Head of the Bird Ecology Lab, and Director of the Quempillén Experimental Station, in Ancud, Chiloé (Chile), home of AustralAVEX experimental aviaries designed and equipped with leading edge technology, which allows for advanced research, mainly in the disciplines of ecophysiology, ecotoxicology, and behavioral ecology. Within UACh, he is part of the Faculty Board in different Graduate Programs, is a member of the Marine Biology School Council, and also of the Bioethics Subcommittee for the Use of Animals in Experimentation.

He is also a member of the Editorial Panel at the Journal for Nature Conservation, as well as performing as occasional Copy Editor at publications such as Animal Conservation, Aquatic Conservation, Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, Biological Conservation, Bird Conservation International, Ecological Modeling, Ecology and Evolution, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Wildlife Management, PLoS ONE, Science of the Total Environment, among others. Currently, he is also an elected member of the Arctic Migratory Bird Initiative (AMBI) – Planning Group 4 (Reducing the threat of rice crops and shrimp farming in South America).

Office & Lab: Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Isla Teja s/n, Valdivia, Chile

AustralAVEX: Estación Experimental Quempillén, Ancud, Chiloé, Chile Telephone: +56 63 2 292550

Email: jgnavedo (at) uach.cl

A professional wildlife illustrator, he has designed and elaborated numerous environmental divulgation and educational materials, for diverse projects and institutions. Special select publications include the book “Aves de Chile – Sus Islas Oceánicas y Península Antártica. Una guía de campo ilustrada” (Chilean Birds – Oceanic Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, an Illustrated Field Guide), and others such as “Aves Rapaces de Chile” (Chilean Birds of Prey), and “Guía de campo de las aves y mamíferos marinos del Sur de Chile” (Field Guide of Marine Birds and Mammals in Southern Chile).

Lab: Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Isla Teja s/n, Valdivia, Chile

Telephone: +56 63 2 292550

Email: jorgeruiz00 (at) gmail.com

Gabriela did her M.Sc project evaluating the early response in two bird species after management of a secondary forest in the south of Chile. Led the EXPLORA project (scientific-educational) titled “Abramos Nuestros Laboratorios” (spanish for let us open our laboratories). In 2018 joined a team that updated census estimates of tropical bird fauna in a forest part of the Manu National Park, Peru.

Lab: Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Isla Teja s/n, Valdivia, Chile

Telephone: +56 63 2482157

Email: gaby.biscarra(at)gmail.com

Her work has focused on research and conservation projects in coastal ecosystems in South America, studying primarily the ecology of aquatic migratory birds, considering trophic aspects and habitat usage patterns in different spatial and temporal scales. To date, she has published over ten articles, including publications in SCI magazines, book appendixes and chapters in the fields of ornithology, ecology, and biodiversity conservation. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Coastal Solutions program (www.solucionescosteras.org). In that context, she carries out research regarding the distribution, abundance, trophic requirements, and physiology of shorebirds who spend their non-reproductive periods in Chiloé, in association with the Lab, and focusing on the potential effects of marine algae farming and collection. These studies will be the basis to generate an adaptive management model that makes it possible to reduce the impact of aquaculture on shorebirds on a global scale.

Email: nanusmc (at) gmail.com

Sex-specific mortality patterns have been well described in some animals groups such as mammals, where several organismal and life-history variables explain why females tend to survive better than males. In birds, however, despite knowing for decades that males survive better than females in the wild, we still don’t the drivers of it.

I have addressed this question from several perspectives, including theoretical approach using variables such as sex ratios, mating systems, sexual dimorphism, etc., as well as proximate variables including mostly parasite infection and immunology.

An important part of my work involved phylogenetic comparative methods and meta-analysis, however more recently I have been focussing on species-specific model studies, i.e. shorebirds.

I was involved in an ÉLVONAL project, funded by the Hungarian government that tried to understand the associations between sex-roles and population demography, and everything in between, in shorebirds. Recently I led an INTERACT project trying to link mating system theory with sex-specific immunity using shorebirds in Iceland. Currently I am a FONDECYT postdoctoral fellow(2022-2025) at the Universidad Austral de Chile, leading a project on the Two-banded plover (Charadrius falklandicus) to investigate the trade-offs between attraction investment and immune function. This project is in association with the Centro de Humedales Río Cruces (CEHUM) and the Bird Ecology Lab, Universidad Austral de Chile.

Though the majority of my work has been conducted on shorebirds, I am happy to apply these intriguing theories to other model systems.

Key words: immunology, transcriptomics, DEG, meta-analysis, phylogeny, wader.

Research Gate

email: j.valdebenito.ch (at) gmail.com

He joined the Lab towards the end of 2014, interested in obtaining scientific tools to take on issues that relate to bird ecology and conservation. In this context, he participated in the Master’s of Science program at UACh, with a specialty in Applied Ecology, working in a research project with Nearctic migratory birds, in Mazatlan, Mexico, financed by Environment Canada. He is currently a CONICYT fellow, in his first year as a PhD candidate, with a specialty in ecology and evolution, at UACh. He has began developing his doctoral thesis on factors relating to time-space connectivity and interaction between predator and prey in long-distance migratory bird populations, using the Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica as a model for study.

Email: ebassoq (at) gmail.com

She has been part of the Lab since 2016. She did her undergraduate project on the effect of antibiotics commonly used by salmon farms on the gut microbiota of Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) in Chiloé. She also has contributed to several fieldwork activities and science outreach. Among the fields that most interest her highlight ecology, migration and conservation. Currently she is developing her doctoral project on factors that determine partial migration in waders of the southern cone.

email: vale.arayag(at)gmail.com

He did his undergraduate project at the Bird Ecology Lab, studying the ecological aspects of staging prior migration of the Rufous-chested dotterel, a Neotropical shorebird. Currently he is studying a MSc focussing on the effects of parasite infection along the annual cycle of the Rufous-chested dotterel and the Two-banded plover, two Neotropical shorebirds that breed in the far south of the Southern Cone.

email: simonmaldonado.oyarzo(at)gmail.com