Hej!
I am Pedro Juárez (PJ), a Costa Rican botanist and evolutionary biologist, and currently a postdoctoral researcher in the SpACE research group at Lund University. I work with Dr. Øystein H. Opedal on understanding how variation in pollination ecology mediates population divergence in Neotropical vines, and with Dr. Magne Friberg on the interplay between coevolution and reproductive isolation in polyploid plant speciation.
I received my Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where I investigated the microevolution of pollination shifts from bee to hummingbird pollination in Neotropical spiral gingers (Costus). My dissertation combined large-scale field experiments across elevational gradients, detailed analyses of floral traits, and pollinator behaviour to understand how local adaptation to different pollinators can generate reproductive barriers and promote speciation.
Broadly, my research investigates the processes of plant diversification, with a focus on how the ecology and geography of plant–pollinator interactions drive floral adaptation and reproductive isolation. My work integrates observational, experimental, and modelling approaches. In addition, I am actively engaged in botanical exploration and have described several new endemic plant species from South Central America. I have also collaborated on international projects spanning forest ecology, bird ecology, endophytes, and the behavioural ecology of euglossine bees.
Pura vida,
PJ
Cyra Myriam JuarezB.
Es un honor contar con un investigador sensible a la ecodiversidad de Centroamérica, estudioso de especies tan importantes para la humanidad. Adelante!