M.Sc. Biological Sciences (1999). Universidade Federal do Pará, Brazil
Licenciate degree in Biology (1996). Universidade Federal do Pará, Brazil

Research Interests:

Biogeography, Systematics, and Conservation of South American Primates.

Current Research:

Pithecines are a group of New World Monkeys composed of three genera (Pithecia, Chiropotes and Cacajao) that are widely distributed and diversified throughout the Amazon basin. Most Pithecine taxa are endangered, specially the species in the genus Cacajao, the only primate that is restricted to varzea (seasonally-flooded) forests.

At the Field Museum, I am working in collaboration with Dr. John Bates studying the phylogeography of this group. Currently, we are sequencing mitochondrial DNA genes of several populations, using tissues from both fresh and museum preserved specimens. Comparative analysis of DNA sequences will allow us to address the levels of genetic structure and the phylogeographic relationships within these taxa. Our results will help to improve our understanding of biological differentiation in Amazonia, as well as to address conservation priorities in the region. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva (from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil) and Dr. Maria Lucia Harada (from the Universidade Federal do Para, Brazil), and I am supported by a grant from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and by a fellowship from CAPES, a Brazilian government agency.