supported by Wildlife Conservation Society, Saint Louis Zoo, Cleveland Metropolitan Zoo and the Sustainable Aquatic Resources Center.
Juan Fernandez is from Colombia who for his Ph.D. dissertation research investigated the population genetics of the Colombian oak (Quercus humboldtii) and effects of forest fragmentation on gene flow. Quercus is an important timber species that only exists in isolated populations in the highly threatened Andes of Colombia. Juan’s dissertation research provided important data on the genetic consequences of forest fragmentation and has proved instrumental in the development of management plans for conservation and sustainable use of oaks in Colombia. Prior to coming to the ICTE and UM-St. Louis, Juan was a database manager at the Conservation Data Center in Cali, Colombia. This governmental organization compiles information on the distribution and abundance of flora and fauna in the Cauca Valley of Colombia and is responsible for setting conservation priorities and identifying areas for protection, as well as evaluating the impact of proposed development projects on biodiversity conservation.
Silvio Marchini, from Brazil spent the 1997 summer as an intern with the Institute of Tropical Forestry, a division of the US Forest Service, in Puerto Rico. The ITF is an internationally recognized leader in establishing sound forestry practices in tropical countries, and is currently collaborating with the Brazilian government in establishing sustainable selecting logging projects in the Amazon. He completed a pilot study on the effects of forest fragmentation on the rates of insect herbivory utilizing the forest fragments created by the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). Silvio obtained his masters degree from UM-St. Louis and is currently Director of a non-governmental organization called Amazonarium based in Brazil. Amazonarium is a travel organization whose mission is to promote and facilitate visits to the Brazilian Amazon through support of educational and scientific activities and the operation of ecological, cultural, exploratory and scientific tourism in the region.
Carolina Valdespino, a Mexican national, was supported by a Compton Foundation Fellowship during the last semester of her dissertation program. This fellowship enabled Carolina to focus on writing her dissertation on the reproductive biology of the fennec fox, which was conducted under the guidance of research scientists at the Saint Louis Zoo. Carolina’s primary interest is in the ecology and management of Mexico’s endangered fauna, especially those species which are located within the vicinity of one of the world’s largest urban areas, Mexico City. Working together with conservation scientists from the Saint Louis Zoo and international groups such as MesoAmerican Faunal Interest Group and the Captive Breeding Specialist Groups, Carolina has been an integral player in the development of recovery plans for several of Mexico’s endangered mammals, including the Mexican wolf and the volcano rabbit. From her own past experiences in Mexico, Carolina realized early on that the effectiveness of endangered species conservation relies on many factors besides sound biological knowledge. Implementation of both ex-situ and in-situ conservation strategies require considerable political expertise and close work with local communities.-
Katheryne Aldas Saltos (Katti)
received her bachelor's degree at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador.
She is a member of the Fundacion Ornitologica del Ecuador and works in cooperation
with Fundacion Amazonas. The former NGO is concerned with the conservation
of birds and their ecosystems, while the latter (despite its name) works
closely with the government to conduct impact assessments of proposed development
projects in the Andes. These conservation foundations work jointly, and in
close cooperation with the Minister of Agriculture, to establish conservation
priorities and direct environmental action. Katti realized, through her experiences
with conservation efforts in her country, the need to improve management
of ecosystems and to develop practices that promote sustainable resource
use in order to conserve biodiversity. Katti tells us that legislation exists
within Ecuador to do this, but human priorities are overwhelming and presently
one cannot isolate protected areas from human impacts. She came to UM-St.
Louis on a two-year LASPAU (Latin American Scholars Program) fellowship to
learn how to integrate conservation with demands and needs of people. Katti
completed her master’s degree in 1998. Her research investigated the pollination
biology of two Fuschia species growing in the highlands of Ecuador. She compared
plant features of the two species and how they influence visitation rates
of hummingbirds, and hence, pollination success.
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Sandra Arango was raised in Bogota
and became interested in Biology while amidst the conservation-oriented group
at Pontifica Universidad Javeriana. While there she began her work with Fundacion
Herencia Verde, a national conservation organization with ties to Wildlife
Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund. Her research and conservation
activities have focused on the high Central Andes of Colombia. This region
is second only to Brazil's Atlantic Forest in the magnitude of threats to
its ecosystem. The area underwent colonization in the early 1900's and little
remains of its montane forests, except in the most inaccessible or inhospitable
areas. Land is under pressure from cattle-grazing, agriculture, and urbanization.
One of Sandra's long-term goals is to convert economic activities in the
region to land uses that are both economically viable and ecologically sustainable.
Her affiliations with Herencia Verde, together with the skills she will acquire
in her doctoral program, should place Sandra in an excellent position to
achieve these personal goals. Sandra received a prestigious COLCIENCIAS fellowship
from her government to study in the United States beginning in August 1994.
This fellowship covers a stipend and tuition for 4 years. Sandra’s doctoral
dissertation examines land uses, especially cattle-grazing, on impacts of
forest regeneration in isolated patches of remaining forest. These patches
represent important sources of income for local landowners as they harbor
economically valuable timber species, seed sources, and fruit crops used
both locally and commercially. Moreover, these forests are important for
protecting water resources for nearby towns. Herencia Verde has been working
with government officials to provide income to landowners for protecting
forest patches, in recognition of the watershed services these forests provide.
Sandra’s research was supported by UM-St. Louis, MacArthur Foundation
(through a WCS-Herencia Verde program), and competitive grants from Banco Republica
de Colombia and El Fondo FEN (Financiara Electrica Nacional).
- Grace Servat, a native of Peru, a Ph.D. candidate, expects to graduate in 2003. She received her undergraduate degree from the Universidad de San Marcos in Lima. It was during these years that she conducted extensive field research in the study of Peru's birds with both national and international scientists. She is well known internationally as one of the best Peruvian ornithologists. She has strong ties with the National Museum in Lima and her future career will almost certainly be related to continued exploration of Peru's bird diversity for both scientific and conservation purposes. Her dissertation research, funded by awards from the ICTE, National Science Foundation, and American Ornithologists' Union, is focused on the bird communities of Polylepis forests in the high Andes of Peru. This system is geologically recent, and is characterized by a set of birds that are found nowhere else in the world. There has been little scientific work in the area, most probably because of the harsh and cold conditions that prevail at these elevations (>3500m) in the Andes. Her dissertation examines the role ecology and evolutionary history play in shaping the assemblage of birds found in these woodlands. Her work will be used to influence designation of protected areas in the region, and will reveal the extent to which the ecology and community function of species is determined by either local conditions or past evolutionary events. In addition, Grace has developed a collaborative project with UM-St. Louis Latin American historian, Dr. Mark Burkholder, on pre-colonial land use of these high Andean habitats in Peru. Grace has researched this project by examining rare historical documents in Peru and manuscripts in the National Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. On her return to Peru, Grace will play an active role in Andean research and conservation. She already has founded Proyecto QueÒual (Quechuan term for Polylepis woodlands), which has pulled together a team of people interested in the conservation and sustainable use of these high Andean systems. This is the first such group in Peru with a focus on the conservation of high elevation ecosystems, despite the long-term importance of these systems to indigenous peoples of Peru. She recently received a grant from the Saint Louis Rain Forest Advocates supporting activities of this new Peruvian conservation group.
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Miriam Ramos-Escobedo, from
Mexico, has completed the Graduate Certificate in Tropical Biology and Conservation
and her master’s degree. Miriam completed her B.Sc. at the University
of Veracruz and is interested in stream ecology and conservation of watersheds.
She undertook an internship with Project Stream at La Selva Biological Station
in Costa Rica. The community of Sarapiqui was in the process of organizing
a plebiscite to declare the Sarapiqui watershed as Patrimonio Historico Natural.
Miriam provided scientific information regarding watershed protection, prepared
a document describing the biodiversity of the watershed and the human threats.
Since completing her report, the Sarapiqui community voted to declare the
Sarapiqui River a Patrimonio Historico Natural.
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Lucia Lohmann is from Brazil and completed her
B.S. in Biology at the Universidade de São Paulo. She is in
the final stages of writing her Ph.D. dissertation that entails a systematic
review of the tribe Bignonieae (Family: Bignoniaceae) and she has used both
molecular and morphological techniques. The tribe Bignonieae includes
all Neotropical lianas in the Bignoniaceae (approximately 350 species) and
is the most diverse and abundant group of lianas in the Neotropics.
This is a challenging project. The group has been poorly studied and
the genera within it lack clear phylogenetic relationships and diagnostic
features. Lianas account for approximately one-third of leaf biomass
in tropical forests and contribute around 20% of floristic diversity in Neotropical
forests. Plants within this group show economic potential as ornamentals
and in the development of drugs from the secondary compounds that some of
them produce. This work has established Lucia as the Bignoniaceae expert.
Bignoniaceae are one of the most important tropical families in lowland forests
of the New World tropics. Lucia is also working to use this plant family,
and her extensive knowledge of its distribution and natural history, to identify
important plant areas in the New World tropics. This planned work is
in collaboration with the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation
and Sustainable Development. Lucia has completed the Graduate Certificate
in Tropical Biology and Conservation. On completion of her Ph.D., Lucia
plans to teach at a university in Brazil and play an active role in documenting
Brazil’s rich biological diversity with a view to strengthening programs
that provide legal protection of species-rich habitats. Prior to joining
our program, Lucia worked in Ducke Reserve near Manaus and co-authored the
guide to the flora of this biologically-rich reserve. She is keen to
return to this less-developed area of Brazil.
Homero
Vargas completed his master’s degree in November 2002. He is from Ecuador where he worked as a technician with the Herbario
Nacional del Ecuador for seven years and made significant contributions to
botanical exploration and conservation biology in Ecuador. He has considerable experience in floristic inventory fieldwork and
has led several plant collecting expeditions to remote regions of Ecuador
including Llanganates National Park and Antisana Ecological Reserve. His master’s thesis provided a revision of the genus Viburnum in the Adoxaceae family in Ecuador. The
Latin American representatives of this genus have received little attention
despite this region being one of high diversity of Viburnum species. Homero produced a
checklist of the Ecuadorian species and a key to them using both floral and
vegetative characters. As part
of the Graduate Certificate in
Tropical Biology and Conservation, he completed an internship with the
Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri
Botanical Garden. He studied
the distributions of Araceae in the Neotropics, with special emphasis on
species found in the Vilcabamba-Amboro corridor. Around 25 collections per species were analyzed to provide
distributional data. Each collection was geo-referenced within the TROPICOS
database maintained by the Missouri Botanical Garden and species
distributions checked for outliers. The
database was used to assess relationships between species distributions and
protected areas and to run modeling experiments with regard to changes such
as expanding agricultural areas and global warming. Homero Vargas has returned to Ecuador and assumed his new position as
Director of the National Herbarium in Quito. Besides botanical research, the herbarium is heavily involved in
sustainable use projects with indigenous communities throughout Ecuador.
Cynthia Watson is from Guyana and completed her first degree at the University of Guyana. Before joining the master’s program at UM-St. Louis, Cynthia was involved with several Nongovernmental Organizations that focused on conservation and sustainable development of natural resources. She worked with the Iwokrama International Center, an organization promoting rain forest conservation and development, and, as a research assistant surveyed vertebrates in a 3,600 km2 forest reserve in central Guyana. With the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity at the University of Guyana, Cynthia was responsible for the curation and management of the vertebrate collection. She has also participated in surveys assessing mercury contamination of aquatic food chains in streams affected by small-scale alluvial gold mining operations. Cynthia is a cofounder and active member of the Guyana Nature Foundation, a group dedicated to the education of Guyanese, by Guyanese, about Guyana’s biodiversity. In her research, Cynthia will study the ecological behavior of a species of guppy, Poecilia parae. Her research will provide an important link between conservation biology and behavioral ecology.