Research Experience


PhD Program in Ecology and Evolution
University of Illinois at Chicago





    I obtained my "BS in Biology" in 2006 at the University of Panamá in the Republic of Panamá. I majored in plant biology and developed my thesis in collaboration with Sunshine Van Bael at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Among the projects I have been involved are the following:

1. Assesing divresity and abundance of endophytic fungi (undergraduate thesis)
2. Plant-Endophyte-Herbivore interactions
3. Plant-Soil Feedbacks
4. Cacao-endophyte-pathogen interactions

Tropical Fungal Endophytes
    Foliar fungal endophytes are cryptic organisms that live most of their life cycle within foliar plant tissue without showing any sympton. In temperate grassland systems this fungal symbiont is vertically transmited and are important for plant ecological performance such as: enhacing drought tolerance, leaf chemistry, tolerance of heavy metals in soils, and propensity for vegetative reproduction (Arnold and Lutzoni 2007). The majority of terrestrial plants are colonized by endophytic fungi that are horizontally transmitted. Recent research has demostrated that horizontally transmitted  endophytes increase resistance in many crop plants. It has been suggested that endophytes are hyper-diverse in the tropics but it is not clear whether their is a mutualism between foliar endophytes and non-crop plants in tropical forests. Overall the goals of the mycology group at STRI are to understand the: (1) endophyte diversity and incidence in the tropics, (2) ecological role of endophytes in tropical plant species, (3) role of endophytes as potential biological control agents for crop-plants.   

Diversity and Abundance of Endophytic Fungi (undergraduate thesis)
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and University of Panamá (Universidad de Panamá)
Superviser: Sunshine Van Bael and Enith Rojas

    To better understand if endophyte fungi have a mutualistic interaction with plants, we initially ask: are endophytes host specific? To answer this question we undertook a comparative survey of the foliar endophytic community in three plant species common to two sites in Gamboa, Panamá. The host plant species include a tree, a herbaceous vine, and a woody vine (respectively, Cordia alliodora (Boraginaceae), Merremia umbellata (Convolvulaceae) and Ipomoea phillomega (Convolvulaceae). In this study we used molecular techniques to characterize the most common endophytic fungi isolated from the three hosts. With these data, we ask, i) what are the most common endophytic genera isolated? ii) do endophytic strains display host or site specificity? We also compare the densities of endophytic fungi in similar aged leaves for the three host plants.

Volunteer experience

ICBG: International Cooperative Biodiversity Group
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Supervisor: María Heller and Nivia Ríos.

Field Courses

Princeton Tropical Ecology Course 2004

"Península Gigante" Field Course 2004


Manuscripts in Progress

Valencia, M., E. I. Rojas, E. A. Herre, S. A. Van Bael. Diversity and abundance of endophytic fungi of three plant species in a Panamanian tropical rainforest

Van Bael, S. A., M. C. Valencia, E. I. Rojas, N. Gómez, D. M. Windsor, E. A. Herre. Effects of foliar endophytic fungi on the preference and performance of a leaf-eating beetle, Chelymorpha alternans (Chrysmelidae: Cassidinae).

Van Bael, S. A., H. Fernández-Marín, M. C. Valencia, E. I. Rojas, W. T. Wcislo, E. A. Herre. Endophytic fungi are not welcome in leaf-cutting ant gardens.