Fernando Otálora-Luna, Ph. D.

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Since I was a child, I was fascinated to find out how animals communicate —how they express themselves and how others interpret them. As a biologist, I want to understand how organisms share information. I want to comprehend how codes and signs implicit in diverse sensory cues (pheromones, colors, sounds, etc… as well as animal display behaviors) evoke meanings.

In my view the world of ‘living things’ may be defined in many ways, but the most fundamental focus is on information. Certainly, life is information moving from one living thing to another; genetic information as well as sensory information. Which inexorably evokes an orthodox question: how do organisms use their senses to survive? To respond to such a query I have conducted diverse physiological, behavioral and eco-epidemiological experiments for several years, and have found very challenging results —wise scientific answers that have prompted me to open novel questions.

In retrospect, a heterodox question has flourished in my psyche: how do organisms use their senses beyond survival, i.e. how they use their senses to live? I recognize that sensing apart from having a survival value also has an aesthetic value. From senses to semantics, Sensory Ecology recapitulates my interests, i.e. my physiological, behavioral, ecological and biosemiotic concerns.

As a sensory ecologist, my research curiosity is broad. However, I am particularly enthusiastic about understanding how invertebrate vectors of diseases acquire, process and respond to information from the environment, and understanding how such informative interaction balance parasite-host coexistence. I am predominantly interested in the sensory ecology of arthropods of medical and agricultural importance, such as ticks, triatomine bugs, beetles, ants, etc.

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El Dr. Fernando Otálora-Luna es Biólogo egresado de la Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela (2002). Realizó estudios de doctorado en la Universidad de Neuchâtel, Suiza (2006) sobre la ecología sensorial de los triatominos, vectores de la enfermedad de Chagas. Dándole continuidad a sus estudios sobre insectos que afectan la sociedades humanas, realizó estudios de postdoctorado en el Departamento de Agricultura de Los Estados Unidos (ARS, USDA). En el 2008 fue llamado a participar en la conformación de una sede del Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (Ivic) en Mérida, donde permaneció casi 10 años. En el 2018 trabaja en Kresky Environmental (Colombia) durante algunos meses. A finales de este año se incorpora a la Universidad de Richmond para estudiar la ecología sensorial de las garrapatas. Colabora con el Postgrado de Biología Celular de la Universidad de Los Andes (ULA, Venezuela) y con el Laboratorio de Entomología “Herman Lent” de la ULA.
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