Vanessa E. Rubio

Abstract

I developed an early fascination for nature. I spent most of my childhood vacations in a small rural town where my mother took me and my siblings on many small field trips in the woods. Growing up in Colombia allowed me to visit many beautiful places and to be exposed to nature. As a teenager, I remember my first trip to the Colombian Amazon and how shocked I felt to see many different greens in the landscape. This trip increased my fascination for animals and plants. In particular, I remember a biology student on one of our tours who told us about their career path. I was unaware that anyone could be a biologist, not just teachers, and that day, the idea of studying nature started to grow in me. However, it was not until my undergraduate degree when I volunteered to work with herbarium samples and for a long-term vegetation plot census, that my interest in plant science was captured.

As an undergraduate, I took classes that required me to do independent research, and most of them also had field trips at the end of the semester. Going to the field to collect, analyse, and interpret the data became my ideal work. I also had the opportunity to join a ‘Research Experience for Undergraduates’ in Integrative Tropical Biology and then a ‘Research internship’ on carbon dynamics, both at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá, where I had day-to-day interactions with scientists. This experience showed me how scientists can be diverse, fun, hardworking and passionate human beings. These experiences led me to dedicate my life to tropical forest research and pursue a PhD. While working on my PhD, I was fortunate to have a fantastic advisor who allowed me to work on my ideas. While this was challenging, it helped shape my scientific mind and research skills. I also had the opportunity to return to the Colombian Amazon to work on my thesis and fulfil my teenage dreams. While working there, I realized that I was in the right place in my life, contributing to understanding how tropical forests work. This work is important as we must unravel tropical forest dynamics to understand their responses to climate change.

I am motivated by the idea of people from around the world coming together to create collaborations. It is very fulfilling to see several researchers working with their different strengths to make an impact, to advance their understanding of our world and ultimately inform conservation practices. I also get motivated by seeing other women ecologists leading or being part of these groups and, despite the barriers, how far they have progressed and the important research contributions they have made. Finally, I am really motivated by fieldwork – the expectation that I will soon be out in the field doing my research in nature is what excites me the most.

I really like the Ceiba pentandra tree (Kapok tree) (Fig. 1). This tree has beautiful buttresses and seed pods, can reach large diameters and heights, and can live for centuries. This longevity might be necessary for carbon storage, giving it a relevant role in carbon cycling. This giant tree grows gracefully in tropical forests, and it looks very beautiful with its cotton-like seeds. Moreover, these trees are significant, commercially and spiritually, for many Indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon and other tropical areas.