M.Sc. in 2016 with Izeni Pires Farias and Zilca Campos
As an undergraduate student in the lab, Pedro studied population dynamics and temporal changes in allelic frequencies in the Cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) associated with the El Nino climatic events in the middle rio Negro basin. For his Masters, in the joint INPA/UFAM Genetics, Conservation and Evolutionary Biology program, Pedro undertook a phylogeographic and population genetic analysis of the Smooth-fronted caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus), in the process discovering two deeply divergent lineages. Paleosuchus trigonatus is the smallest and the most terrestrial of the caiman species of the Amazon, and also the most difficult to sample. Pedro is continuing in the lab as an RA, working on a large population/conservation genetic project of the South American or Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) .