Renato Borras-Chavez

  • Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Department of Natural Resources Science
  • Phone: 254.419.1501
  • Email: renato.borraschavez@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Coastal Institute, Office #007

Biography

I’m an integrative ecologist. Although my work centers on foraging ecology, I work in transdisciplinary sciences—the space between foraging ecology, behavioral ecology, population ecology, and socioecology. My research explores predator-environment interactions by combining methods, such as: diet estimators, biologging, computer vision, machine learning, and social sciences. By integrating multiple lines of research, different methods, and working with various institutions, I aim to use advanced ecological knowledge to help build science-based conservation and monitoring programs.

Research

I work under two NSF grants awarded to Dr. Sarah Kienle, focusing on the ecology, physiology, and reproduction of leopard seals. I am currently studying the global distribution of the species and their foraging ecology in regions where little is known about these predators—specifically, Chile.