Pablo Riba Hernández

Curriculum Vitae

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Address: (HOME) Playa Caletas, Bahía Drake, Península de Osa,

Puntarenas, Costa Rica. San José, Apdo 10672-1000, San José, Costa Rica.
Phone(HOME): 83743999/88506222
Fax: (San José) 2330151
E-mail: proyectocarey@yahoo.com.mx

LANGUAGES
English: fluent speaker and writer
Spanish: Native language

RESEARCH INTEREST:

 Primate ecology.
 Ecology of seed dispersal by animals.
 Ecology of large frugivores

EDUCATION:

 MSc.Biology. Escuela de Biología. Universidad de Costa Rica. San Pedro, Costa Rica. 1998-2003.
Thesis: The effect of polymorphic color vision and non structural carbohydrates in fruit selection by the
spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). Fieldwork carried out at Marenco Biological Station, Peninsula de
Osa, Puntarenas.
 BSc. Tropical Biology. Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas. Universidad Nacional. Heredia, Costa Rica.
1990-1995.

PROFESSIONAL, RESEARCH AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Teaching experience
 Academic Assistant I. Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas. Universidad Nacional. Heredia, Costa Rica
1991-1992. Project: Ecology and farming of Butterflies in Rio Macho Biological Station.
 Environmental interpreter. Marenco Biological Station. 1992-1994.
 Field Instructor. Children’s Enviromental Trust. Michigan, USA. (www.cetfoundation.com) 2000,
2001, 2002.
 Field Instructor. Fundacion Neotrópica. Rincón de Osa, Península de Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
January and July 2003.
 Field Instructor. Proyecto Campanario. Drake Bay, Osa Península, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
 Naturalist for San Josecito Beach S.A. Drake Bay, Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
 Field instructor. Ecoteach, environmental trips for middle and high school student and teachers.
 Faculty Leader for Conservation Project. International Student Volunteers. Inc. Costa Rica, 2005-
2008 . Natural resources management and Conservation at Natural Resources Management
Internship program. Program accreditation through University of California Santa Barbara.
 Professor associated. Sistema de estudios de posgrado, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro,
Costa Rica.
 Resident Professor. Organization for Tropical Studies. USAP Program. Fall semester 2008.

Research experience
 Field Assistant. Wild Cat´s rehabilitation Center (PROFELIS). Uvita, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. 1995-
1996.
 Laboratory Instructor. General Biology. Escuela de Biología. Universidad de Costa Rica. II semester
1998.
 Resident Biologist. Marenco Biological Station. Drake Bay, Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
1997-1998.
 Researcher. Bats of Rio Macho Biological Station.1992-1993. Independent project. Objective:
Inventory of bats species at Rio Macho Biological Station.
 Researcher. Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) population dynamic in the northwestern buffer area of
Corcovado National Park. Since 1996. Objective: To determine current state of Scarlet Macaw
population at the Corcovado National Park´s buffer area and propose a strategy for its conservation in
the area. Associated Researcher. Project supported by INBIO (Institute of Biodiversity, Costa Rica).
 Researcher. Pantropical Primate Project. Project Coordinator: Peter Lucas, University de Hong Kong.
Objective: To determine the evolution and use of color vision for foraging by primates. 1999-2001.
Project supported by: Hong Kong Research Council and National Geographic.
 Researcher. Survey of flying mammals at Cerro Brujo, Osa Peninsula. Project Costa Rica III. VIDA
(Voluntarios para la investigación y desarrollo Ambiental) y (Youth Challenge International).
December, 1994.
 Consultant. Rapid Ecological Evaluation of the protected zone of the Nicoya Peninsula and
Peninsular biological corridor, Costa Rica. Mammal's section. October 2002.
 Researcher and project coordinator. Current.
Proyecto Carey: Research, ecology and Conservation program for frugivores and timber tree species
at the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.

PUBLICATIONS:
Peer review paper:
Riba, J.P. 1993. Notas sobre los murciélagos de la Estación Biológica Rio Macho, Costa Rica. Brenesia
45-46: 183-186.

Dominy, N. J., Lucas, P. W., Ramsden, L. W., Riba, P., Stoner, K. E., & Turner, I. M. 2002. Why are
young leaves red? Oikos 98: 163-173.

Riba-Hernández, P., Kathryn E. Stoner, Peter W. Lucas. 2003. The Sugar Composition of Fruits in the
diet of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in tropical humid forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical
 Ecology. Volume 19, Issue 6 (pp 709 - 716).

Peter W. Lucas, Nathaniel J. Dominy, Pablo Riba-Hernandez, Kathryn E. Stoner, Nayuta Yamashita,
Esteban Loría-Calderón, Wanda Petersen-Pereira, Yahaira Rojas-Durán, Ruth Salas-Pena, Silvia
Solis-Madrigal, Daniel Osorio, and Brian W. Darvell. 2003. Evolution and function of routine
trichromatic vision in primates. Evolution 57(11): 2636-2643.

Riba- Hernandez, J.P. Stoner. K. and D.Osorio. 2004. Effect of polymorphic color vision in fruit detection
by the spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and its implications in the maintenance of polymorphic color
vision in platyrrhine monkeys. Journal of Experimental Biology. 207: 2465-2470

Riba-Hernandez, J.P. and K. Stoner. 2005. Massive destruction of Symphonia globulifera (Clusiaceae)
flowers by the Central American spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in a tropical humid forest, Costa
Rica. Biotropica 37(2): 274–278.

Yamashita N, Stoner K, Riba-Hernández P, Dominy N, & Peter Lucas. 2005. Light levels used during
feeding by primate species with different color vision phenotypes. Behavioral Ecology and
Sociobiology. 58: 618-629.

Riba-Hernandez, JP, Stoner K and Lucas Peter. 2006. The Significance of Trichromacy for Detecting
Monosaccharide-Rich Fruits in the Diet of Central American Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi).
American Journal of Primatology: 67:411–423. Special issue on primates color vision.

Stoner K.E., Riba-Hernández P., Lucas P.W. 2006. Comparative use of color vision for frugivory by
sympatric species of platyrrhines. American Journal of Primatology: 67:399–409. Special issue on
color vision.

Stoner K.E., Riba-Hernández P., J.P. Vulinec, K and J. Lambert. 2007. The Role of Mammals in Creating
and Modifying Seedshadows in Tropical Forests and Some Possible Consequences of Their
Elimination. Biotropica 39(3): 316–327.

González-Zamora A, Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Chaves O, Sánchez-López S, Stoner K, And Pablo Riba-

Hernández. Accepted. Diet of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in Mesoamerica: current

knowledge and future directions. American Journal of Primatology.
Book Chapters:

Lucas, P.W., Corlett, R. T., Dominy, N.J., Essackjee, H.C., Riba-Hernández, P., Stoner, K.E., y
Yamashita, N.  2003.  Dietary analysis: Food chemisty.  In: Field and laboratory methods in primatology. 
J. M. Setchell y D. J. Curtis, eds. Cambridge University Press.

Lucas P. W., N. J. Dominy, D. Osorio, W. Peterson-Pereira, Riba-Hernández, P., S. Solis-Madrigal, K. E.

Stoner y N. Yamashita.  (in press)  A pocket field guide to primate origins - in color.  M. Dagosto, ed. 
Kluwerese Press.

CONGRESS PARTICIPATION:
 Relative abundance of Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) at the northwestern coast of the Osa Peninsula,
Costa Rica. Poster presentation. Annual meeting of the American Field Ornithology y Costarican
Asocciation of Ornithology. June 22-24, 1997. San José, Costa Rica. Pablo Riba-Hernández, Lucia de
la Ossa-Pirie y Johnny Villarreal-Orias.
 Abundance and group size of Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) at the northwestern area of the Corcovado
National Park, Península de Osa, Costa Rica. Oral Presentation. Second Congress of the
Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation. July 6-10, 1998. Universidad Centroamericana
UCA, Managua, Nicaragua. Johnny Villareal-Orias, Lucía de la Ossa Pirie, y Pablo Riba-Hernández.
 Color as a cue for leaf selection in the trichromatic New World monkey Alouatta palliata. Kathryn E.
Stoner, Pablo Riba-Hernández, Wanda Petersen-Pereira, and Sílvia Solís-Madrigal. Oral
Presentation. International Congress of Primatology, Sidney, Australia. January 2001.
 Color as a cue for fruit selection in Ateles geoffroyi. Pablo Riba-Hernández and Kathryn E. Stoner.
Oral Presentation. International Congress of Primatology, Sidney, Australia. January 2001.
 The importance of trichromacy for detecting monosaccharide-rich fruits in spider monkeys. Riba-
Hernández P., Stoner, K.E., Lucas P.W. Oral Presentation. International Congress of Primatology.
Torino, Italy, 22-28 August 2004.
 Comparative use of color vision for frugivory by sympatric species of platyrrhines. Stoner K.E., Riba-
Hernández P., Lucas P.W. Oral presentation in the symposium “Recent advances in colour vision
research.”. International Congress of Primatology. Torino, Italy, 22-28 August 2004.
 Spider monkeys as primary seed dispersers of the logged Carey tree (Elaeoluma glabrescens),
in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. Oral presentation. International Congress of Tropical Biology.
Uberlandia, Brazil 24-28 July 2005.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. and Stoner K. Seed handling behavior of Ateline monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi and
Alouatta palliata) in tropical rainforest in Costa Rica: implications for seed dispersal. Oral presentation.
International Congress of Tropical Biology. Uberlandia, Brazil 24-28 July 2005.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. Are Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) and Mealy parrots (Amazona farinosa)
redundant pre-dispersal seed predators? ; evidence from the Osa Península, Costa Rica. Oral
presentation. International Congress of Tropical Biology. Morelia, Mexico.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. & J.Terry. Pervasive predation of nutmeg (Virola koschnyi) seed by land crabs
(Gecarcinus quadratus) in the Osa peninsula, Costa Rica. Oral presentation. International Congress
of Tropical Biology. Morelia, Mexico.
 Riba-Hernández, P. & K. Stoner. Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in small reserves: Can mutualistic
interactions between large monkeys and large seeded plants be maintained in the Osa Peninsula,
southwestern Costa Rica. Oral presentation. International Congress of Tropical Biology. Morelia,
Mexico.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. & K. Stoner..Frugivoría y dispersión de semillas por Ateles geoffroyi y Alouatta
palliata y sus implicaciones en la conservación de la biodiversidad en la Península de Osa, Costa
Rica. Oral Presentation. Segundo simposio Nacional de Primates. 28-30 de julio del 2007, San
Ramon, Alajuela.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. Dispersión de semillas del árbol Carey (Elaouloma glabrescens) por los monos
Colorados: Evidencias de la dependencia de un primate para la regeneración de especies forestales
de importancia económica en la Península de Osa. Oral Presentation. Segundo simposio Nacional de
Primates. 28-30 de julio del 2007, San Ramon, Alajuela.
 Riba-Hernandez, P. & K. Stoner. Se podrían mantener las relaciones mutualistas entre primates y
plantas en reservas pequeñas: El caso del Mono Colorado en la Península de Osa, Costa Rica. Oral
Presentation. Segundo simposio Nacional de Primates. 28-30 de julio del 2007, San Ramon, Alajuela.

Symposium organization
“Forest regeneration in the tropics: the role of mammals from species to community level”. International
Congress of Tropical Biology. Uberlandia, Brazil 24-28 July 2005.

CONFERENCE SPEAKS:

Simposium title “The evolution of color vision in primates”. University of Hong Kong. Speak presented:
Colour as a cue for fruit selection in Ateles geoffroyi. Hong Kong, December 2001.

COURSES AND WORKSHOPS ATTENDANTED:

 Workshop: “Wildlife Confiscation”. Organized by specialist group of UICN, Simón Bolivar Zoo and
Environment Minister. San Jose, Costa Rica. October 1-3, 1996.
 Workshop: “Analysis, Regional Planning and Primates Management in Captivity". Organized by Pro-
zoologicos Foundation, Mesoamerican Association of Zoos, Specialists group of conservation and
reproduction SSG/UICN, TAG de primates. San Jose, Costa Rica. June 23-28, 1997.

 Course, “Capture-recapture models for monitoring wild populations". San Jose, Costa Rica. October
27- 31, 1997. 35 hours.

 Course, “Update in concepts of conservation and wildlife management". May 4-15, 1998. 80 hours.

REFERENCES:
Prof. Kathryn E. Stoner
Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 27-3 (Xangari),
Morelia, Michoacan, 48980 Mexico
Telephone: (443) 322-2712 o (555) 623-2712
E-mail: kstoner@oikos.unam.mx

Prof. Peter Lucas

Anthropology Department
The George Washington University
Hortense Amsterdam House
2110 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052, USA
Tel: 1-202-994-6987
Email: pwlucas@gwu.edu

Prof. Jorge Lobo

Escuela de Biología,
Universidad de Costa Rica