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Jafet M. Nassar

Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (IVIC)

Caracas, Venezuela

Email: jafet.nassar@gmail.com

Web: http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/slccs/www/mesa.html

Research and Academic Interests

My main research interests include ecology of plant-animal interactions, repr oductive biology and population genetics of tropical plants with particular emphasis on xerophilous plant communities and conservation and sustainable use of Neotropical arid lands and dry forests. In relation to studies on plant-animal interactions, I focus on pollination and seed dispersal mutualistic interactions. Our goal is to examine the degree of interdependence between the interacting components of these associations using both descriptive and experimental approaches. Concerning plant reproductive biology, my goal is to characterize the reproductive strategies of plants associated with arid and semiarid lands in the Neotropics and to identify the main reproductive variants that plants have evolved in these ecosystems. With respect to plant population genetics, my main goal is to generate geographic maps of genetic diversity for plants representative of the different natural ecosystems in Venezuela, with particular emphasis on threatened and rare ecosystems. Finally, I also explore the potential of wild plants from arid ecosystems as resources for the local food industry in these environments.

Selected Publications

• Flores, S., J.M. Nassar y D. Quicke. 2005. Reproductive phenology and pre-dispersal seed predation in Protium tovarense (Burseraceae), with description of the first known phytophagous ‘Bracon’ species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae). Journal of Natural History 39(42): 3663–3685.
• Fajardo, L., V. González, J.M. Nassar, P. Lacabana, C.A. Portillo, F. Carrasquel y J.P. Rodríguez. 2005. Tropical Dry Forests of Venezuela: Characterization and current status. Biotropica 37:531-546.
• Fleming, T.H., D. Serrano y J.M. Nassar. 2005. Dynamics of a subtropical population of the Zebra Butterfly, Heliconius charithonia (Nymphalidae). Florida Entomologist 88: 169-179.
• Nassar, J. M. y N. Ramírez. 2004. Reproductive biology of the melon cactus, Melocactus curvispinus (Cactaceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution 248: 31–44.
• Baruch, Z., J. M. Nassar, y J. Bubis. 2004. Quantitative trait, genetic, environmental, and geographical distances among populations of the C4 grass Trachypogon plumosus in Neotropical savannas. Diversity and Distributions 10: 283-292.
• Newton, L. R., J. M. Nassar y T. H. Fleming. 2003. Genetic population structure and mobility of two Venezuelan desert nectar-feeding bats: inferences from mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Ecology 12: 3191–3198.
• Nassar, J. M., J. L. Hamrick y T. H. Fleming. 2003. Population genetic structure of Venezuelan chiropterophilous columnar cacti (Cactaceae). American Journal of Botany 90: 1628–1637.
• Nassar, J. M., H. Beck, L. Sternberg y T. H. Fleming. 2003. Dependence on cacti and agaves in nectarfeeding bats from Venezuelan arid zones. Journal of Mammalogy 84: 106–116.