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CURRICULUM
VITAE
(last updated April 2011)
(printable pdf)
I. EDUCATION
Ph.D. 2008. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke
University, Durham NC, USA. Advisor: Dr. John Terborgh.
Dissertation: "Fruit to sapling: an ontogenetically integrated study of tree
recruitment in an Amazonian rainforest".
B.A. 2001. Environmental Studies, magna cum
laude, Connecticut College, New London CT, USA.
II. CURRENT RESEARCH
INTERESTS
Tree recruitment patterns and processes in
lowland tropical rainforests, plant-animal interactions, effects of hunting-induced
defaunation on plant regeneration.
III. PUBLICATIONS
Swamy, V., J. Terborgh, K.D. Dexter, B.D. Best, P. Alvarez, F. Cornejo. 2011. Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters 14:195-201.
Swamy, V. & Terborgh, J. 2010. Distance-responsive natural enemies strongly influence seedling establishment patterns of multiple species in an Amazonian rainforest. Journal of Ecology 98:1096-1107.
Terborgh, J., G. Nuñez-Ituri,
N. Pitman, F.H. Cornejo Valverde, P. Alvarez, V. Swamy, B. Pringle, C. E.T. Paine.
2008. Tree
recruitment in an empty forest. Ecology
89(6): 1757-68.
Swamy,
V., P.E. Fell, M. Body, M.B.
Keaney, M.K. Nyaku, E.C. McIlvain, A.L. Keen. 2002. Macroinvertebrates and
fish populations in a restored impounded salt marsh 21 years after the
re-establishment of tidal flooding. Environmental
Management 29(4): 516-530.
Warren, R. S., P. E. Fell, R. Rozsa, A. H. Brawley, A. C. Orsted, E. T.
Olson, V. Swamy,
W. A. Niering. 2002. Salt marsh restoration in Connecticut: 20 years of
science and management. Restoration
Ecology 10(3): 497-513.
IV. GRANTS &
FELLOWSHIPS
Postdoctoral (2008-)
- Conservation, Food and Health Foundation Research
Grant ($25,000)
- National Science Foundation DEB 0742830 (co-authored with
Dr. John Terborgh) ($400,000)
- Wildlife Conservation Society Research Fellowship
Program ($20,000)
- Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) Postdoctoral
Seed Grant ($10,000)
Doctoral
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field
Research, American Philosophical Society - 2007. ($2700)
- Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) Graduate
Research Grant - 2006, 2005. ($4765 total)
- Francis Bossuyt Fellowship, Organization for Tropical
Studies - 2004. ($3000)
- Duke University Graduate School Research Travel
Grants - 2006, 2003-04. ($6600 total)
- Mellon Research Travel Grant, Duke University Center
for Latin American and Caribbean Studies - 2006, 2002-04. ($4750 total)
- Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research Award - 2006.
($700)
Predoctoral
- Mellon Science Foundation Grant for Undergraduate
Research - 1999. ($3000)
V. HONORS AND AWARDS
Rankin Award for Best
Undergraduate Student Presentation - New England Estuarine Research Society
(NEERS) Spring 2000 conference, Portland, Maine.
VI. OTHER RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE
2002
Pollination
ecology in a fragmented ecosystem
- examined the direct and
indirect impacts of habitat fragmentation on plant-pollinator interactions in
Bolivar State, Venezuela with a focus on plant reproductive success, inferred
though data collected on pollination frequency, fruit set and seed set.
1999-2001
Salt
Marsh Restoration
- examined restoration of
invertebrate and fish populations on formerly impounded salt marshes in Barn
Island Wildlife Management Area, Stonington, CT, USA.
VII. TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2010: Co-Instructor, ENV 217: Tropical Ecology, Duke University, Spring 2010.
2007: Co-Instructor, Amazonian Forest
Ecology & Ethnobotany field course, Connecticut College in Peru Fall 2007
study abroad program.
2007: Course Instructor, ENV 298.77: Topics in Tropical Forest
Ecology and Conservation, Spring 2007, Duke University.
2002-06: Teaching Assistant, ENV 217: Tropical Ecology (course taught by
Dr. John Terborgh), Duke University.
VIII. RELATED
EXPERIENCE
2000:
Research Intern, Center for
Science and Environment, New Delhi, India.
- conducted fieldwork in the
Himalayan foothills of Uttaranchal State, northern India.
- submitted a detailed report:
"Ecological and
socio-economic implications of the decline in traditional agroecosystems and
agricultural biodiversity in Uttaranchal State, northern India".
IX. PRESENTATIONS AT
SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
Swamy, V. 2010. Tree recruitment patterns across an 85,000 sq.km western Amazonian river basin. Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference, Bali, Indonesia.
Swamy, V. 2010. A basin-wide study of seed rain patterns in lowland western Amazonia. 5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal, Montpellier, France.
Swamy, V. 2008. Tropical tree recruitment: dispersal is critical, density is a red herring, distance is the key. Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference, Paramaribo, Suriname.
Swamy, V. 2007. Pervasive distance effects (and not conspecific density per se) control early-stage tree recruitment in an Amazonian rainforest. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), San Jose, California.
Swamy, V. and J. Terborgh. 2007. Community-level distance effects are pervasive through multiple stages of tree recruitment in an Amazonian rainforest. Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference, Morelia, Mexico.
Swamy, V. and J. Terborgh. 2005. From fruit to sapling: constructing an integrated picture of tropical tree recruitment. Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference, Uberlandia, Brazil.
Swamy, V. and P.E. Fell. 2000. Macroinvertebrates and fish populations in a restored impounded salt marsh 21 years after the re-establishment of tidal flooding. New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) Spring Conference, Portland, Maine.
X. INVITED TALKS AND
SEMINARS
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & Environment, Bangalore, India. January 20, 2010.
Center for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India. January 21, 2010.
National Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India. January 22, 2010.
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA. May 9, 2006.
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. May 11, 2006.
All images are property of Varun Swamy, copyright
protected.
Last updated: May 1, 2011.
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