David F. Rodriguez-Mora

Doctoral Candidate, Environmental Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio

MSc in Plant Biology

 

Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation
Bocas del Toro Research Station

Email: davidfelipe.rodriguezmora@my.utsa.edu

 

 

Rodriguez-Mora has taught and assisted in courses across environmental anthropology, ethnobotany, tropical ecology, and plant sciences in the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. At The University of Texas at San Antonio, he has served as a teaching assistant for courses such as Language, Thought & Culture. At North Carolina State University, he assisted in Plants in Folklore, Myth & Religion; Plants & Civilizations; Economic Botany Lab; and Plant Life Labs. He has also led field-based ethnobiology and tropical ecology programs for Duke TIP, Harvard T.H. Chan C-CHANGE Youth Summits, and Putney Student Travel (with National Geographic and The New York Times student programs), mentoring students in both ecological field methods and community-based research approaches.

 

 

Rodriguez-Mora’s research integrates environmental anthropology, ethnobiology, and conservation biology to explore the relationships between people, plants, and landscapes in the Andes–Amazon region and beyond. His work focuses on Indigenous knowledge systems, political ecology of culturally significant species, entheogenic plant relations, intellectual property and benefit-sharing, and biocultural conservation strategies. He employs mixed qualitative and quantitative methods—ranging from participant observation and in-depth interviewing to botanical inventory, herbarium specimen preparation, and biodiversity monitoring.