Juan Ignacio Ramirez

My research aim is to understand both how consumers respond to resources and how resources respond to consumers, with wild ungulates as the central part of the equation and across different biomes: Arctic, Boreal, Temperate and Tropical. I implement a wide set of methods to uncover the driving mechanisms in ecological research, including camera traps, artificial predator cues, vegetation plots, invertebrate traps and litter bags.

Research projects

I study the response of Arctic vegetation to environmental drivers, specifically how shrubs and trees expand or shrink their distribution as a response to warmer ambient temperatures and to herbivory by ungulates. This also includes the cascading effects that these interactions have on lower trophic levels and ecosystem processes. I also work on a new line of research: employing “Applied Ecology of Fear” to promote human-wildlife coexistence in Sweden and other European countries. I achieve this by artificially inducing predator cues to the environment and monitoring wildlife behavioural responses with camera traps and drones. I also hold a guest researcher position at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador).

Background

I have a double BSc. in Applied Ecology and Biology from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2006-2010), for which I followed specialize courses in ecology at The University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia - 2009). During this time, I quantified the behavioral responses of woolly monkeys to human presence in the Amazon rainforest. I obtained my MSc. in Biology (2013-2015) and PhD in Ecology (2015-2019) from Wageningen University and Research (The Netherlands). My research focused on understanding how wild ungulates shape the structure, composition and succession of temperate forests. Shortly after my PhD, I landed a short postdoc position at Wageningen University and Research and in 2020, I did a 2.5-year postdoc at Umeå University (Sweden). My research focused on the potential of large herbivores to shape the composition and diversity of Arctic ecosystems and prevent the expansion of the treeline. In 2023, worked as a researcher at SLU to implement artificial predator cues to drive deer away from areas of human-wildlife conflict.