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Faculty & Researchers
Postdoctoral Employee
FMAP Project: Global Analysis of Coral Reef Diversity and Conservation
215 Vaughan Hall
Research Interests
My research is aimed to improve our understanding of processes that generate, maintain and affect biodiversity and upon that knowledge design and evaluate strategies for the protection of biodiversity (see diagram below). The rational is that achieving effective protection of biodiversity requires basic knowledge on 1) how human activities affect biodiversity and 2) how biodiversity is regulated and maintained over time. The former piece of knowledge provides the arguments to control certain threats whereas the later helps to prioritize limited conservation resources on key locations. In addition, my research also focuses on the assessment of strategies that are already in place for the conservation of biodiversity. It is always my interest to address those issues at the widest spatial scales possible.
Causality of threats.
Many marine and terrestrial species are in the slippery slope to extinction due to human related threats such as overexploitation, habitat loss and climate change. Unfortunately, there is significant uncertainty on the actual causality of these threats, which in turn has generated strong controversies but more importantly has precluded the development of earnest mitigation policies. This part of my research uses experimental approaches to evaluate the effects and mechanisms by which human-related threats lead to population declines and threat species with extinction.
Causes of biodiversity.
Describing and explaining spatial patterns in species richness are longstanding goals in ecology. Interest in these goals has gained momentum due to escalating anthropogenic impacts, and the need to prioritize limited conservation resources on key areas and hotspots of extinction-prone species. This part of my research uses meta-analysis approaches to describe patterns and test the causality of potential hypotheses. I use a wide variety of spatial statistics, Geographical Information Systems and Visual Basic programming to construct accurate patterns and develop rigorous tests of mechanistic hypotheses.
Development of conservation strategies and assessment of their effectiveness. Conservations strategies should be preceded by rigorous basic science if such strategies are expected to be effective. Unfortunately, such basic science is being developed at the same time that biodiversity is being loss. This has prompted the creation of regulations with rational but poor scientific sustentation. As a result, the success of such regulations is an open question. This part of my research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies that are in place for the protection of biodiversity. I use meta-analysis approaches and scientific surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of existing strategies in terms of compliance, enforcement and biological response.
Publications
Mora C., Metzker R., Rollo A,. Myers R.A . (2007) Experimental simulations about the effects of habitat fragmentation and overexploitation on populations facing environmental warming. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 274, 1023- 1028
Mora, C. and M.F. Maya. 2006. Effect of the rate of temperature increase of the dynamic method on the heat tolerance of fishes. Journal of Thermal Biology. 31: 337-341.
Mora, C. and D. Robertson. 2005. Causes of latitudinal gradients in
species richness: a test with fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Ecology. 86: 1771-1792.
Hogan, D. and C. Mora. 2005. Experimental assessment of the importance
of swimming and drifting to the displacement of reef fish larvae. Marine Biology. 147: 1213-1220.
Mora, C. and D. Robertson. 2005. Factors shaping the ranges size
frequency distribution of fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Journal of Biogeography. 32: 277-286.
Ospina, A.F. and C. Mora. 2004. Effect of body size on the thermal tolerance of reef fishes. Environmental Biology of Fishes. 70: 339-343.
Mora, C., P. Chittaro, P.F. Sale, J. Kritzer, and S. Ludsin. 2003. Patterns and processes in reef fish diversity. Nature. 421: 933-936. Comments in Nature by Kevin Gaston.
Mora C. and P.F. Sale. 2002. Are populations of coral reef fishes open or closed? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 17: 422-428. * Ranked by ISI as one of the 20 most cited papers on coral reef ecology.
Mora, C. and A.F. Ospina. 2002. Experimental effects of cold, La Ni a
temperatures in the survival of reef fishes from Gorgona Island
(eastern Pacific Ocean). Marine Biology. 141: 789-793.
Mora, C. and F. Zapata. 2002. Effects of a predatory fish on the
abundance and body size of early post-settled reef fishes from Gorgona
Island (Eastern Pacific). Proceedings of the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium, Bali, Indonesia. 1: 475-480.
Mora, C. and F. Ospina. 2001. Thermal tolerance and potential impact of
sea warming on reef fishes from Gorgona island (eastern Pacific Ocean).
Marine Biology. 139: 765-769.
Mora, C., V. Francisco, and F. Zapata. 2001. Dispersal of juvenile and
adult reef fishes associated with floating objects and their
recruitment into Gorgona Island reefs. Bulletin of Marine Science. 68: 557-561.
Mora C. 2001. Dispersal of reef fishes by rafting. Reef Encounter. 29: 16-17.
Mora C., J. Jimenez and F. Zapata. 2000. Pontinus clemensi (Pisces: Scorpaenidae) at Malpelo island, Colombia. New specimen and geographic range extension. Bulletin of Marine and Coastal Research. 29: 85-88.
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