Ryan Almeida

Ryan Almeida received his B.S. in biology from Davidson College in 2018 and his Ph.D. in ecology and evolution from Rutgers University in 2023. He is a conservation ecologist broadly interested in the causes and consequences of modern biodiversity loss. Almeida’s dissertation research centered on understanding mechanistic drivers of overexploitation in the global wildlife trade, with a focus on rare and valuable species. His work spans a variety of taxa and methodological approaches, and his recent study systems include global songbird trade, pangolin harvest, and herpetofauna trade in North America. 

Select Publications

• Almeida, R.J., Bonachela, J.A., and J.L. Lockwood. 2023. Multiple co-occurring bioeconomic drivers of overexploitation can accelerate rare species extinction risk. Journal of Applied Ecology. 60: 754-763
• Almeida, R.J., Berro, A.A.G., Lippert, A.L, Clary, D.J., McKlin, S., Scott, E.V., and K.G. Smith. 2021. Selective extinctions resulting from random habitat destruction lead to under-estimates of local and regional biodiversity loss in a manipulative field experiment. Global Change Biology. 27 (4): 793-803.
• Smith, K.G. and R.J. Almeida. 2020. When are extinctions simply bad luck? Rarefaction as a conceptual framework for disentangling stochastic and selective extinctions. Journal of Applied Ecology. 57: 101-110. 

Appointed to the Faculty

Educational Background

Ph.D., Rutgers University
B.Sc., Davidson College