TANIA BRENES
CURRICULUM VITAE
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Name: Tania Brenes Arguedas
Nationality: Costa Rica
Birth date: 23 of September 1972
Profession: Chemist and Biologist
Languages: Spanish and English
Address: San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina
E-mail:
EDUCATION: taniabrenes@gmail.com
, brenest@si.edu
.
University of Utah
University of Utah
Ph.D. in Biology. 2006
M.S. in Biology. 2002
University of Costa Rica Licenciatura in Chemistry. 1996
Additional courses and training:
Universidad Nacional. II Seminario Taller Internacional de corredores biológicos. San
José, Costa Rica. February, 2007
Harvard University. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. "Sustainable
Development in Latin America and the Caribbean". Massachusetts. May to June,
2001
Organization for Tropical Studies. "Field Plant Identification Workshop". Costa Rica.
August, 1999.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2006. Resource faculty for graduate and undergraduate Tropical Biology courses of the
Organization for Tropical Studies. Costa Rica.
2003-2006. Teaching Assistant at the Biology department of the University of Utah.
Classes in Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Ecology Laboratory, General
Biology, Plant ecology, and Evolution and Diversity of life.
1997-2000. Laboratory Manager at La Selva Biological Station of the Organization for
Tropical Studies. Costa Rica. Administration, operation and maintenance of a laboratory used by researchers and students residents of the Station. Technical support to users in chemical analyses, and other related laboratory issues.
Maintenance of the meteorological station and meteorological data management.
1997. Production Manager at Laboratorios Vaco S.A.. Costa Rica. Management of the production staff and quality control of a veterinarian products factory.
1996-1997. Analyst in the Physical-Chemistry Research Laboratory of the Organismo de
Investigaciones Judiciales in Costa Rica. Forensic chemistry work aimed to prove
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and certify the nature and/or quality of substances received as part of police evidence.
1995. Manufacture Assistant at Chemtica. Costa Rica. Chemical synthesis of pheromones for pest control in agriculture.
1991-1995. Teaching Assistant at the University of Costa Rica. Teaching the laboratories of General Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and Organic chemistry.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
2006-today. Post-doctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Study the ecological and environmental factors that influence the distribution of tree species along a rainfall gradient in the isthmus of Panama.
2002-2006. PhD dissertation project at the University of Utah. Dynamics of defense and plant-insect interactions in the Neotropical genus Inga .
2000-2002. M.S. thesis project at the University of Utah. Intraspecific variation of secondary compounds in a population of Quararibea asterolepis at Barro
Colorado Island, Panama.
1998-1999. Field and Laboratory technician in analysis of soil respiration and carbon dioxide content in air trapped in soils at La Selva Biological Station in Costa
Rica.
1997. Field Assistant in a rain water sampling project at La Selva Biological Station in
Costa Rica.
1995-1996. Licenciatura thesis at the University of Costa Rica. Optimization of steps in the synthesis of two compounds of the attraction pheromone of Anthonomus euginii.
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS:
2004-2005. NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant.
2004-2005. Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) Research Grant.
2002. ASUU travel grant.
2000-2002. Fullbright-LASPAU Ecology for Latin America and Caribbean scholarship.
PUBLICATIONS:
Brenes-Arguedas T, C, Coley PD, and Kursar TA. Pest versus drought as determinants of plant distribution along a tropical rainfall gradient. In review.
Brenes-Arguedas T, Ríos M, Rivas-Torres G, Blundo C, Coley PD, and Kursar TA.
(2008) The effect of soil on the growth performance of tropical species with contrasting distributions. Oikos. In press.
Brenes-Arguedas T, Coley PD, Kursar TA. (2008) Divergence and diversity in the defensive ecology of Inga at two Neotropical sites. J. Ecol. 96:127-135
Brenes-Arguedas T, Horton MW, Coley PD, Lokvam J, Waddell RA, Meizoso-O’Meara
BE, Kursar TA. (2006) Contrasting mechanisms of secondary metabolite accumulation during leaf development in two tropical tree species with different leaf expansion strategies. Oecologia. 149:91-100
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Lokvam J, Brenes-Arguedas T, Lee SJ, Coley PD, Kursar TA. (2006) Allelochemic function for a primary metabolite: the case of L-tyrosine hyper-production in Inga umbellifera (Fabaceae). Am. J. Bot. 93:1109-1115
Coley PD, Lokvam J, Rudolph K, Bromberg K, Wright L, Brenes-Arguedas T, Dvorett
D, Ring S, Ponge A, Baptiste C, Pennington TR, Kursar TA. (2005) Divergent defensive strategies of young leaves in two Neotropical species of Inga . Ecology.
86:2633-2643
Brenes-Arguedas T, Coley PD. (2005) Phenotypic variation and spatial structure of secondary chemistry in a natural population of a tropical tree species. Oikos. 108:
410-420.
Schwendenmann L, Veldkamp E, Brenes T, O'Brien JJ, Mackensen J. (2003) Spatial and temporal variation in soil CO
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efflux in an old-growth Neotropical rain forest, La
Selva, Costa Rica. Biogeochemistry. 64: 111-128
CONFERENCES AND ABSTRACTS:
Brenes-Arguedas T, Coley, PD and Kursar, TA. (2008) Environmental stressors and the mechanisms that determine the distribution of plant species along a tropical rainfall gradient. Oral presentation in the ESA Meeting. Milwaukee, USA.
Brenes-Arguedas T, Coley, PD and Kursar, TA. (2008) Environmental stressors and the mechanisms that determine the distribution of plant species along a tropical rainfall gradient. Invited oral presentation in the ATBC Meeting. Paramaribo,
Suriname.
Brenes-Arguedas T, Coley, PD and Kursar, TA. (2007) Divergence in the defensive ecology of Inga between two Neotropical sites. Invited oral presentation in the
ATBC meeting. Michoacan, Mexico.
Brenes-Arguedas T. (2006) Divergencia en la ecología química de Inga entre dos bosques Neotropicales. Invited conference in the Jornada de Biología y
Arqueología. Museo de Antropología and Instituto Multidiciplinario de Biología
Vegetal. Cordoba, Argentina.
Brenes-Arguedas T. (2005) Divergence in the chemical ecology of Inga between two
Neotropical forests. Oral presentation in the Center for Tropical Forest Science
Symposium. Panama, Panama
Brenes-Arguedas T, Horton M, Coley PD, Lokvam J and Kursar TA. (2005) Changes in
Secondary Chemistry during leaf development in two Inga species with different leaf expansion strategy. Poster at the ESA Meeting. Montreal, Canada
Coley PD, Lokvam J, Wright L, Brenes T and Kursar TA. (2005) Divergent defensive strategies of young leaves in two Neotropical species of Inga . Poster at the ATBC meeting. Minas Gerais, Brazil.
MEMBERSHIPS:
Ecological Society of America (ESA), Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation
(ATBC)
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