OWSD Early Career

Awarded in 2024

Quezada Aguilar Maura Lizeth

About the project

Her research project will identify at-risk species of oak trees within the forests of Guatemala's volcanic mountains, and establish community nurseries for their conservation. Oaks are of tremendous ecological as well as economic importance in Guatemala. The oak and pine-oak forests in the mountainous regions of Central America are often called the "forest bridge of the Americas". More than 70% of Guatemala's rural population also depends on oak trees as their main energy source. While the different species of oaks have been mapped in 15 of Guatemala's 22 administrative departments, information is missing for the regions that make up its volcanic mountain chain. This project will gather data on the distribution and vulnerability of oak species within these departments, informing strategies for conservation, management and restoration of the forest landscape considering the ecological and socioeconomic importance of these species. It will also promote participatory processes through the involvement of civil actors, students and university professors, and strengthen community and municipal nurseries, prioritizing threatened oak species so that they are available to be used in forest restoration.

Field of Specialization

Biological Systems and Organisms

About the institution

Universidad de Mariano Galvez de Guatemala

Guatemala

Full Member

Dra. Maura Lizeth Quezada Aguilar

Membership since: 2020

Guatemala

Currently in:

Guatemala

Field of activity:

Biological Systems and Organisms

Degrees:

2014

Doctorate

Biological Systems and Organisms

Publications resulting from Research

Quezada, ML.; Lopez-Mayorga, R; Sunum, R; Perez-Silva, E; Papa, M; Herrera, JP, Hernández, B. (2019) Macrofungos como indicadores da qualidade do habitat ea mudança climática. IX Congreso Brasileiro de Micología.

Quezada, ML., Rodas-Duarte, L., Chew, D, Marroquín-Tinti, A., (2017). Riqueza, distribución y estado de conservación de las especies de encino en Guatemala Ciencia, Tecnología y Salud 4 (2), 141-158

Rodas-Duarte, L., Quezada, ML., Valencia-A, S., Marroquín-Tinti, A., Hernández, BA., Martínez, JR., (2017). Encinos de Guatemala, Volumen I. Herbario USCG, Centro de Estudios Conservacionistas USAC.

Rodríguez-Correa, H., Oyama, K., Quesada, M., Fuchs, E. J., Quezada, M., Ferrufino, L., ... & González-Rodríguez, A. (2017). Complex phylogeographic patterns indicate Central American origin of two widespread Mesoamerican Quercus (Fagaceae) species. Tree Genetics & Genomes, 13(3), 62.

Quezada, M. L., Rodas-Duarte, R., & Marroquín-Tintí, A. A. (2016). Contribución al conocimiento de los encinos (Quercus: Fagaceae) en los departamentos de Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz y Petén, Guatemala. Ciencia, Tecnología y Salud, 3(2), 115-126.

Sunum R, Quezada M (2015). Fructificación del Marasmius Fr. en respuesta a factores climáticos en remanentes de selva de la Ecorregión Lachuá, Alta Verapaz. Revista Científica 25 (2): 59-74

Orellana S, Quezada M (2015) Efecto de la conformación del paisaje en coleópteros (Insecta: Coleoptera) asociados a macrohongos de la Ecorregión Lachuá, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Revista Científica 25: 37-48.

Quezada ML, Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Pérez-Silva E, Aide TM (2014) Land cover changes in the Lachuá region, Guatemala: patterns, proximate causes, and underlying driving forces over the last 50 years. Regional Environmental Change. DOI 10.1007/s10113-0548-x

Quezada ML, E Pérez-Silva, R Sumun. (2013) Nuevos registros de Agaricales para la ecorregión Lachuá, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Bol. Soc. Micol. Madrid 37: 49-57.