Christopher Stephen Vaughan

Adjunct Professor

233 Russell Labs
1630 Linden Dr
UW-Madison
Madison WI 53706

Ph: 608/263-2071

Email: cvaughan@wisc,edu

Education

Career Summary

Between 1974-2000, I worked in the Environmental Sciences School and the International Institute for Wildlife Conservation and Management http://www.icomvis.una.ac.cr at the Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica) in different administrative, research and teaching capacities . Although initially I studied wildlife populations, I feel local human stakeholders are necessary if local natural resources are to be conserved. Presently I coordinate the Chocolate Biodiversity and Productivity Project (Milwaukee Public Museum-University of Wisconsin-USDA) Chocolate-
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/sep03/169859.asp and co-edit the international scientific journal, Vida Silvestre Neotropical. I also continue teaching Latin American graduate students in Costa Rica and conduct research on a Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) population in a human-dominated landscape begun in 1990 (see http://www.lappacr.org) . At Wildlife Ecology (UW-Madison), I have taught Sustainable Development in Costa Rica and currently teach Extinction of Species (Wildlife Ecology 360) with 300 undergraduate and graduate students (Fall 2006). Also I orient UW undergraduate and graduate students interested in the neotropics.

Costa Rica

Mesoamerican Parrot Symposium (November 22-23, 2005) Published in Mesoamerica Journal

Vida Silvestre Neotropical (International Wildlife Journal)

Graduate courses given at International Institute in Wildlife Conservation Management

Professional Experience

CAREER SUMMARY

During almost 30 years, I have worked as an administrator, consultant, professor, thesis advisor, and field researcher in environmental studies, behavior and ecology in Costa Rica. My administrative duties included: a) cofounder and director of Latin America's first Wildlife Management graduate program (Regional Wildlife Management Program, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica), b) director and organizer of the inaugural year of the Costa Rican Center for Sustainable Development (School for Field Studies), c) science coordinator of the Costa Rica Field Studies program (Associated Colleges of the Midwest), d) coordinator of a neotropical tropical wildlife project (Organization of American States, Costa Rica) and e) coordinator of the Biodiversity section of the Costa Rican government First National Strategy for Sustainable Development. Presently I am coordinator of the Chocolate Biodiversity and Productivity Project (Milwaukee Public Museum-University of Wisconsin-USDA) and coeditor of the international scientific journal, Vida Silvestre Neotropical (Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica).

As a university professor, I taught seven undergraduate and seven graduate level courses in the natural resources field over a 25-year period, co-directed undergraduate and graduate courses in tropical field/wildlife ecology and wildlands management (Regional Wildlife Management Program, Organization of Tropical Studies, St. Olaf College and Hamline University) and advised 15 M.S. theses and over 70 undergraduate research projects. Based on my original research, my colleagues, students, I have authored or coauthored almost 100 scientific papers, seven books and I have presented over 50 papers in international symposia and congresses. I widely publish in Latin American journals to make the information accessible to those who need it most.

I have demonstrated leadership, communication and fund-raising abilities in the conservation field by directing several organizations and projects, and have raised over $2 million in a 6-year period in Central America while director of the graduate program.. From my years as a field ecologist, I have grown to believe that sustainable development and conservation are ultimately in the hands of local communities working with national and international collaborators. I have insisted on spending quality time with local community members and other stakeholders, discussing with them research efforts, methodologies, results and applications. With local community leaders, I participated in founding a regional conservation organization in a small community of Costa Rica to work with scarlet macaw conservation and management, made up of local stakeholders.

Following a decision to return to the United States with my family, I retired from my university position in Costa Rica in September of 2000; began doctorate studies at the University of Wisconsin the same month. I completed my PhD in June 2002. My dissertation summarized research begun in 1990 on the scarlet macaw and local human communities, which coexist with it. My childhood was spent in the Midwest and I have just recently settled in Madison after spending almost 30 years in Costa Rica and four in Wisconsin as a visiting professor. It was difficult to leave our farm, my professorship, research, and friends in Costa Rica. However, several years before, I concluded that my professional experiences in a developing country could be useful in the United States, which has the economic base and power to control the direction of conservation worldwide. At present, I continue to publish, present papers at meetings, give short courses for Latin American graduate students in Costa Rica, conduct research/outreach on biodiversity/economic productivity of chocolate plantations in Costa Rica with the Milwaukee Public Museum and scarlet macaws in Costa Rica and teach courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presently I work in the Dept. of Wildlife Ecology at UW-Madison and the Milwaukee Public Museum, spending 4 months a year in Costa Rica.

Pictures

Recent Publications

Vaughan, C., O. Ramirez, G. Herrera, E. Fallas, R. W. Henderson. 2007. Home range and habitat use of Basciliscus plumifrons (Squamata: Corytophanidae) in an active Costa Rican cacao farm. Applied Herpetology

Vaughan, C., O. Ramirez, G. Herrera and R. Guries. 2007. Spatial Ecology and Conservation of Two Sloth Species in a Cacao Landscape in Limón, Costa Rica. Biodiversity and Conservation 16:2293-2310

Vaughan, C. 2006. Strategies for the conservation of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) population in Costa Rica and how to measure its success. Mesoamericana 10(2):23-28

Vaughan, C., F. Dear, N. Nemeth & L. Marineros. 2006. Nest cavities for the scarlet macaw (Ara macao) in Costa Rica and management implications. Mesoamericana 10(2):34-41

Vaughan, C. 2006.  Advantages and disadvantages of wildlife reintroductions. Mesoamericana 10(2):88-95

Dear, F., C. Vaughan, A. Arce, J. Back & H. Solórzano. 2006. Environmental education as a tool in the conservation of the scarlet macw (Ara macao) in the Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica. Mesoamericana 10(2):75-82

Vaughan, C., N. Nemeth and L. Marineros. 2006. Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) (Psittaciformes: Pssitacidae) diet in Central Pacific Costa Rica. Int. J. Trop. biology 54(3):919-926.

Vaughan, C., N. M. Nemeth, J. Cary, and S. Temple. 2005. Response of a Scarlet Macaw Ara macao population to conservation practices in Costa Rica. Bird Conservation International. 15:119-130.

Myers, M. & C. Vaughan. 2004. Movement and behavior of scarlet macaws (Ara macao) during the post fledging dependence period: implications for in situ versus ex situ management. Biological Conservation 118: 411-420.

Lopez, J. & C. Vaughan. 2004. Observations on the role of frugivorous bats as seed dispersers in Costa Rican secondary forests. Acta Chiropterologica 6(1): 111-119.

Vaughan, C., J. Gack, H. Solorzano & R. Ray. 2003. The effect of environmental education on school children, their parents and community members: A study of intergenerational and intercommunity learning. J. of Environm. Ed.34 (3): 12-21.

Vaughan, C., N. Nemeth & L. Marineros. 2003. Ecology and management of natural and artificial Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) nest cavities in Costa Rica. Ornit. Neotrop. 14: 381-396.

Nemeth, N. & C. Vaughan 2003. Foraging observations on Scarlet Macaw Ara macao in Costa Rica. Cotinga 21:71-72

Foerster, C. & C. Vaughan. 2002. Home range, habitat use and activity of Baird's tapir in Costa Rica. Biotropica 34(3):423-437.

Carcia, E., C. Vaughan and M. McCoy. 2002. Ecology of Central American cacaomistles in Costa Rican cloud forest. Vida Silvestre Neotropical 11 (102): 52-59.

Vaughan, C. J. and K. Weis. 1999. Neotropical dry forest wildlife water hole use and management. Rev. Biol. Trop., 47(4): 1039-1044.

Vaughan, A. et al. 1997. Water loss at twenty natural waterholes in Guanacaste national Park, Costa Rica: implications for wildlife. Rev. Biol. Trop., 45(4) 1679-1682.

Updated: 2008.05.07