Ramana Callan

Biography

… is a reintroduction biologist and field ecologist who loves plants and animals and working in remote locations that most people never get to see. Her research interests focus on plant-animal interactions, including study of top-down trophic cascades triggered by recovering wolf populations and the role of giant pandas as keystone herbivores. She has spent the past three years working on the giant panda reintroduction program in Sichuan, China, where participating scientists use a novel approach to releasing captive-bred individuals into the wild that involves human assistance and requires that they build a relationship of trust with the juvenile pandas.