About me

I have 27 years of experience working on nature conservation, restoration and management. In the past 13 years, my work has been focusing on using the best available science to plan, implement and monitor nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation, which refer to the restoration, management and protection of ecosystem to help people and nature to adapt to climate change. 

I was born and raised in Brazil.  I did my undergraduate studies at São Paulo State University and my masters at University of São Paulo, both in Ecology and doing fieldwork in several sites in the beautiful Atlantic Forest to collect data on plant-animal interactions with the supervision of Dr. Mauro Galetti.

After receiving my master’s degree, I worked for Earthwatch institute in the Brazilian Pantanal for 3 and half years as a research assistant, working on a project that quantified seed dispersal interactions between animals and plants. During that time, I collected most of my data that I later used for my PhD. In 2006, I moved to Palo Alto, CA (USA) to pursue my PhD at Stanford University, working with Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo.

After completing my PhD in 2011, I got a job offer at Conservation International, where I have been working since as the Senior Director of Climate Adaptation Science. I am also an adjunct faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU).  Since January 2023 I am a member of the Science committee of the World Adaptation Science Programme.  I live in (and work remotely from) Flagstaff, AZ  (USA)  since 2018 with my husband, Jason, a professor at Northern Arizona University and my two children, Grace and Luke.