Hersson Ramírez Molina

Hello! My name is Hersson Ramírez and I am a tropical biologist. I earned my B.Sc. degree in Tropical Biology at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. My formation was focused in the study of tropical species and ecosystems. Also, the career has a strong emphasis on fieldwork. So, I was specially trained in sampling techniques and data collection methods. It was at this point that I took my first steps in genetics. Currently, I am pursuing a M.Sc. degree in wildlife management and conservation at the International Institute on Wildlife Conservation and Management. In this program, I enhanced my fieldwork experience by focusing on wildlife conservation and management and sharpened my capacities for biological, ecological and genetic data analysis. This is my thesis project that I hope to finance with your help.

Since I was a biology student, I have always been very interested in animal behavior and genetics. Especially, how these aspects can affect the conservation and management of a species. Because the birds have always been a personal passion, and specially parrots, I wanted to make a contribution to their conservation. And so, I decided to take on this project by getting involved with the Conservation Genetics Laboratory of the School of Biology at the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). There, researchers work on various conservation genetics and conservation medicine projects targeting different vertebrate taxa (including parrots!). I was welcomed to develop my thesis project there with the support and advice of experts in the field. Although the laboratory owns equipment for genetic analysis, there are some materials and reactives that I have to afford. I hope, with your kind help, to be able to carry out my project successfully!

Otto Monge

I was born in Costa Rica, a worldwide biodiversity hotspot, so my contact with nature has always been very close. I truly believe that there is nothing more rewarding than studying the many aspects surrounding living organisms. Birds, in particular, caught my attention deeply while carrying out field projects as an undergrad. From that point onwards, there is nothing that makes me happier than to be surrounded by birds in their natural environment, either as a scientist or as a bird observer and enthusiast.

In this project, I am acting as a supervisor for Hersson’s master thesis. Just like his, my master’s degree was focused on wildlife management and conservation. I consider myself capable of executing scientific studies on wildlife with the purpose of designing measures directed towards its conservation. When I was about to start my master’s research project (the first conservation genetics work on a parrot species in Costa Rica), I was not aware of the importance of genetics. But working for six years now in a laboratory dedicated to conservation genetics has taught me the usefulness of molecular techniques to guide conservation efforts. Moreover, the first results from my investigation are being taken into consideration for the development of new local policies to better allocate resources for the conservation of the scarlet macaw. All of these is what I hope to transmit for the success of Hersson’s project; another pioneer study, in Costa Rica and across the Neotropical region, since no information about the genetic patterns of the endangered great-green macaw exists.

Information regarding the scarlet macaw conservation genetics project, which I started, as well as additional publications can be found here.