Rafael Candido Ribeiro

Ph.D. Student

My passion for trees and desire to decipher the forests’ mysteries started sparking in my early life when my grandfather – who had a tacit practical knowledge of trees and forest ecosystems – used to tell me stories of his own adventures and accomplishments in the forest. As an undergrad student in Brazil I got involved in projects in the Amazon and in the Atlantic Rainforest, two incredibly diverse ecosystems that made my passion to grow even bigger. During this period, I also realized that I had a second big passion: genetics. Since then I have been combining my two big passions in everything I do.

I completed my master’s degree at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil where I investigated the morphological and genetic diversity of a Brazilian palm species at risk of extinction in two contrasting landscapes. I have also worked in the research division of a private forestry company in Brazil, accumulating experiences related to tree breeding strategies and seed and seedling production. I joined the Aitken Lab as a PhD student in September 2017.

I am interested in understanding the distribution patterns of adaptive genetic and phenotypic variation among populations of trees as well as in comprehending how this variation relates to different environmental conditions. As part of the CoAdapTree project, I am using landscape and population genomics tools to identify genes involved in Douglas-fir climate adaptation and hope to further our understanding of the patterns of adaptation of Douglas-fir across its broad geographic range and in selectively bred populations.

Contact Information

Rafael Candido Ribeiro Department of Forest Science, University of British Columbia, #3041 – 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4

Links: CFCG project, ResearchGate Tel: 604-822-9584