Participating researchers PUCE

Renato Valencia (Steering commitee member)

Ecologist, botanist, specialist in forest dynamics and demography of trees. Carried out research in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and worked with environmentally sustainable and culturally acceptable solutions for native settlements in Yasuni National Park. From 2002 to 2004 he was Scientific Director of the National Organization of Science and Technology in Ecuador, and he organized a science and technology program that included environmental sustainable projects and biodiversity as a transversal activity. His scientific production includes publications in prominent journals and two books about conservation and ecology of Ecuadorian plants.

Hugo Navarrete

Botanist with special interest in diversity, taxonomy and the ecology of Ecuadorian vegetation. He has participated in several international projects; including Biodiversity of Economically Important Species in the Andes; a collaboration between Bolivia, Ecuador and Denmark, and the Yasuní Forest Dynamics (2002–2004). He leads the project to digitize the Herbarium collection, and make it available on the Internet. As Director of the Herbarium QCA, he is interested in linking scientific activities with external actors such as the Government, NGOs, local Governments, education institutes, and private companies. Dissemination is a major interest, and he is in charge of an education programme informing about flora, endemic species, and wild flowers; also through a pedagogic video about plant evolution.

Rommel Montufar

Botanist specialized in palms and associated researcher in QCA. The title of his master thesis from Aarhus University is Biogeography of the Amazon Palms and his Ph.D from the Ecole Agricole de Montpellier (France), is on molecular phylogeny, genetic diversity and biochemical variability of Amazonian palms. His main scientific interests are genetic diversity of tropical palms and their economic potentials.

Lucia de la Torre

Ethnobotanist specialized in biodiversity informatics and web-based presentation of data about useful plants. She has worked in ethnoecology of vines used by Maya people in Southeast Mexico, and in the relative importance of socioeconomic and ecological factors in determining plant use patterns in Ecuador. Her scientific production includes a catalogue of more than 5000 useful plants from Ecuador and its associated database driven internet portal.