Corine Vriesendorp, Ph.D.

Corine directs The Field Museum's Rapid Inventory Program, where she manages all aspects of the inventories, from the final selection of sites and oversight of the logistics, to the composition of the inventory team and editing of the reports, to translating the results into hectares of intact habitats conserved. An avid field biologist and plant ecologist, Corine collects botanical specimens during the biological surveys as a member of the botany team.

Corine’s interests and research bridge the continuum from basic to applied science. She began her career studying mahogany in Bolivia, researching the impact of logging practices on mahogany populations and creating recommendations for better management practices. She went on to research seedling dynamics of a tropical forest community in Costa Rica to understand birth and death processes in high-diversity forests and their implications for the conservation and management of these forests. Her seedling work is ongoing—she and her team have marked more than 30,000 seedlings over the last eight years!

Although she has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and technical reports about plants, Corine is most fascinated by the connections among organisms and has written several short natural history notes about mammals and amphibians.