Alonso, Alfonso
Alfonso Alonso
Dr. Alfonso Alonso is a conservation biologist and has worked at the Smithsonian Institution since 1997. He is currently the Managing Director of Field Programs and is a principal investigator affiliated with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Sustainability (SCBI’s CCES). He established the Gabon Biodiversity Program and the Biodiversity Monitoring and Assessment Program (BMAP). Both programs are within SCBI’s CCES and embody Dr. Alonso is passionate about understanding plant and animal species distributions in different ecosystems. Specifically, he is one of the world’s leading experts on the ecology and conservation of monarch butterflies, and his work focuses on the ecology and conservation of monarch butterflies.
“Our generation has the responsibility to set the example on how to use natural resources in a sustainable way. That will be the legacy that we leave for future generations. And, of course, we want it to be one that we are all proud of.” - Alfonso Alonso, 2014
Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina, Davies, Stuart James, Bennett, Amy C., Gonzalez-Akre, Erika, Muller-Landau, Helene C., …, Detto, Matteo,2015. “CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change, ” Global Change Biology, 21(2) 528-549.
Higgins, Mark A., Asner, Gregory P., Anderson, Christopher B., Martin, Roberta E., Knapp, David E., Tupayachi, Raul, Perez, Eneas, Elespuru, Nydia and Alonso, Alfonso. 2015. “Regional-Scale Drivers of Forest Structure and Function in Northwestern Amazonia,” PLoS ONE, 10(3).
Sahley, Catherine Teresa, Cervantes, Klauss, Pacheco, Victor, Salas, Edith, Paredes, Diego and Alonso, Alfonso. 2015. “Diet of a sigmodontine rodent assemblage in a Peruvian montane forest,” Journal of mammalogy, 96(5) 1071-1080.
Vanthomme, Hadrien, Kolowski, Joseph, Nzamba, Brave S. and Alonso, Alfonso. 2015. “Hypothesis-driven and field-validated method to prioritize fragmentation mitigation efforts in road projects,” Ecological Applications, 25(7) 2035-2046.
Alonso, Alfonso, Dallmeier, Francisco, Korte, Lisa and Vanthomme, Hadrien. 2014. “The Gabon Biodiversity Program: A Conservation Research Collaboration,” Africa Today, 61(1) 3-15.
Dr. Alfonso Alonso was raised in Mexico City by his father, Ignacio, an electrician, and his mother, Guadalupe, a housekeeper. He remembers having a lot of outdoor childhood experiences, including camping with his family and being active in a local Boy Scouts troop. His travels with his parents across Mexico sparked Dr. Alonso’s interest in nature.
In 1982, Dr. Alonso began his undergraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México. He studied biology, which significantly impacted his choice to follow an environmental career path. “My love for nature and the environment, as well as my desire to understand what organisms do to survive and to live and be happy, sparked my interest in an environmental career,” Dr. Alonso recalls (2016). At the National University in Mexico, Dr. Alonso finished his Bachelor’s degree in general biology in 1987 while working as a technical assistant for one of his professors. There, he helped to collect data to understand the population dynamics of the monarch butterfly while overwintering in Mexico.
After college, Dr. Alonso moved to the U.S. for graduate school. He attended the University of Florida, earning a Master’s Degree in Zoology and Animal Biology in 1991. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Zoology in 1996.
After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Alonoso conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Oklahoma, where he contributed to a study to determine the distribution of insects according to temperature and altitude in the Americas. After finishing his postdoctoral research, he joined the Smithsonian in 1997. Dr. Alonso is skilled in communication, leadership, and project management. Additionally, he is passionate about understanding plant and animal species distribution in different ecosystems. Since working at the Smithsonian, Dr. Alonso has combined his skills and passion to develop monitoring programs by assembling teams of researchers with the necessary expertise. These monitoring programs surveil oil and gas projects and minimize their impacts on biodiversity. Through his studies, Dr. Alonso finds ways to avoid, mitigate, and restore the effects of oil and gas projects. He also develops best practices to protect biodiversity.
Just after three years at the Smithsonian, Dr. Alonso established the Gabon Biodiversity Program in 2000 with the primary goal of conserving biodiversity in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas. Called the Gamba Complex, this area is home to rich ecosystems, diverse habitats, and various species ranging from endangered to threatened to protected statuses. Within the Complex itself, there are onshore oil production and logging concessions. To conserve biodiversity, the Gabon Biodiversity Program creates best practices for minimizing environmental impact from industries, emphasizes the importance of ecosystem services as they relate to human and environmental health, and builds sustaining relationships with stakeholders. Currently, Dr. Alonso is a principal investigator at the Rabi site within the Gabon Biodiversity Program.
In addition to his involvement with the Gabon Biodiversity Program, Dr. Alonso established the Biodiversity Monitoring and Assessment Program (BMAP) in 2008. BAMP collaborates with PERU LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) to ensure the presence of a natural gas pipeline does not interfere with the biodiversity of the region. BMAP monitors each of the fifteen ecological landscape units (ELUs) in Peru that the PERU LNG pipeline crosses through.
Dr. Alonso’s work in Peru was a significant career achievement. He worked with a corporation that did not know how to work without adversely affecting plants and animals in the field. The corporation has over 300 affiliates worldwide and has since created a policy to better deal with biodiversity issues. The Peru program provided valuable information for the creation of a national park.
Dr. Alonso leads a research and conservation program in Central Africa, a region that has little experience with conservation practices. His work has led to the publication of three books and over 80 research papers.
Dr. Alonso is also one of the world’s leading experts on monarch butterflies. One of his most significant professional achievements was the research for the conservation of the monarch butterfly overwintering in Mexico. Dr. Alonso was one of the first scientists to understand the biology of overwintering monarchs and has helped many others learn the best ways to protect them.
His research findings continue to encourage Dr. Alonso and convince him that he has chosen the correct career path. “I’ve had opportunities to interact with all sorts of people, from individuals in local communities to high-level officials of the corporate world. When they have a better understanding of what nature is about and develop positive understandings in that way, it keeps me going because I confirm that when people are informed, they can make better decisions to protect the environment and that we can have a world where natural resources can be used in a sustainable way and maintained for the enjoyment and use of future generations,” Dr. Alonso comments (2016).
Mentors have been essential to Dr. Alonso’s personal and professional growth. Dr. Alonso’s parents gave him a passion and love for nature. His undergraduate advisor in Mexico, a brilliant and very math-oriented man, helped Dr. Alonso become more comfortable with a quantitative approach to biology and his studies. His master’s and Ph.D. advisor inspired him academically.
“My current boss is excellent in terms of big-picture thinking,” he points out. “He has shown me things I never learned at school—a more ‘real world’ approach. I really appreciate learning that angle. Because of his example, I’ve been able to avoid some pitfalls that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I’ve been fortunate to have very important people influencing my life” (2016).
Dr. Alonso’s wife is a biologist who does similar work in another organization, so they can help each other regularly.
Dr. Alonso enjoys mentoring other minorities in the field. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) runs regular training courses that allow Dr. Alonso to interact with young people from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The training courses allow Dr. Alonso to share his philosophies, research approach, and experiences in approaching and resolving challenges. However, the route Dr. Alonso chose does not provide as many mentoring opportunities as he would like. He believes increasing his contact with graduate students would better fulfill his desire to mentor young, enthusiastic conservation biologists. Even so, Dr. Alonso remains passionate about lecturing and working with people and has extensively traveled across the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
Dr. Alonso believes it is crucial for more minorities to pursue careers in the environmental field. “Go for it,” he says. “There are lots of opportunities, and we have a lot to do—tons of things. It is very hard work in some cases, but it is also a very good, fulfilling profession. And, if you do the right thing, it can be good financially as well” (2016).
Alonso, Alfonso. ForestGEO. 2019, September 13. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://forestgeo.si.edu/alonso-alfonso.
Gabon Biodiversity Program (Smithsonian Institution) | Gamba, Gabon. IE3 Global. 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023 from https://ie3global.org/internship/gabon-biodiversity-program-smithsonian-….
Rabi. ForestGEO. 2017, February 6. Retrieved October 25, 2023 from https://www.forestgeo.si.edu/sites/africa/rabi.
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
The BMAP. Bmap. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2023, from https://www.bmap.pe/bmap?lang=en. Working with Industry to Conserve African Forests. Smithsonian’s National Zoo. 2016, June 13. Retrieved October 25, 2023, from https://nationalzoo.si.edu/ccs/gabon-program.