Team

Postdoctoral fellow

Dr. Ornella Barreto Barriga obtained her Ph.D. at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (iiES) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico. Her research expertise relies on the study of biology and the ecology of herbivores and parasitoids. She has been awarded by CONACyT with a postdoctoral fellow to study the population divergence of a maize herbivore with our research group and collaborating with Dr. Andrea Joyce of the University of California at Merced, USA.

PhD Students

Luis Enrique Chavarín Gómez

Lab PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero

Kyke obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology in our lab, with the financial support of a CONACyT scholarship. Subsequently, in september 2016 he was accepted in the MSc program (BIMARENA-UdG) and got his degree in the summer 2018. After this, he Immediately applied for a position in the Doctoral program BEMARENA-UdG and got a place. He will continue his MSc project studying the decisions that a parasitoid wasp takes when confronted to patches bearing different properties.

Verónica Trujillo Pahua

External-Lab PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Carla Sánchez-Hernández (CUCBA-UdG)
Adviser: Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero

Vero is an Agronomist Engineer by the Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Morelia. She got a M.C. in Genetics by the Colegio de Posgraduados, Mexico. She is currently performing her PhD at the Doctoral program BEMARENA-UdG under the supervision of Dr. Carla Sánchez-Hernandez. Her research focuses on the study of metabolic profiles of Physalis spp associated with the response to herbivory. Altogether with her supervisor, they collaborate with our group regarding the effects induced by whiteflies.

Gabriel Reinoso Franchino

External-Lab PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Pablo Schliserman (CITCA, Argentina)
Adviser: Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero

Gabriel is studying the interactions between herbivores of Prosopis and their parasitoids under a conservative biological control perspective.

Michel Andrea Saavedra Lastra

Supervisor: Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero
Advisers: Dr. Refugio Lomelí Flores (COLPOS, Texcoco) and Dra. Ornella Barreto (CUCBA-UdG)

Michel obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Sonora. She started participating with our group last February and is scheduled to start her MSc in September 2021. Her research subject will deal with the parasitoids of one of the most important pests of maize: Spodoptera frugiperda known as the Fall Armyworm (FAW) or "cogollero del maíz". This pest has spread to almost all the continents of the world. So then it is crucial its study.

Undergraduate Students

Pedro Torres Enciso

Pit is interested in studying predators. He joined our group as a volunteer student. He already achieved experimental work to study behavior of G. punctipes' males. After this, he participated in one of the experiments of Quique's Master degree. He is currently in the writing stage of his undergraduate report and participating in another research project.

Yeirha Patricia Vega Guerrero

Yeirha is a student of the Bachelor of Biology at CUCBA-UdG, Jalisco, Mexico. She participates in a project that aims to automate the behavioral observations of a parasitoid wasp, under the supervision of Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero and Dr. Fernando Wario's collaboration, Dr. Michel Dávalos Biotes, and Dr. Felipe Sención Echauri.

Bruno Bladimir Chávez Guerrero

Bruno is a student of the Bachelor of Agronomy at CUCBA-UdG, Jalisco, Mexico. He is interested in biological control, insect ecology, natural enemies' biology, and pest control. He participates in a project aiming to study the acoustic communication of the maize pest Dalbulus maidis.

Hilda Esperanza Casillas Ochoa

Hilda is a volunteer undergraduate student that regularly participates with our group, she is interested in insect ecology, natural enemies and pest control.

Betsabé Montserrat Hernández González

Betsa joined our group to study courtship behavior of Dalbulus elimatus. She has already performed her observations, analyzed her data and is currently writing her report.

Juan Arturo Palomar Cebrero

Juan is finishing his Bachelor's degree in Agronomy at CUCBA-UDG, Jalisco, Mexico. He is interested in performing research related to parasitoids employed for Biological Control. He is conducting an academic stay in our lab.

María Fernanda Vela Torres

Fernanda is a biologist from the UdG (CuCosta, Puerto Vallarta). She is particularly interested in biological control and will begin an academic stay in our lab next August.

Former students

Paulina Camorlinga Cortés

Pau started her undergraduate research expertise in our group. She tested other factors influencing predator's decisions for choosing a prey. She obtained her undergraduate degree on February 2019. A manuscript reporting her results has been published in Entomologia Generalis (IF=3.027 & Q1).

Ma. Concepción Velasco-Hernández

Conchita got her master degree in our group (with honors), by studying the behavior of parasitoids under the risk of predation. With results obtained, two papers were published in international journals (PLoS One [IF=2.776 & Q2] and Pest Management Science [FI=3.255 & Q1]). In addition, during her master, she performed a short research stay (3 months) in France, in the laboratory of Dr. Nicolas Desneux (INRA, Sophia Antipolis).
After her master degree, in the summer of 2013, Conchita started her PhD in our group to test two paradigms on behavior of parasitoids. In 2015, she performed a one-year research stay in the Lab of Dr. Desneux (INRA, Sophia Antipolis, France). In 2016, she coauthored a Review manuscript published in the Journal of Pest Science (IF=5.133 & Q1). A first manuscript reporting part of the PhD results was published in 2017 in Entomologia Generalis (IF=3.027 & Q1). She got her PhD degree in October 2017. A second PhD paper is under revision.

Walter Ernesto Printzen

Walter had a CONACyT scholarship to develop his undergraduate research in our group. He investigated how a generalist predator chooses its prey. He obtained his undergraduate degree on February 2017. A manuscript is being prepared with obtained results.

Ester Kornig

Ester, an student from the Université d'Avignon, performed a short stay in our lab (2016), she studied the influence that some seaweed extracts (reported as inductors of resistance genes in plants) have on the oviposition preference of whiteflies.

Lourdes Bao-Fundora

Lulu got her MSc degree in our group with honors. She studied how intra-guild predation modifies pest control under natural conditions. With results obtained, two manuscript have been published, one in Pest Management Science (IF=3.255 & Q1) and the other in Biological Control (IF=2.754 & Q1).

Delia Garibay Benítez

Delia obtained her master degree in our group. During her stay within our group, she collaborated on a project that led to an international publication (Journal of Insect Behavior [IF=0.933 & Q3]). In addition, during her master, she performed a short research stay (3 months) in the USA, in the laboratory of Dr. Andrea Joyce (University of California, Merced). Results obtained were published in the journal Insect Science (IF=2.71 & Q1).

Daniela Teresa Pérez Ascencio

Dany obtained her undergraduate degree in our group and with the results obtained, one paper was published in the Journal of Insect Behavior. After her undergraduate degree, Dany obtained her MSc degree in our group. Altogether with Kyke's results, a publication is under preparation for an international journal.

Dr. Dania Andrea Di Filippo-Herrera obtained her PhD at the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR) of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Mexico. Her research expertise relies with the study of chemical composition and potential uses of seaweed. In 2020 she was a posdoctoral fellow of the group UDG-839, integrated by Dr. Mireya Hernández-Herrera, Dr. Carla Sánchez-Hernández and Dr. Ricardo Ramirez-Romero.