Arata Honda
Arata is a PhD candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, studying how arboreal mammals survive and coexist in tropical forest canopies. Arata's research explores how vertical environmental variation influences species’ movement through three-dimensional space, how this relates to their form and behavior, and how it reflects and shapes competition and predator-prey dynamics. He is particularly interested in how climate change and habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation may be altering species locomotion and assembly rules in the canopy, reshaping survival and evolutionary pathways.
Latin America hosts forests with high arboreal mammal diversity and offers exciting opportunities to study these ecological dynamics. Continuing advances in climbing gear and remote sensing technologies make it possible to monitor species and habitat conditions in complex vertical environments. With support from CLAIS, Arata is investigating the three-dimensional habitat use of monkeys, opossums and small carnivores in Costa Rica. He aims to understand how their 3D movement behaviors and ecological interactions compare to nocturnal marsupials in Papua New Guinea, where he also conducts fieldwork.
Latin America hosts forests with high arboreal mammal diversity and offers exciting opportunities to study these ecological dynamics. Continuing advances in climbing gear and remote sensing technologies make it possible to monitor species and habitat conditions in complex vertical environments. With support from CLAIS, Arata is investigating the three-dimensional habitat use of monkeys, opossums and small carnivores in Costa Rica. He aims to understand how their 3D movement behaviors and ecological interactions compare to nocturnal marsupials in Papua New Guinea, where he also conducts fieldwork.
Arata has studied Spanish for four years. He continues to practice so he can communicate more meaningfully while engaging in the diverse cultural and natural heritage across Latin America.