De Jesús Villanueva Smith Fellowship: moving canopy eDNA from hypothesis to practice
Christina De Jesús Villanueva is a scientist, communicator and natural resource manager in Puerto Rico. She is passionate about conservation, biodiversity, and finding solutions to environmental problems. Photo courtesy of Christina De Jesús Villanueva.
Christina De Jesús Villanueva has been awarded a 2026 David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship for her project “Moving canopy eDNA from hypothesis to practice: Monitoring biodiversity and guiding forest conservation in Puerto Rico and beyond.”
Christina’s project will test new applications of Environmental DNA (eDNA) collection from tropical forest canopy rainwater. EDNA provides “a cost-effective and non-harmful way to monitor wildlife” by “finding tiny traces of DNA that animals shed into their surroundings.” This data is important in understanding how wildlife is responding to threats and conservation efforts in the tropical forest, which is a very difficult ecosystem to monitor due to its height. Christina’s team will use novel eDNA monitoring methods to “create the first baseline measurements of biodiversity for Puerto Rico’s Maricao State Forest and adjust the method so it can be used more broadly in tropical forests.”
“I'm truly excited about becoming a scientist that can transform on-the-ground management needs into applied research for the benefit of conservation biology and the practitioners who rely on biodiversity monitoring data,” Christina shared. “Getting to spend more days in the forest is also a dream come true!”
Learn more about the project in her Smith Fellows profile. Congratulations, Christina!
