Daniella Schweizer joins the consultant team as a tropical socio-ecologist with long-term experience in ecological and social data analysis and synthesis. Her experience with tropical forest restoration goes back 13 years when she conducted doctoral research work on the ecology of understory succession and enrichment planting in native species silviculture plantations in Panama. Alongside this work, she researched the political ecology of Watershed Committees in the Panama Canal Watershed to better understand the dynamic of this governance structure. In recent years, Daniella has continued researching on both the ecological and the social dimensions of forest restoration. She has further evaluated the use of tools, such as phylogenetic ecology, in the planning and conducting of restoration plantings and in the assessment of restoration success. Currently, Daniella is conducting research aimed at characterizing the various approaches to FLR implemented and the perceptions on barriers and opportunities to increase the scale of forest restoration from project managers across the global south.
Education
Ph.D in Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2012
M.S in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology, University of Maryland, 2005
BS in Biology, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela, 2001
Appointments
Postdoctoral researcher, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zürich, Dec 2017 – current
Consultant, Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Dec 2016 – Oct 2017
Postdoctoral researcher, Universidad de São Paulo, School of Agriculture “Luiz Queiroz”, Brazil, 2013 – 2016
Intern, Island Conservation, Santa Cruz, California, September 2012 – May 2013
Biodiversity Fellow, United Nations Foundation, Washington DC, July 2005-August 2006
Intern, Conservation International. Key Biodiversity Areas research. Jan-Jul 2004.
Teaching Experience
Guest lecturer in Environmental Management and Tropical Ecology courses, ETH and Utrecht Universities, 2017-2018
Instructor for Restoration Ecology, August 2012, UCSC
Teaching assistant in: Tropical Ecology, Restoration Ecology, Ethnobotany, Political Ecology, GIS, The Physical and Chemical Environment, Sustainable Agriculture. UCSC 2007-2012
Instructor for the Environmental Stewardship Program, Universidad del Táchira, San Cristóbal, Venezuela, 2002-2003.
Awards and Recognitions
- Prince Bernard Chair Postdoctoral researcher, 2017-current
- FAPESP post-doctoral funding, October 2013 to December 2016
- Teaching excellence award, April 2012
- Teaching assistant award and sabbatical quarter, September 2011
- Smithsonian Institution Short term grant, Summer 2008 and 2010
- STEPS Institute Graduate Research Grant, 2006
- Regents Fellowship, 2006
- Stipendium aus Baselandschaft, Switzerland, 1993-1999 and 2003-2005
- Fulbright Faculty Development Scholarship, 2003-2005
- Deutsche Stiftung für Entwicklung (DSE), 2000
Publications
César, R.G., V. S. Moreno, G. Coletta, D. Schweizer, R. Chazdon, J. Barlow, S. F.B. Ferraz, R. Crouzeilles, P. H. S. Brancalion. Surrounding land use and forest cover as major drivers of biomass and tree diversity recovery in second-growth forests within agricultural landscapes. In review.
Schweizer, D., P. Meli, P.H.S. Brancalion and M. Guariguata . Implementing forest landscape restoration in Latin America: an overview of legal frameworks and stakeholder perceptions. Land Use Policy. In review.
Schweizer, D., M. van Kuijk, P. Meli, L. Bernardini and J. Ghazoul. 2019. Narratives Across Scales on Barriers and Strategies for Upscaling Forest Restoration: A Brazilian Case Study. Forests 10: 1-18.
Meli, P., D. Schweizer, P.H.S. Brancalion, C. Murcia and M. Guariguata. 2019. Multi‐ dimensional training among Latin America’s restoration professionals. Restoration Ecology.
Schweizer, D. and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2018. No effect of variations in overstory diversity and phylogenetic distance on early performance of enrichment planted seedlings in restoration plantations. Tropical Conservation Science 11: 1-9.
Schweizer, D., P. Meli, P.H.S. Brancalion and M. Guariguata. 2018. Oportunidades y desafíos para la gobernanza de la restauración del paisaje forestal en América Latina. Documentos Ocasionales 182. CIFOR. 72 pp.
Schweizer, D., D.C. Rother, A.E. Muler, R. Ribeiro Rodrigues, M. A. Pizo and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2017. Effects of bamboo dominance and palm-heart harvesting on the phylogenetic structure of the seed and seedling communities in an old-growth Atlantic Forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 33:1-8.
Schweizer, D. 2017. Stakeholder perceptions on governance for the protection and increase of forest cover in the Panama Canal Watershed. World Development Perspectives. 10.1016/j.wdp.2017.03.005.
Moreira da Silva, A.P., Schweizer, D., Rodrigues Marques, H., Magalhaes Cordeiro, A., Teixeira, T., Meira Nascente dos Santos, V., Sambuichi, R., Giudice Badari, C., Gaudare, U. and Brancalion, P.H.S. 2016. Can current native tree seedling production and infrastructure meet an increasing forest restoration demand in Brazil? Restoration Ecology 25(4) DOI: 10.1111/rec.12470.
Brancalion, P.H.S.; Schweizer, D.; Gaudare, U.; Mangueira, J.R.S.A.; Lamonato, F.; Farah, F.T.; Nave, A.G.; Rodrigues, R.R. 2016. Balancing economic costs and ecological outcomes of passive and active restoration in agricultural landscapes: the case of Brazil. Biotropica 48 (6): 856-867.
Schweizer, D., Aizprua, R., Gilbert, G.S. 2016. Early successional understory communities show idiosyncratic phylogenetic patterns in Neotropical silvicultural plantations. Forest Ecology and Management 372: 28-34.
Schweizer, D., Jones, H and Holmes, N. 2016. Literature review and meta-analysis of vegetation responses to goat and European rabbit eradications on islands. Pacific Science 70(1): 55-71.
Schweizer, D., R. Machado, G. Durigan, P.H.S. Brancalion. 2015. Phylogenetic patterns of Atlantic forest restoration communities are mainly driven by stochastic, dispersal related factors. Forest Ecology and Management 354: 300-308.
Schweizer, D., G.S. Gilbert, and K. D. Holl. 2013. Phylogenetic ecology applied to enrichment planting of tropical native tree species. Forest Ecology and Management 267: 57-66.
Reid, Briggs, Crandall, Eldon, Magdahl, Ohayon, Olimpi, Schweizer, Tadesse & Wang. 2012. Book review:Tropical ecology. Quarterly Review of Biology 87:380
CenTREAD Working Group (de Silva, Ericson*, Geneau, Holl, Olivera, Reid, Schweizer, Sennett and Torres-Ortega).2011. Book review: Regreening the bare hills: tropical forest restoration in the AsiaPacific region. Human Ecology 39:841-842.
Gilbert, G.S, E. Howard, B. Ayala-Orozco, M. Bonilla-Moheno, J. Cummings, S. Langridge, I.M. Parker, J. Pasari, D. Schweizer, and S. Swope. 2010. Beyond the tropics: forest structure in a temperate forest mapped plot. Journal of Vegetation Science 21 (2): 388- 405.
Recent Conference Presentations
Schweizer, D., P. Meli, L. Bernardini, M. van Kuijk and J. Ghazoul. Perceived barriers for scaling-up and monitoring forest restoration: Brazil as case study. Brazilian Society for Restoration Ecology Meeting. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Nov 2018.
Schweizer, D., P. Meli, P.H.S. Brancalion and M. Guariguata. Overview of legal frameworks in latinamerica that can foster or impair forest landscape restoration. Society for Ecological Restoration Conference. Foz de Iguazu, Brazil. Aug 2017.
Schweizer, D., R. Machado, G. Durigan and P.H.S. Brancalion. Phylogenetic patterns in Atlantic forest restored communities. Siacre Conference. Buenos Aires. Apr 2015.
Professional Activities
Reviewer for Forest Ecology and Management, Biotropica, Restoration Ecology, Forests, Tropical Conservation Science and Sustainability.
Workshop organizer, The Role of Certification in Forest and Landscape Restoration, with John Garcia, Engelberg, 2019.
Activities coordinator, Ecosystem Management Group, ETH, current.
Professional Affiliations
Brazilian Society for Restoration, Society for Ecological Restoration
Languages
- Spanish: excellent writing, reading, and speaking skills
- English: excellent writing, reading, and speaking skills
- Portuguese: excellent reading and speaking skills
- German: good speaking skills, fair writing and reading skills
- French: fair speaking and reading skills