2018

I am Brazilian, graduated in Biological Science from Federal University of Lavras in 2012. During my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to engage with small mammal (volant and non-volant) ecology and conservation research in the two most threatened Brazilian ecosystems: the Brazilian savanna and Atlantic Forest.

After graduation, I joined the Iauaretê Project at Institute for Sustainable Development Mamirauá for two years. The project studies jaguar (Panthera onca) ecology and promotes its conservation in Central Amazonia through three different research lines: population dynamics, habitat use, and human-carnivore conflict. While in Iauaretê Project, I learned a range of population monitoring technics, including camera trapping, telemetry tracking, and social surveys with local communities to address human-carnivore conflict issues.

In 2017, still in collaboration with the Iauaretê Project, I completed my Master’s degree in Ecology at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA). My dissertation was entitled ‘Spatial dynamics of medium- and large-sized mammal assemblages in Várzea and Terra Firme forests, Central Amazonia, Brazil’.

During the Diploma, I hope to improve my skills in GIS and data analysis, as well as in scientific writing. I intend to develop a project focused on population density estimation of unmarked species in the Amazonian Rainforest. In addition, I believe that this experience in WildCRU will be extremely valuable in helping me to develop ideas for a future PhD in wildlife conservation, and to become an independent researcher.

Update September 2019

Guilherme is employed in the National Institute for Amazonian Research, and is helping to coordinate the Felines Ecology and Conservation Group.