• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Applied Biodiversity Science

Applied Biodiversity Science

"Bridging Ecology, Culture, and Governance for effective conservation"  
  • Home
  • About
  • People
    • Alumni
  • Events
  • ABS Journal
  • Resources
    • Funding Resources
  • Certificate Program
  • Contact
Home » Private: Students — old » Featured Students » Mike Petriello

Mike Petriello

Mike Petriello

Like many students, I eagerly plunged into academia with a general understanding of the direction I would like my academic and professional career to take. In an attempt at honing down my academic interests while pursuing my BS in Biology at Northern Arizona University, my combined interests in Latin America and tropical biodiversity conservation resulted in a volunteer stint with the Santa Martha Animal Rehabilitation Center and the Andean Bear Project in the Amazon and Ecuadorian Andes, respectively. Despite living in awe-inspiring ecosystems with truly remarkable wildlife, I was fully aware of the fact that I marginally comprehended the overall extent of the relationships between local residents and their surrounding ecology. After returning to complete my BS, I found myself ruminating over these relationships with questions like “where do local peoples fit in traditional biodiversity conservation?”

road to Nicaraguan community
On our way to interview community members in southwestern Nicaragua

Building on these and similar questions, a year later I had the opportunity to seek my own answers in the form of research exploring the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of Nicaraguan tropical dry forest communities. My research in Nicaragua, in combination with my subsequent Master’s thesis investigating public perceptions of bats among wildland-urban interface residents in northern Arizona, solidified my desire to devote my nascent career to studying LEK. In particular, my current research will focus the construction, maintenance, and communication of LEK among community members in southwestern Nicaragua. Moreover, I would like to explore if and how residents’ awareness of and participation with community-based conservation influences the content and development of LEK.

I am incredibly fortunate to be part of the Applied Biodiversity Science program at Texas A&M University for a diversity of reasons. For example, ABS students are encouraged to apply multidisciplinary perspectives and practices toward conducting their research in addition to engaging in cross-disciplinary collaborations with other students and faculty. Most importantly, this unique program promogram promotes research that bridges the gap between the social and biological dimensions of biodiversity science and conservation – an essential reason for why I believe LEK is fundamental to community-based conservation of biodiversity.

 

sign promoting environmental stewardsiip
As part of a conservation education campaign, a sign promoting environmental stewardship at an elementary school reads “Don’t kill birds”
local fisherman with catch
Gustavo shows off his catch from line fishing in Lake Nicaragua
slingshot
A testament to the complex interactions between people and wildlife: a slingshot used by children, sometimes aimed at wildlife

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Contact Us

Program Coordinator & Senior Research Scientist:
Kevin Njabo
Office: WFES 134
Email Kevin

Location

534 John Kimbrough Blvd
Wildlife, Fisheries & Ecological Sciences (WFES)
Bldg. #1537
College Station, TX 77843

Campus Map

Mailing Address

Applied Biodiversity Science
2258 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-2258
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information
Texas A&M University System Member