Frederico Maria Chaves Fernandes Neto Barroso

After completing my Zoology MSc degree form the University of Glasgow in 2017 I have focused on furthering my skills as a field herpetologist working with international organisations such as Operation Wallacea, on a span of herpetofauna, ranging from anurans to crocodilians. In the meantime I was slowly developing and maturing the project I intended to undertake for my PhD while acquiring the necessary skills and establishing a good network of contacts willing to assist in the project.

I am now doing my PhD under the Supervision of Dr Miguel A. Carretero from CIBIO-InBIO and Dr Ronis da Silveira from Universidade Federal do Amazonas (Brazil). My main research interests include: crocodilian ecology and conservation, ectotherm thermalecology as well as developing and testing new, non-invasive methods of collecting data (e.g. internal body temperature) from live animals. Hence, my PhD project focuses on studying the ecology of Paleosuchus, a genus of dwarf neotropical crocodilians, with a particular focus on their thermal ecology and how their thermoregulatory strategy may be affected by the presence of larger sympatric species of caiman. My main study site is a large extent of Varzea forest in the Peruvian Amazon where the two species of Paleosuchus, and two other species of caiman, all occur in sympatry.

With my project I aim to further the knowledge of these species’ ecology in order to better understand how to better manage and conserve these species.