Welcome to my website!

I'm Samanta Iop, an ecologist focused in identifying and testing the influences of deterministic and stochastic processes that form and change biological communities. To do so I explore spatial environmental patterns in the South Brazilian grasslands, using anuran amphibians as a model study group. I am currently affiliated as a postdoctoral fellow to the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and to the University of St Andrews, United Kingdom I am funded by the Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Brazil and Neotropical Grassland Conservancy.

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Education

​Post doctoral
2019-2020 University of St Andrews, St-Andrews, Sctland.
2017-2020 Universidade de São Paulo, USP, Brazil.

PhD
2011 - 2015 Aminal Biodiversity, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, UFSM, Brazil.

Master
2008 - 2010 Animal Biodiversity, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, UFSM, Brazil.

Undergrad
2004 - 2007 Biology, Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó, Brazil.

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Other interests

As a field ecologist I obviously enjoy being outdoors, camping, and hiking.
​Waterfall bathing in the middle of the Atlantic Forest is a provilege that I like to enjoy whenever possible! 
​Practicing yoga, traveling, and reading, are some of the activities that connect me to the world outside academia.
My family and friends are my safe haven, and my cat, Magnólia, my day-to-day joy.