Statement of Interest

Dear Dr Koprowski

Attending your requirement for a graduate assistanship in the study of occupancy and habitat
use of Big Cypress Fox Squirrels, I want to demnstrate my deep interest in pursuing this
position.
I am a Colombian biologist interested in the ecology of birds and mammals in the North Andes.
In the last five years, I have been very intrigued about the effects of human disturbances on
animal behavior. In my undergraduate thesis, I tested how a community composed by one
species bird, at least two rodent species and one opossum species, organize in a forest
fragment limited by a pine plantation and a grassland area. Here, I found clear differences in
habitat preferences and hypothesize that this responses are due to competition and predation
mechanisms that are acting in consequence of the altered ecosystem.
Following the idea to know how animal populations organize in altered Andean ecosystems,
during the last two years, I have been conducting a study in the transition forest-paramo. Here,
I am evaluating habitat preferences between two habitats used by an endemic rodent species,
Thomasomys niveipes. The methods used in these studies follow those to analyze habitat
quality like giving up densities and habitat selection with isodars.
This projects have been worked with the collaboration of my undergraduated advisor, Francisco
Sanchez, who did his doctoral studies in the Negev University in Israel under the supervission of
Berry Pinshow.
Throughout my field work, I have had the opportunity to learn from expert local people about
the recognition of signal record of animals like pathways, fingerprints, and cues. For example, I
have had the experience in looking for rastros of medium and big mammals such as foxes,
armadillos, guaches, opposums, ardillas, felinos, y oso de anteojos.

In Colombia there is an urgent necessity of experts in management of wildlife due to the

continuos high level of fragmentation and the consequent reduction of the disposable habitat
for the fauna. Adequate management plans will help to conserve the high biodiversity of my
country. This is my main future goal, to apply the knowledge learned in a country with the
experience in conservation issues.
For this reason, I want to be part of your equipment