Luciana Alves, Ph.D.
Assistant Researcher
Center for Tropical Research
UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
La Kretz Hall, Suite 300
619 Charles E. Young Dr. East
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Luciana Alves is a plant ecologist working on fundamental questions regarding the role of biological and environmental drivers of the ecological dynamics of tropical forests. She is interested in the structure and carbon dynamics of tropical forests, plant population ecology, and the effects of habitat fragmentation on tree species richness and abundance, emphasizing forest regeneration. Her research is conducted primarily in Amazon and Atlantic forest sites in Brazil.
Over the past years, she established diverse collaborations across universities and research institutions, mostly in Brazil and United States. She has worked previously as a senior research scientist at Institute of Botany and Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAC) in Brazil, as a Research Associate at University of Colorado, as a Consulting Scientist for NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network), and as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow for the NSF PIRE Program in Amazon-Climate Interactions at University of Arizona.