Lucia Rapp py-Daniel: Icthyologist

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Nature of Science, Nature, Wildlife, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Evolutionary Biology

Ed Hessler

Note to Readers: As you will see posting this has been a challenge. Today I found it in drafts, dated February 4 and am going to make another attempt at posting it. I hope it works and I apologize for the confusion.

Dr. Lucia Rapp py-Daniel is employed by the National Institute for Amazonian Research, in Manaus, Brazil where she works as an icthyologist.

She is the featured scientist in the British journal Nature series, Where I Work (January 30, 2023). The reporting is by Patricia Maia Noronha.

Here is the opening paragraph and I've left you most of the article to read.

"When I first came to the Amazon from central Brazil in 1978, I was planning to stay just a year, but I was mesmerized by the size of the rainforest’s rivers and its biodiversity. I ended up staying longer and earned my master’s degree in aquatic biology in 1984 from the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), in Manaus, Brazil. I then went to get my PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and returned to Manaus in 1998 to work as an ichthyologist at INPA.

Notice how she made her career decision. I say this too often about those curious events and experiences that have incredible influence on some of life's major decisions.

Of course, I'm glad she did make the decision for she has made very important contributions to the study of biodiversity, bony fishes - biological evolution and ecology, preserving specimens so that they can be studied in future by others, and in ordering a major museum collection on Amazonian fish.