Past and current projects
Plumage evolution through social selection
Plumage traits like the presence or absence of a black pectoral band in Arremon brushfinches may evolve through social selection if they provide a competitive advantage in contexts of male-male competition (i.e. they function as signals of social status), or because they are more attractive to females (i.e. female choice). Using taxidermic mounts and song playbacks I have found that territorial males of the Gray-browed Brushfinch (A. assimilis) and the Sierra Nevada Brushfinch (A. basilicus) were equally aggressive towards phenotypes bearing or lacking a pectoral band (Publication). During a second experiment where an artificial pectoral band was painted to males of A. assimilis, they did not experiment any disadventage in terms of home-range size, body size or corticosterone levels compared to control males with no band. Nonetheless, pairs with painted males experienced divorces suggesting a potential role of female preferences in the evolution of this trait (In review).
Behavioral ecology of Neotropical birds
Answering questions about plumage and song evolution inevitably leads to studying different aspects of the ecology and behavior of species such as territoriality, communication and natural history. Since 2017, my students and me have monitored a color-banded population of A. assimilis in the Eastern Andes of Colombia. This monitoring have allow us to conduct descriptive and experimental studies on space use, breeding biology, vocal and aggressive behavior. Next steps in this avian system will be focus on personality variation and its relation with dispersal abilities in fragmented environments
Systematics and species delimitation
Geographic variation and species limits have attracted my attention since I was an undegraduate student. I have coauthored the description of nine new bird taxa (one species and eight subspecies) using integrative taxonomy which involves comparative analyses of plumage, morphometrics, vocalizations, phylogenetics and niche modelling. There are several Colombian taxa awating formal description like the bird in the left, which is an undescribed Turdus thrush from the inter-Andean slopes of the Cauca River valley in Colombia. This trans-Andean thrush is closely related to the T. fumigatus complex from the Orinoco-Amazon region. Additional projects in bird systematics are being developed with sparrows (Arremon, Arremonops) and piculets (Picumnus olivaceus/granadensis).
Scientific exploration and specimen collection
Expedición a la Serranía de Perijá, Cesar, Colombia. Julio 2008.
PP: guía Pedro Pablo; JEA: Jorge Enrique Avendaño; NGP: Natalia Gutiérrez-Pinto; AMC: Andrés Mauricio Cuervo; JPLO: Juan Pablo López-Ordóñez.
Since 2003 I have conducted at least 60 field expeditions to poorly known regions in Colombia. Past and recent field expeditions with colleagues and students have focused on documenting bird diversity through rapid inventories, emphasizing the collection of specimens. Besides constitute archives of present avian diversity and distribution, bird collection is intented to serve in the future for multiple projects in systematics, evolution, ecology and conservation. Therefore, my research is based on "extended specimens" where each study skin counts with additional preparations (e.g. tissues, carcasses, extended wings, ectoparasites, sound recordings), which maximizes quality data and the application of integrative approaches to resolve questions in biology.
Colombia's bird species list
I also serve a a member of the Comité Colombiano de Registros Ornitológicos - CCRO, which periodically updates and publishes the official list of bird species recorded in Colombia. By December 2023, Colombia harbors 1968 bird species, being the richest country in birds worldwide.