- Propose and quantify ecologically based practices for agronomic management.
- Harmonize food production and biodiversity conservation.
- Generate scientific evidence for agricultural sustainability.
I am an agroecologist and wildlife ecologist. My research draws from agroecology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology to generate applied conservation recommendations for agroecosystems to increase agricultural sustainability at multiple landscape scales. A central goal of my research is to inform land management and planning via applied research in mediterranean-type and semi-arid ecosystems. I am based as an academic in the Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas – Universidad de Chile leading the Laboratory of Agrocology, Biodiversity, and Sustainability that aims to contribute from an interdisplinary perspective to generate sustainable agroecosystems. In addition, I am researcher working in the study ecological intensification of farming systems in the semi-arid Brazilian Caatinga ecosystem in the Sufica project at Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. For my doctoral dissertation research in Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California – Berkeley I assessed the impacts of vineyards on bird communities in Chile and California. I combined extensive field data collection, statistical modeling in R, and quantification of wildlife habitat through geographic information systems (ArcGis, eCognition) to inform practices for conservation land use planning. For my master’s research at Universidad de Chile I investigated the influence of agroecosystems on bird community composition of central Chile. I obtained my undergraduate degree in agricultural engineering with a specialization in viticulture and enology from Universidad de Chile, where my thesis characterized the phenolic compounds and sensorial attributes of Carménère wines.