Lab news and our phrases

HISTORICAL/ Históricas

A little less conversation, a little more action (remembering  Elvis)

I have learned to forgive (Denis Marrufo and Ilka Ortegón) 

Don´t let me down (Lennon and McCartney)

Show me the way (Peter Frampton)

Nobody said it was easy... Questions of science 

(Víctor and MaJo...inspired  by Coldplay)

Sad October (2014)... México hurts (Victor)

Ground control to major Tom...

 (Victor trying to connect with some students) (D. Bowie) 

PHRASE OF THE MOMENT / Frase del momento

Fell on Black days... but Uprising 

(Soundgarden)           (Muse)

News/ Noticias

2025

• Excellent news, our proposal to study the mechanism that facilitates plant invasion in coastal communities was approved. For the next three years, we will be exploring the complex interactions between HMA plants, pollinators, and nectar yeast. Undergrad and graduate students are welcome. Contact us!    

• A Ms about the effect of synanthropic birds on non-native plants has been published at Avian Biology Research. Thanks, Gerardo and Richard, for your kind invitation to collaborate in this interesting work.   

• Alex is now candidate of the SNII, you deserve it Alex, congrats!

• Emiliano won first place for his presentation at the academic meeting of the graduate students of the PI-UADY. Great, Emiliano!   

• Today (July 2nd), Sara Paquini successfully defended her doctoral thesis; congrats, Sara, you did it!

• One of our "forgotten manuscripts" was rescued and is now accepted! It is an interesting analysis of the impact of supergeneralist (plant and pollinator species) on heterospecific pollen transfer. Thanks, Cris, Tato, and Alex. It will soon be published in Plant Ecology. 

• Victor is starting (once again) a new summer course, hoping that students will enjoy studying the evolutionary ecology of biotic interactions.

• A manuscript about the effect of feral Apis mellifera on native insect pollinators is out in the Journal of Insect Conservation. It must have been published some years ago... it is finally.  

• Finally, our chapter on Urban Biological Evolution in Tropical Cities (Springer) is now available; thank you, Diego Carmona, for your invitation.

• Armando Aguirre finished his sabbatical stay, which was a pleasure for all of us. Thanks, Armando, goodbye "muchacho"

• The second manuscript from Saras' doctoral thesis has been published in Plan Ecology. Nice work Sara!  

• After 8 months of a very slow review, a Ms of native-alien plant interactions has been published in Biological Invasions 

• A new manuscript about pollen transport by dipterans has been published in the Journal of Applied Entomology. Alex Dr.'s work doesn´t stop.  

• The BSc thesis by  Santiago Anchevida was published in Botanical Sciences. Congrats Santi! 

2024

• Our group made a significant contribution to the IX Congress of the Mexican Ecological Society. The best: Alexander won second place in the doctoral thesis contest, and Emiliano an honorific mention in the nature photograph contest. Congrats! Alex and Emi. Santiago, Emiliano, Alexander, Paula, Diego, and Victor also had interesting talks.   

• Victor is starting a new course for graduate students (September-November) on basic principles of science methodology. Interesting projects. 

• Paula and Victor are starting a new course for undergraduate students on Evolution (September-November). Good sensations!

• A BSc thesis about physiological responses to different host plants of the parasitic alien C. filliformis by  Santiago Anchevida was accepted at Botanical Sciences. Congrats Santi! nice work

• A manuscript about the diet overlap of overwintering migratory birds on the Yucatan Peninsula was accepted at Avian Biology Research. Thanks, Aldo!

• Santiago Anchevida successfully defended his BsC thesis; he is now a Biologist!

• A new manuscript of our long-term forest experiment has been published in Oecologia. 

• Dr. Armando Aguirre from INECOL started a sabbatical stay with us. Welcome, Armando!

• A chapter book about urban evolution in tropical cities (Springer) has been accepted. Thanks, Diego, for your kind invitation.

• Victor is starting a new summer course, hoping that students will enjoy studying the evolutionary ecology of biotic interactions.

• Our manuscript on the alien hemiparasitic plant Cassytha filiformis was published in Biological Invasions. Thanks, Pepe, Marisa (INECOL), and Juan (UADY). 

• A Saras' Ms about the dichogamy and compatibility system in the strange tree Gymnopodium floribundum was published in Botanical Sciences. 

2023

• A Ms about plant hybridization in the Cnidosculus genus was accepted and published in Ecology and Evolution. Thanks to Miguel Angel Munguia (CINVESTAV) for his invitation

• Very great news! Sandra Díaz won first place for her undergraduate thesis (best undergrad thesis, section "Conservation Biology"), an Award granted by the Education and Science Ministry of Yucatán. Congrats Sandy!!

• A Ms about the incompatibility system in the (very strange) tropical tree G. floribundum led by Sara Paquini was accepted at Biological Sciences. Good work Sara! 

• A Ms about an invasive (parasitic) plant was accepted at Biological Invasions. Thanks to JGF, MaM (INECOL), and JTG (UADY) for their collaboration.  

• Victor finished a new course about basic principles of science methodology for graduate students. Interesting projects. 

• Victor and Pau are completing their undergraduate Evolution course. So exhausting! 

• The Ms from the undergrad thesis of Brian Suárez was published in Plant Species Biology. Excellent work, Brian! 

• Victor came back for his sabbatical. Thanks, INECOL, but especially to Dr. José (PP) García-Franco 

2022

• Victor has published an outreach article about how invasive species acquire sex at Eco-lógico. 

• Good news Víctor Parra Tabla renewed his membership as national researcher for 10 more years! (SNI-III)

• The secon Ms of Alex Dr. thesis has been accepted at Plant Ecology, congrats Alex!

• The Ms of Jesús Aguinaga is now out! in Arthropod-Plant Interactions, very nice. 

• The Ms of  Edith is now out! in Arthropod-Plant Interactions nice

• More great news!, Sandra Díaz won second place for her Undergad thesis, and Brian Suárez the third place for his MsC thesis (VII Mexican Ecology  meeting). Cheers Sandy and Brian, great work!

• The Jesús Aguinaga's MsC thesis has been accepted (also) at Arthropod-Plant Interactions, great work Jesús!

• A MS of our dear Edith Villa has been accepted at Arthropod-Plant Interactions, nice work Edith!

• The Ms of Martha is now out! in APIS, great.

• Victor will be on sabbatical at INECOL (from July 2022 to June 2023), thanks to Dra. María Luisa Martínez and Dr. José García-Franco for their kind welcome, lots of ideas to work on!

• Great news!, Alex won third place for his oral contribution at the VIII Mexican Ecology Meeting.

• Comming back from the VIII Mexican Ecology Meeting, great participation of our students. Congrats Sandy, Brian, Alex, and Jesús, nice job! (Oaxaca, what a nice place!)

• Victor is starting a new summer course, hoping that students will enjoy studying the evolutionary ecology of biotic interactions.

• The first Ms of the Alex Dr. Thesis has been accepted in Journal of Ecology; congrats Alex!

• Sandra Díaz another brilliant student defended (online)is BsC thesis (Biology);  excelent work Sandy!

• Good news four our department, our dear friends were recognized as national researchers (SNI) Luis Abdala-Roberts (Level III, super!), Joe Ramos (Level II) and Pau Sosenksi and Diego Carmona (Level I). Cheers all!

• A MS of our dear friend Martha Reyes-Hernández has been accepted at Arthropod-Plant Interactions, nice colaboration Martha!

• A second MS about beetle diversity from our long-term experiment on the effects of tree diversity has been accepted in Neotropical Entomology, once again nice work Javi!

2021

• Victor and Pau are completing their second undergraduate (33 students) and postgraduate (18 students) courses entirely online. It's so exhausting!

• We close our first cycle of web seminars on biodiversity, conservation and evolution, with a wonderful talk by Melissa Hernandez. We had a stimulating discussion about the loss of pollinators in North America. Thank you Melissa 

• Alberto Gabriel Gutiérrez successfully defended his BsC thesis (Biology), he evaluated the effect of native mycorrhizae on wild cotton; great Alberto!  

• Thai Khan gave us a nice talk about mangroves in our web seminar, thanks Thai we hope to see you soon   

• We follow with our web seminar, a great talk of Teresa Quijano about "herbivory in wild cotton" . Thanks Tere, we look forward to hearing about your Dr exam soon

• Finally, our paper review about the effect of invasive plants on plant-pollinator networks, is out in New Phytologist, great colaboration with Gerardo Arceo-Gómez. We apreciate very much the kind invitation of Jana Vamosi  

• A nice MS about beetle diversity from our long-term experiment on the effects of tree diversity has been accepted in Neotropical Entomology, nice work Javi!

• Josué Magaña is the second student to defend virtualy his BsC thesis (Biology);  nice job Josué, congrats!

• Nice seminar by Dra. Mariana Chávez, researcher of the CICY about landscapes genomics, thanks Mariana!

• This friday (April 16th) we have in our webseminar to our friend Dr. Sergio Ramos, Posdoctoral fellow from the Department of Biological Sciences University of Pittsburgh, USA. The title of his talk was "An experimental approach to understanding evolution in plants mediated by interactions with pollinators and herbivores". Thanks Sergio great talk! 

• Very sad news, our dear friend and brilliant ecologist Victor Rico-Gray has passed away, we will remember him forever.

• A review of the effect of invasive plants on plant-pollinator networks, was accepted in New Phytologist (Tansley´s reviews)  Great colaboration with Gerardo Arceo-Gómez

• Our article about the effects of invasive species on the polen transfer in sand dune communities is out in Journal of Ecology, great multinational colaboration with Conchita Alonso (Spain), Gerardo Arceo, Tia Lyn-Ashman and Robert Raguso (USA) and our team (México). Thanks dear friends!   

• David Cupul is the first Victor´s student to defend virtualy his BsC thesis (Biology);  nice job David congrats!

• A basic but a nice paper about the pollination biology of Cienfuegosia yucatanensis has been published in colaboration with Conchita Alonso from the CSIC-EBD (Spain) at Botanical Sciences

• Victor and Paula are finishing their first virtual course; 39 students but we guess it was a nice work 

2020

• A mini review of our work of the coastal dunes ecology and invasive species has been published at the Ecoblog-Mx (Sientific Mexican Ecological Society), thanks to Mariana Álvarez for her kind invitation.  

• Delta hurricane (Cat. 4) approaching to the península of Yucatán. What else? 

• Very good news, Paula Sosenski and Diego Carmona got their first grant from CONACyT, congrats guys! I am sure the results of your projects wil be exciting!   

• Because the Covid19, we are having a very new experience: Victor is starting his undergraduate (45 students) and graduate (18 students) courses totally online. We'll see!

• In these sad  days we received good news, our MS about co-flowering sand-dune community assembly has been accepted at Journal of Ecology. Great colaboration with Cristopher Albor and Gerardo Arceo; nice work guys! 

• A very nice MS about the effect of plan domestication on herbivory has been accepted at AoB Plants, nice colaboration with our friends from CINVESTAV, thanks to Miguel Munguia for his kind invitation. 

• A MS of our experimental long-term experiment about tree diversity effects on insect diversity, multitrophic interactions, has been accepted at Journal of Animal Ecology. This one about  the effects of tree diversity on the abundance, diversity, and stability of foraging birds. Nice work Yanely! 

• A MS in colaboration with our friends from the CIDIR-Oaxaca has been accepted at Acta Botánica Colombiana. In the MS we studied the floral phenology of an endemic epifit plant. Thanks to Judith and Demetria

• Sad month!

• We did it! two very interesting MS´s about plant-plant interactions in the coastal dunes were submited just in time, the Covid19 is here!   

• Our conceptual MS of pollen-pollen interactions has been accepted in Annals of Botany, excellent collaboration with Tia-Lynn Ashman (Pittsburgh University), Conchita Alon (EBD-Seville) and Gerardo Arceo-Gómez (ETSU). Thanks dear friends! 

2019

• Our beloved former doctoral student Adriana Castro past away this year. Great researcher and excellent person.

• Our project about the ecology and conservation of coastal sand dunes continues "bearing fruits". A MS about the effect of climate change on the distribution of key-stone plant species of the sand dunes from the península of Yucatán, has been accepted at the Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. Good work Natalia!  

• Victor is finishing and exhausting semester. An undergrad evolution course with 28 students and a postgrad course of philosophy of science with 32 students. Need vacations urgently!

• Our grade students, Brian, Rigel and Jesús  (MsC) and Alex (Dr) got good notes in their projects.  Good effort!, we go for the excellence. 

• The MS of pant-flower insect visitors networks along an invasion gradient in sand dune communities has been published at PLoSE ONE 

• Finally! our  MS about pant-flower insect visitors networks along an invasion gradient in sand dune communities has been accepted at PLoSE ONE

• Comming back from the meeting of the Mexican Ecological Society, great work of our students. We enjoyed a great lecture by our friend Robert Raguso and we have an excellent participation, posters (Brian, Natalia and Cristopher), oral presentations (Alex, Yanelly, Paula, Edith, Cristopher and Víctor)

• The Alex paper about the effect of alien pollen on native species has been selected for the "highligths section" of American Journal of Botany, yes Alex!

• More good news, during our summer vacations, the MS from the Alex MsC thesis has been accepted at American Journal of Botany, great collaboration with Paula Sosenki and Gerardo Arceo, congrats Alex! and ¡Viva Colombia!

• Great news before our summer vacations, a very nice MS about global DNA methylation in Angiosperms has been accepted at New Phytologist, great work of Conchita Alonso and Monica Medrano, thaks for your invitation to participate in this excelent paper!

• Astrid Valladares, from the San Carlos University, Guatemala, visited our lab; you are very welcome any time Astrid!   

• A nice MS,in which we are trying to understand the defenses of the wild cotton has been accepted at American Journal of Botany, Luis is an "unstoppable machine"

• An exciting MS about global patterns of heterospecific pollen transfer has been accepted at Scientific Reports, great work Gerardo! and thanks for inviting us to collaborate    

• Great news!, the BsC thesis of our student Brian Suárez was recognized as the best thesis (Biology, 2018-UADY). Congratulations Brian, great job! 

• A short review about the role of the secondary metabolites in the pollination attraction has been published at eLS, nice work Paula! 

• The MS from the Cristopher's MsC thesis has been accepted at  Journal of Ecology. Home run Cris! Congrats and more MS's are comming

• Starting a new year with good news, a MS about herbivory in wild cotton has been accepted at Journal of Ecology, nice work Luis and nice collaboration with our friends from Neuchatel Univeristy (Switzerland) 

• Martha finished her postdoctoral stay, great friend and excellent scientist. Now she is a professor at the UAG. Good luck Martha!

2018

• Finally!, our first MS of our project about ecology and conservation of coastal sand dunes has been accepted at Plant Ecology and Diversity

• A nice paper about the ecology of insect pollination in high diversity communities has been published in Quercus; an excellent document for the non-specialist, thanks Conchita!   

• A new MS about the consequences of the spatial variation and plant density on the tri-trophic interactions in R. nudiflora has been published in American Journal of Botany. I guess rigth now we have around 25 papers about Ruellia nudiflora (our Drosophila melanogaster), 

• Very good news, Dr. Diego Carmona is now a new member of our Lab, welcome Diego!