Rate My Professor Chris Baraloto

Chris Baraloto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University, where he joined in 2015. He serves as Director of the International Center for Tropical Botany, Associate Director of the Institute of Environment leading the Land and Biodiversity Division, and Director of the Baraloto Lab for Tropical Plant Diversity. Baraloto holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Biological Science from Florida State University. His research focuses on tropical botany, community ecology, and conservation. He investigates mechanisms underlying patterns of plant species distributions, their relationship with ecosystem structure and function, and their responses to resource exploitation, global change, and forest management. Baraloto works primarily in diverse lowland forests across the Amazon and Guiana Shield, with recent projects in South Florida including urban landscapes in Coconut Grove. He coordinates research, education, and outreach activities with university partners, local botanic gardens, schools, government agencies, and NGOs to improve forest management and biodiversity conservation. He has collected over 5,000 herbarium specimens distributed worldwide and teaches the intensive four-week Tropical Botany course at The Kampong.

Baraloto has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, with key contributions including "The global spectrum of plant form and function" (Nature, 2016), "Hyperdominance in the Amazonian tree flora" (Science, 2013), "Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global forests" (Science, 2016), "Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink" (Nature, 2015), and "A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities" (Ecology Letters, 2015). His scholarship has amassed nearly 30,000 citations, influencing tropical ecology and conservation globally. He mentors graduate and undergraduate students from the USA, France, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Suriname and serves as a scientific advisor to committees for natural reserve design and management in five countries across the Amazon region. Baraloto received the CASE Research Award in Biological Sciences at FIU. As a Coconut Grove resident, he leads FIU partnerships with local organizations on environmental sustainability and tree inventory initiatives.