ADDRESS
Ars Artium Consulting, Phone: +55 41 3673-0409, Cellular: +55 41 99818-2559, Email: jjroper@gmail.com.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Ecology and Evolution, 1996
M.S. Arizona State University, Zoology, 1989
B.S. Oklahoma State University, Zoology, 1978
FIELD COURSE EXPERIENCE
Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Venezuela, Panamá, Costa Rica, Peru (in Spanish), Brazil (in Portuguese). With ITEC, tropical conservation ecology with emphasis on birds, taught in Spanish.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Population dynamics tells us how organisms are coping with the various challenges of predation, reproduction, climate and food availability. For birds, understanding reproductive success is one way to get a handle on population dynamics. Conservation also requires information about reproductive success because we’re interested in declining populations and their causes and consequences, and, ideally, how to prevent continued decline. I’ve been studying nesting birds throughout my academic career, in the USA, Panamá, and Brazil. I am interested in all aspects of reproduction, from nest-site selection, nest survival rates, causes of nest failure, including through nest predation by any number of predators, including snakes, hawks, owls, mammals and other birds. Also, behavior associated with reproduction is important, to understand mate choice, and how that choice might influence reproduction and survival. Conservation of birds uses this same information to ask and attempt to answer questions that are important for maintenance of all species, especially those that are endangered. Good science, and especially good field science, is absolutely essential for understanding these several issues. I have a strong background in both doing field research, and then statistical analysis of those data, also required to provide answers to ecological and conservation questions. I’ve collaborated with researchers in other areas, in part because of my statistical background. With all these experiences, I never cease to get a thrill about learning more, seeing new birds and old, in all my travels. My interests all began through observing wildlife and then taking a fantastic field ornithology course in my undergraduate years.
PUBLICATIONS
Cavarzere, V., Roper, J. J., Marchi, V., & Silveira, L. F. (2021). Geographical drivers of altitudinal diversity of birds in the Atlantic Forest. Biologia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-021-00798-7
Cerboncini, R. A. S., Braga, T. V., Roper, J. J., & Passos, F. C. (2020). Southern Lapwing Vanellus chilensis cooperative helpers at nests are older siblings. Ibis, 162(1), 227–231. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12758
Cerboncini, R. A. S., Roper, J. J., & Passos, F. C. (2016). Edge effects without habitat fragmentation? Small mammals and a railway in the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil. Oryx, 50(03), 460–467. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605314001070
Lima, A. M. X., & Roper, J. J. (2016). A tropical bird with a short breeding season and high rates of nesting success: the breeding ecology of the Star-throated Antwren (Rhopias gularis: Thamnophilidae) in subtropical Brazil. Emu, 116(4), 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1071/MU15120
Mageski, M. M., Varela, S., & Roper, J. J. (2018). Consequences of dispersal limitation and habitat fragmentation for the Brazilian heart-tongued frogs (Phyllodytes spp.). Austral Ecology, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12591
Marques-Santos, F., Braga, T. V., Wischhoff, U., & Roper, J. J. (2015). Breeding biology of passerines in the subtropical Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Ornitologia Neotropical, 26(October), 363–374.
Marques-Santos, F., Wischhoff, U., Roper, J. J., & Rodrigues, M. (2018). Delayed plumage maturation explains differences in breeding performance of Saffron Finches. Emu, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2018.1450637
Roper, J. J., Lima, A. M. X., & Uejima, A. M. K. (2018). Experimental food supplementation increases reproductive effort in the variable antshrike in subtropical Brazil. PeerJ, 2018(11), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5898
Shibuya, F. L. S., Presti, F. T., Costa Lopes, S. A., Moto, P. G., & Roper, J. J. (2018). Molecular Sex Determination in Neotropical Monochromatic Hummingbirds. Ornitología Neotropical, 29(May), 225–228.
Srbek-Araujo, A. C., da Cunha, C. J., & Roper, J. J. (2017). Post-dispersal seed predation by Atlantic Forest squirrels monitoring lowland tapir latrines. Tropical Ecology, 58(3), 673–678.
Srbek-Araujo, A. C., Gnocchi, A. P., Guimarães, L. J., & Roper, J. J. (2017). Defaunation as a trigger for the additional loss of plant species in fragmented landscapes: considerations on the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Rodriguésia, 68(5), 2001–2017. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860201768530
Wischhoff, U., Marques-Santos, F., Bonetti, G., Manica, L. T., Roper, J. J., & Rodrigues, M. (2019). Are nest defense behaviours and fitness components linked in white-rumped swallows (Tachycineta leucorrhoa)? Behaviour, 156(2), 181–201. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-00003535
Zanata, T. B., Dalsgaard, B., Passos, F. C., Cotton, P. A., Roper, J. J., Maruyama, P. K., Fischer, E., Schleuning, M., Martín González, A. M., Vizentin-Bugoni, J., Franklin, D. C., Abrahamczyk, S., Alárcon, R., Araujo, A. C., Araújo, F. P., Azevedo-Junior, S. M. de., Baquero, A. C., Böhning-Gaese, K., Carstensen, D. W., Varassin, I. G. (2017). Global patterns of interaction specialization in bird-flower networks. Journal of Biogeography, 44(8), 1891–1910. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13045
