Dr. Willandia Chaves
FACULTY AFFILIATE | Global Change Center
Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Google Scholar • Dept Page
wchaves@vt.edu
Willandia Chaves is a conservation scientist working with the human dimensions of fish and wildlife conservation, using tools and methods from different fields, including Conservation Psychology, Economics, Human Geography, and Environmental Education, among others. Her research aims to understand how people make decisions about their use of natural resources and, in turn, use this understanding to foster more sustainable behaviors and influence policy.
Some research topics she is interested in include wildlife trade, how urbanization affects people and biodiversity, addressing questions like “What levels of access and connection to nature do urban residents have, especially minority groups?” and “What are the levels of demand for wildlife and other natural resources in urban areas?” and cutting-edge approaches to collecting sensitive information of natural resource use (e.g. illegal wildlife trade).
Dr. Chaves completed her PhD and master’s degrees in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida, and bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Acre (Brazil).
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