Ecology of Arid ecosystems Long-term socio-ecological research

I am co-tutoring two graduate students and one master's student.
Pilar Fernández, Ph.D. program on Integrative Ecology, Universidad Mayor
Tatiana Caldera, Ph.D. program on Arid Ecosystems Ecology, Universidad de La Serena
Jazmín Quiroz, Master's program on Arid Ecosystems Ecology, Universidad de La Serena
Furthermore, I am an associate professor in the Applied Biology and Ecology Ph.D. program (UCN) and the Ph.D. and Master's program on Arid Ecosystems Ecology (ULS).

I was born in Bolivia and, in 2002, earned my bachelor's degree in Biology at the University of San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia. That same year I came to Chile with a LANBIO fellowship in the Chemical Ecology lab, led by Dr. Hermann Niemeyer, Universidad de Chile. I entered the Ph.D. Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the Universidad de Chile, from which I graduated in 2012. From 2012 to 2015, I worked as a postdoc under the direction of Dr. Angéline Bertin and did a landscape genetics study. In 2015 I was invited to collaborate with Dr. Julio Gutiérrez, Founder and then Director of Fray Jorge LTSER, as Co-PI of FONDECYT Grant 1160026. In 2019, I assumed the role of Director of LTSER Fray Jorge. Among my main initiatives, 1) I started to deliver monthly briefs of fieldwork monitoring data for CONAF, 2) started a collaboration with Dr. Maldonado and Dr. Charles Davis of Harvard University to study the historical patterns of plant phenology across 10 years of various wet and dry years in Fray Jorge (DRCLAS-HARVARD-UAI Grant), and 3) focused on the historical databases of predator diet contents and built predator-prey interaction bipartite networks. One of the significant findings of my research within the LTSER is that the dynamics of predator-prey network parameters do not fluctuate in association with the bottom-up temporal dynamics of the small-mammal community. Based on these initial findings, we started the research line focused of trophic ecology dynamics coupled with resource variability through the food web under the influence of extreme climate variability.

Scientific Conferences
Fernández IC, Maldonado K, Koplow-Villavicencio T, Troncoso AJ, Sabat P, Ricote N, Newsome SD, Kartzinel TR, Kelt DA, Meserve PL. Differential response of small mammals´ species to interannual variability of vegetation biomass in a semiarid ecosystem of Chile, ESA Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, USA
Espinoza M, Weinberger C, Maldonado K, Sabat P, Fernandez IC, Newsome SD, Kartzinel TR, Troncoso AJ, Kelt DA. Niche partitioning among populations of small mammals in a stochastic dryland environment. ESA Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, USA
Fernandez MP, Weinberger C, Maldonado K, Troncoso AJ, Cartes J, Park D, Davis C. Plant phenological responses to climate in a semiarid mediterranean biome. ESA Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, USA
Fernandez MP, Alfaro F, Troncoso AJ, Craven D, Gutierrez JR, Kelt DA, Meserve P. Efecto de los herbívoros en la estructura y composición de las comunidades de plantas anuales y del banco de semillas del suelo en un ecosistema árido. Sociedad de Ecología Annual Meeting 2021, Online.
Troncoso AJ. Invited expositor: Harvard-UAI Collaborative Research Grant Series presents: Flowering in the desert shrubland". Online event.
Troncoso AJ. Invited expositor: Landscape genetics of high Andean wetlands. Evidence-based knowledge towards their conservation. 5th Annual Meeting of the Bolivian Organization of Women in Science. Women and Science: an advancing symbiosis. 2018, Chuquisaca, Bolivia.

Social Outreach
I have been committed to social outreach since my undergrad studies. I have been a member of the Programa para la Conservación de Murciélagos de Bolivia – PCMB since 1997, and I maintain my remote interaction with current members. My Master's student, Jazmín Quiroz, is from Bolivia and is a member of this Conservation Program.
During my graduate studies, I acted as LANBIO fellows counselor at the Ecological Chemistry Laboratory. I participated in organizing courses and scientific events related to intentional collaboration, including its representation in the International Science Program/SIDA meeting held in 2005. From 2016 to 2019 I lived in Bolivia. I joined the Organization of Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) in 2009, and with other female scientists from Chile formalized the foundation of the Chilean chapter of the OWSD and assumed the role of Director of the Chilean chapter of OWSD. Together we are working for the visibilization of fellow women researchers within and outside academia, mostly early career women, undergrad, and teenage girls that want to go into a scientific path.

2009. Latin American Network for Research in Bioactive Natural Compounds (LANBIO): Past, Present and Future. Network Conference Regional and Interregional Cooperation to Strengthen Basic Sciences in Developing Countries, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
2018. Member of the Academic committee in charge of developing a strategic methodological guide for the enhancement of science teaching in the public schools of Bolivia. Viceministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Ministerio de Educación, Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.
2018. Education Coordinator. Programa para la Conservación de Murciélagos de Bolivia – PCMB.
2017. Member of the Academic Scientific Committee of the Scientific Fair of the 7th Scientific Student Olympics of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Viceministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Ministerio de Educación, Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.

Participation on press and news media
https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/opinion/2021/09/30/regar-el-desierto-destruyendo-el-patrimonio-natural-y-evolutivo-de-chile/
https://codexverde.cl/por-primera-vez-en-chile-se-consolida-programa-de-unesco-para-la-formacion-de-cientificas/
https://www.cultura.gob.cl/agendacultural/proyecto-artcc-prepara-cierre-del-ciclo-formativo-2022/ (invited expositor)
https://laderasur.com/articulo/descubriendo-los-loros-nativos-de-chile-un-mundo-carismatico-y-de-mucho-color/
Challenges and opportunities for women in science in Chile and Latin America (https://youtu.be/MsDYXjcVYHk)