Members of my research group use a combination of ecology, economics, and policy research to find innovative ways to protect biodiversity around the world. Recent or ongoing projects include: conservation of migratory animals in North America and Asia; impacts of hunting and the wildlife trade on biodiversity; effects of land-use change and climate change on biodiversity in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Amazon; conservation of coral reefs; and nature-based climate solutions. Although many people in my research group have studied birds, we study all sorts of plants and animals, including reptiles, mammals, fish, dung beetles, and butterflies (but nothing too small to be seen with the naked eye). Prior to joining the Princeton faculty in 2001, I served as senior ecologist with the Environmental Defense Fund (1991-2001) and The Wilderness Society (1986-1991). I am an avid birdwatcher who has shamelessly used his students’ and postdocs’ research projects as a justification to chase rare birds from Brazil to Brunei and from China to Costa Rica.

I am an ecologist with a primary focus on the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. My ongoing research at C-PREE addresses how riparian vegetation can be managed to enhance its buffering potential against the impacts of land use on freshwater systems, while also supporting terrestrial biodiversity in tropical regions. I obtained my PhD in Ecology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS - Brazil), enriched by a split tenure in the University of Washington (School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences - Julian Olden’s lab). In the last few years, I was a visiting Professor in the Ecology and Evolution program of the Federal University of Goias (UFG) and before that I was a postdoc at the same University.

My research interests lie at the intersection of agricultural economics and conservation science. Specifically, I hope to apply methods from agricultural economics to answer questions related to biodiversity. Some of my previous work examined the causal impact of afforestation programs on income inequality among forest farm households in Taiwan. I have also examined the causal impact of COVID-19 on metro use in Taiwan. In the future, the research questions that I hope to answer include how conservation policies affect farmland and farm households. I am also interested in studying the impact of agricultural production on biodiversity.

I completed a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics on a Fulbright Grant at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. I also have a B.S. in Economics from the University of California, Davis.

I am a field ecologist with broad interests in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. My main research aims to understand how human-induced disturbances impact biodiversity. My PhD work looked at how urbanization affects stress responses and various levels of niche characteristics of passerine birds in subtropical environments in Southwest China. For my postdoc, I am working with Prof. David Wilcove to try to understand the effects of hunting or trapping on populations of birds, especially those birds migrate along the East Asian- Australasia Flyway.

Prior to Princeton, I received my PhD degree in Zoology from Sun Yat-sen University (2018), and received my master degree in Zoology (2015) and my bachelor degree in Wildlife and Nature Reserve Management (2012) from Southwest Forestry University in China. Read more about my research on my website: https://dan-liang.weebly.com/

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the areas of overlap between conservation ecology, applied behavioral science, data analytics, and environmental policy. My research focuses on the manifold ways science (and policy) can provide enduring, effective, efficient, and equitable solutions to problems in ecology, biology, and the environment, and increasingly in the context of coral reef ecosystems and their conservation. From fishermen to college freshmen to you and me, we all stand to gain from our planet's well-being and suffer in its deterioration. As such, my research tackles the alignment issue of how we can make the right thing to do the easy thing to do in stakeholders.

I obtained my undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton in 2016, where I conducted research assessing the relative roles of fish assemblages and sea urchins (Diadema antillarum) on Caribbean coral reef health for my Senior Thesis. In the time following, I spent a year on a Princeton in Asia fellowship teaching at a boarding school in Thailand, a year conducting behavioral research on gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada) in the highlands of Ethiopia, and several months surveying coral reefs in Dominica and hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in California, Oregon, and Washington. In my spare time, you can find me scuba diving, snowboarding, hiking, taking pictures of wildlife, or playing most sports.

I am a researcher deeply fascinated by biodiversity, conservation science, and bird migration. My approach often utilizes data-driven methods to investigate the impacts of global changes—such as climate change, land cover alteration, and species invasions—on biodiversity and ecosystems. My work blends ecological modeling and data analysis, aiming to enhance the effectiveness of conservation policies and to develop comprehensive conservation strategies. Notably, I have conducted evaluations of the extinction risks facing vertebrates worldwide, with a particular focus on herpetofauna and bird species.

I earned my Ph.D. from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where I also completed my first postdoctoral position. As I continue my postdoctoral journey with the Drongos at Princeton, I am motivated by the goal of promoting a harmonious relationship between humans and nature through my research on Nature-Based Climate Solutions. My research is dedicated to influencing conservation policies and practices from a local to a global scale, striving to create a sustainable future for both nature and humanity.

My research interests lie in the field of avian ecology and conservation, especially that of shorebirds migrating along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Combining field study, individual tracking and mathematical modeling, I plan to identify the factors affecting their selections of migration routes and stopover sites, and to see whether the understanding of shorebirds migration patterns can be extended to that of other migratory birds.

Prior to joining the Drongos, I received my B.S. from Peking University in 2014, and during my time there, I became an avid birdwatcher and also became aware of the conservation issues pertaining to birds and other organisms.

I am interested in conservation science and policy, with a particular emphasis on conservation social science and wildlife trade. My research aims to examine the complex structure of wildlife trade, particularly the socio-ecological dimensions of wildlife trade in Indonesia, and potentially elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Regarding taxa, I am interested in looking at species beyond charismatic megafauna.

Prior to joining Princeton, I worked for Wildlife Works Carbon to do research and develop technical documents on the implementation of REDD+ projects in relation to the certification and trade of carbon credits. I also have working experience with TRAFFIC, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, and World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia as a researcher looking at environmental crimes, notably illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining. I completed an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management at Mansfield College, University of Oxford as an Oxford-Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Scholar (2022) and a BSc in Geography from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia (2018).

I am an ecologist and conservationist with a general interest in understanding and conserving birds and their habitats, from mudflats to mountains. My research interests lie in the ecology and conservation of migratory birds, with a particular focus on the anthropogenic impacts to migratory landbirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Prior to joining the Drongos, I worked as a research assistant at Peking University investigating the breeding and migration ecology of Wood Snipe (which is a perfect combination of shorebird and landbird!). I completed my BSc at Fudan University, China and MSc at the University of Queensland, Australia studying migratory shorebird ecology and conservation at both flyway and global scales. I am also an avid birdwatcher and a semi-professional soccer player outside of work.

Christian J. Rivera is an Environmental Teaching Fellow and Postdoctoral Research Associate in the High Meadows Environmental Institute and is affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His interdisciplinary research program draws on his training in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology and the conservation social sciences. He holds a PhD from the University of Florida, an MA from Columbia University, and a BA from Princeton University. Rivera’s work aims to advance theory and practice under three broad themes: human-wildlife relations and interactions, dynamics of social-ecological systems, and conservation science. He has over ten years of experience working on issues of endangered species conservation, wildlife hunting and trade, biocultural approaches to conservation, and ethnoprimatology in the U.S., Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Rivera’s current research integrates approaches in anthropology and conservation biology to understand issues of wildlife utilization, consumption, and trade in human-dominated environments, notably in the urbanizing Amazon and New York City. His work applies social-ecological systems approaches towards the conservation of biological and biocultural diversity in a rapidly changing, interconnected, and urbanizing world. At Princeton he teaches courses on interdisciplinary conservation science (FRS 109: The Wildlife Trade; ENV/ANT/EEB 307: Systems Approaches to Conservation).

I am a PhD student advised by David Wilcove in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) program at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. My work focuses on the intersection of land use, climate impacts, and conservation ecology, with a particular focus on plant communities. I’m interested in understanding the interaction between climate change, development pressures, and conservation outcomes, and how policy implementation impacts the effectiveness of conservation mechanisms at different scales under climate change.

I graduated from the University of Chicago with bachelors in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies in 2018 and spent a year doing ecological field research focused on the impact of climate change on plant community phenology in central Florida scrub ecosystems. Prior to coming to Princeton, I spent three years working in local government in California, developing more data-driven, comprehensive approaches to flood resilience and endangered species management for a community in the Bay Area. I also worked as a Carbon Farm Planner for the Alameda County Resource Conservation District, helping local ranches and vineyards integrate carbon sequestration practices into their farming.

I am interested in how humans are changing where biodiversity is distributed around the world, and my dissertation research is focused on exploring and understanding global biological change at various spatio-temporal scales. I work with bird communities in isolated forest fragments in the southern Brazilian Amazon to study the mechanisms underlying gradual species loss following local reductions in habitat area. At a broader scale, I use a combination of computational and mathematical approaches to understand how patterns of macroecological change are caused by economic development and trade globalization.

My scientific interests stem from a long-time interest in birds, reptiles, and amphibians, and I approach much of science from an understanding of these organisms. I am an avid birdwatcher, and I enjoy participating in birding competitions, working on my life list when I travel for fieldwork, and exploring nature in the more remote corners of New Jersey (they exist!). Before coming to Princeton, I did my undergrad at Cornell University, where I graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences. At Cornell, I worked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on various projects, including writing species accounts for South American birds in the Merlin bird ID app. After that, I worked in Pete Marra’s migratory ecology lab at Georgetown University, before moving to Princeton and joining the Drongos.