Hallo! curious.
I am Jose David Urquiza MuƱoz. Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC) in Jena, Germany, and an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana (UNAP) in Iquitos, Peru.
In recent years, my work has focused heavily on tropical forest ecology, particularly exploring how extreme climate events and storms affect the Amazon basin. My research interests lie at the intersection of geospatial ecology and biogeochemical processes.
Specifically, I investigate the impacts, drivers, and mechanisms of large-scale disturbancesāsuch as storm-driven tree mortality (windthrows)āusing multi-spectral remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and field data. My ultimate goal is to bridge basic ecosystem science with actionable insights to better understand global climate change and carbon dynamics.
LiDAR over windthrown area.
Recent News
Our paper, "Widespread forest disturbance from windthrow in central African rainforests," was published in npj Natural Hazards! Read it here.
Successfully defended my Ph.D. at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.
Our paper, "Increased Occurrence of Large-Scale Windthrows Across the Amazon Basin," was published in AGU Advances! Read it here.
Co-authored a study on windthrow characteristics and their regional association with rainfall and soil in the Amazon, published in Environmental Research Letters.