José R. Ramírez-Garofalo (born March 17, 1996) is an American

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

biogeographer Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

, and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

known for his work on avian ecology,

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an i ...

, and the impact of environmental change on urban bird populations. His research focuses on the occurrence of species outside of their typical geographic range, the spread of

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...

s, and the interactions of species within

urban ecosystem In ecology, urban ecosystems are considered a ecosystem functional group within the intensive land-use biome. They are structurally complex ecosystems with highly heterogeneous and dynamic spatial structure that is created and maintained by hum ...

s. He is a noted expert on the natural history of the Greater New York Area, and has published widely on the changing composition of the

ecological communities In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological community ...

of the

Mid-Atlantic Mid-Atlantic or Mid Atlantic can refer to: *The middle of the Atlantic Ocean *Mid-Atlantic English, any mix between British and American English *Mid-Atlantic Region (Little League World Series), one of the United States geographic divisions of the ...

and

northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

since the turn of the 20th century. On December 3, 2023, Ramírez-Garofalo was elected to serve as the fourth president of

Protectors of Pine Oak Woods The Protectors of Pine Oak Woods is an American environmental organization based in Staten Island, New York. Its mission is to preserve and protect the natural areas and open spaces of Staten Island through advocacy, stewardship, and education. ...

, a

501(c)(3) non-profit organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

focused on preserving natural areas in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He began his three year term in February 2024.

Early life and education

José Ramírez-Garofalo was born on March 17, 1996, in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

to Kathy Garofalo, a United States National Park Service Ranger and former

wildland firefighter Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

, and Jose Ramirez-Torres a Puerto Rican

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

veteran of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, retired United States National Park Service Ranger, and former wildland firefighter. He grew up on the North Shore of Staten Island and attended

Tottenville High School Tottenville High School is located at 100 Luten Avenue, in Huguenot, Staten Island, New York. Tottenville H.S. is in Administrative District 31, and is operated by the New York City Department of Education. The school's principal is Gina Batti ...

on the Island's South Shore. His paternal grandfather José Ramirez-Pantoja was a United States Army veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and member of the

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico () is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Senate, control the legislative branch of the go ...

. He is a cousin of New Progressive Party politician and Mayor of

Vega Alta, Puerto Rico Vega Alta () is a Vega Alta barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of Puerto Rico. Vega Alta is on the northern coast of the island, north of Morovis and Corozal, Puerto Rico, Corozal; east of Vega Baja; and west of ...

María Vega Pagán. From 2014 to 2021, Ramírez-Garofalo attended the

College of Staten Island The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York, United States. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and pro ...

where he was an undergraduate student of

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Joel David Hamkins Joel David Hamkins is an American mathematician and philosopher who is the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Logic at the University of Notre Dame. He has made contributions in mathematical logic, mathematical and philosophical logic, set theor ...

and the ecologist

Richard Veit Richard R. Veit (born June 2, 1957) is an American Ornithology, ornithologist and Ecology, ecologist known for his research on seabirds and their population dynamics. Career and research His work has focused on how factors such as physical oce ...

. Upon completing his undergraduate work in

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, he conducted graduate work in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

under the direction of Veit and macroecologist Lisa Manne, receiving his

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in early-2021. Since September 2021 he has been a doctoral student of renowned ecologist

Julie Lockwood Julie L. Lockwood (born September 17, 1969) is an American ecologist who is a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University. She is the Director of the Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric ...

in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Research and career

With a wide network of colleagues, Ramírez-Garofalo has conducted research with a regional and global-focus, with publications ranging from the spread of southern ticks into the northeastern United States and changes in the migratory patterns of geese. In 2023, he served as a technical contributor on the Fifth U.S. National Climate Assessment. Since the mid-2010s, he has been part of a team of ecologists that are conducting long-term ecological research at New York City's

Freshkills Park Freshkills Park is a public park being built atop a former landfill on Staten Island. At about , it will be the largest park developed in New York City since the 19th century. Its construction began in October 2008 and is slated to continue in ...

, where he serves as the park's Director of Science and Research Development. Discoveries made by the small team of ecologists consisting of Shannon Curley from the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

and Richard Veit of the City University of New York include the return of highly-specialized grassland birds like Sedge Wrens and Grasshopper Sparrows, and a previously unknown, regionally-important population of

diamondback terrapin The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin (''Malaclemys terrapin'') is a species of terrapin native to the Brackish water, brackish coastal tidal marshes of the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico coast, as well as in Bermuda ...

s. The team also recorded established populations of the medically-significant Gulf Coast tick for the first time in northeastern North America beginning in 2017. J-R-G-2018

Ramírez-Garofalo has worked as a biologist specializing in Threatened and Endangered species for several organizations and institutions including the

United States National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational ...

where he worked with the threatened

Piping Plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

, and the

NYC Bird Alliance NYC Bird Alliance (formerly New York City Audubon Society) is an American non-profit environmental organization founded in 1979 and incorporated in 1980. The group protects wild birds and their habitats in New York City, through science research, ...

(known as the New York City Audubon Society at the time) where he worked primarily with colonial waterbirds and shorebirds. During his time with the U.S. National Park Service, Ramírez-Garofalo and his colleagues from the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

and the New York Marine Rescue Center (then known as the Riverhead Foundation) documented nesting by the

Kemp's ridley sea turtle Kemp's ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys kempii)'', also called commonly the Atlantic ridley sea turtle, Kemp's ridley turtle, and Kemp's ridley, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. ''L. kempii'' is the rarest species of sea tur ...

on the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of t ...

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, the most northern latitude sea turtles have been recorded nesting. The eggs were eventually excavated from the nest site and incubated indoors, as Hurricane Florence was making landfall to the southeast, which caused high tides that risked their safety. Since 2014, he has served as a site coordinator for the New York Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, which tracks the state's population of American horseshoe crab spawning activity. His horseshoe crab work was featured in the book ''Crab'' by Cynthia Chris. Since 2019, Ramírez-Garofalo has been an adjunct professor in the Biology Department at the City University of New York's

. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the peer-review journal Urban Naturalist, the journal of biodiversity data

Check List ''Check List'' is a peer-reviewed, open access, on-line scientific journal that publishes Annotated Lists of Species (ALS), Notes on Geographic Distribution (NGD), Distribution Summary (DS), Book Reviews (BR) and Forum Papers (FP). The journal was ...

, and as a Publication Editor for the journal of ornithological record North American Birds.Ramírez-Garofalo is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission, where he is part of the Heron Specialist Group. Between 2020–2023, he served as the non-Pacific states representative to the

Pacific Seabird Group The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) is an international professional ornithological society based in the US, dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment. The objectives of the Pacific Seabird Group are exclusively ...

's Executive Council. He previously served on the Student Affairs Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

. He is currently the vice chair of the

Ornithological Council The Ornithological Council is an association of ornithological organisations based in the Americas involved in bird study and conservation. It was established by Richard C. Banks and incorporated in Washington, D.C. in 1992 as a nonprofit organizat ...

. Ramírez-Garofalo has mentored and co-mentored a number of students at various career stages, including students from

Staten Island Technical High School Staten Island Technical High School, commonly called Staten Island Tech, SITHS, or Tech by Staten Islanders, was founded in 1988. Located in Staten Island, New York City, the State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, spec ...

who were finalists at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, and students at institutions of higher education such as

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Ramírez-Garofalo frequently communicates science to the media, and has been quotes on a variety of topics within ecology including the recovery of

Bald Eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a Species complex, species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies ...

, the unappreciated importance of

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

in birds and issues related to the spread of

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

. He has called for caution in the media's portrayal of public "squishing" campaigns for invasive species, where the public is urged to kill some invasive species on-sight, using the example of the similarity between

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s and the egg masses of the

spotted lanternfly The spotted lanternfly (''Lycorma delicatula'') is a planthopper indigenous (ecology), indigenous to parts of China and Vietnam. It has spread Invasive species, invasively to Japan, South Korea, and the United States, where it is often referred ...

, which could lead to further destruction of the native biota. Following heavy coverage of the invasion of the

joro spider ''Trichonephila clavata'', also known as the , is a spider in the ''Trichonephila'' genus. Native to East Asia, it is found throughout China, Japan (except Hokkaidō), Korea, and Taiwan, and has been spreading across North America since the 201 ...

in the

eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

, he wrote "the truth is that millions of them are not floating in the skies of New York City or Boston and dropping in like paratroopers."

Advocacy

Ramírez-Garofalo is an advocate for transparency in science, citing the work of Adrian Treves as what he believes should be a guiding principal in academics and scientific communication. Locally, he has advocated for the preservation of land in New York City, and has commented on the importance of keeping environmental mitigation within the communities that are being affected by proposed projects, such as in comments made to the

New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

on a planned wind turbine assembly facility in Staten Island, NY.

Bibliography

Books

* Curley, S. R., Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., & Field, C. E. (2022). ''The Birds of Freshkills Park''. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and Freshkills Park Alliance.

Book reviews

* Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. (2023). Vagrancy in Birds. ''Ornithology'', 140, ukac057.

Selected articles

* Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. & Lockwood, J. L. (2025). Animal vagrancy and the spread of pathogens. ''Trends in Ecology and Evolution'' 40(2), 119-121. * Curley, S. R., Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Acosta Alamo, M., Manne, L. L., Lockwood, J. L., & Veit, R. R. (2024). The erosion of seasonality in avian communities. ''Global Ecology and Biogeography'', e13919. * Curley, S. R., Ramírez‐Garofalo, J. R., & Allen, M. C. (2024). Southern breeding populations drive declining migration distances in Arctic and subarctic geese. ''Ecography'', e07081. * Davis, A., & Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. (2024). American Flamingos in the United States before and after Hurricane Idalia. ''North American Birds'' 75(1), 4-17. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. (2023). Attempted predation of a Little Blue Heron (''Egretta caerulea'') by a Peregrine Falcon (''Falco peregrinus''). ''The Kingbird,'' ''73''(3), 190-191. * Gelernter, R., Gustafson, M., Johnson, Z. E., & Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. (2023). First U.S. record of Bat Falcon. ''North American Birds'' 73(2), 4-7. * Curley, S. R., Manne, L. L., Ramírez‐Garofalo, J. R., & Veit, R. R. (2022). Evaluating compositional changes in the avian communities of eastern North America using temperature and precipitation indices. ''Journal of Biogeography'', ''49''(4), 739–752. * Curley, S. R., Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Winston, T., Feller, M., Perron-Feller, B., Chi, D., Carter, J., & Partridge, D. (2022). First nesting record of Great Blue Heron in densely urbanized New York County, NY. ''The Kingbird,'' 72(4), 331-332. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Curley, S. R., Field, C. E., Hart, C. E., & Thangamani, S. (2022). Established populations of Rickettsia parkeri-infected ''Amblyomma maculatum'' ticks in New York City, New York, USA. ''Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases'', 22(3), 184–187. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Curley, S. R., & Field, C. E. (2021). Breeding by Sedge Wrens at an urban reclaimed landfill in New York. ''Urban Naturalist'', 46, 1–10. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Solberg, S., McGrath, E., Dann, K., & Filippini, D. (2021). Colonization of the Rockaway Peninsula, Long Island by Bank Swallows (''Riparia riparia''). ''The Kingbird,'' 71(3), 211-215. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Curley, S. R., Ciancimino, A. V., Matarazzo, R. V., Johnson, E. W., & Veit, R. R. (2020). The Re-establishment of Pileated Woodpeckers in New York City Following Nearly Two Centuries of Extirpation. ''Northeastern Naturalist'', 27(4), 803–816. * Ramirez-Garofalo, J. R. (2020). Occurrence and implications of staging Black Scoters ''Melanitta americana'' in a heavily trafficked urban estuary. ''Marine Ornithology'', 48, 27–32 * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., & Garofalo, K. (2019). Unprecedented numbers of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) on the Lower New York Bay. ''The Kingbird'', ''69'', 124-126. * Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R. (2019). A Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) in New York City during a region-wide influx. ''The Kingbird'', 69, 22-26. * Veit, R. R., Ramirez-Garofalo, J. R., Ciancimino, A., Wollney, S., & Grant, I. (2018). Little Egret at Goethal's Bridge Pond, Staten Island, New York. ''The Kingbird'', 68, 11-14.

Miscellaneous publications

* Barbato, D., Evans, C., Field, C., Flynn, J., Ramírez-Garofalo, J.R., Hagen, C., Johnson, E., Shikhman, M., & Smith, H. lphabetical(2022). ''The Butterflies of Staten Island''. Protectors of Pine Oak Woods. * Bouquio, G., Ciancimino, A., Fischer, H., Flynn, J., Hagen, C., Johnson, E., Matarazzo, R., Ramírez-Garofalo, J. R., Stetson, J., & Wollney, S. lphabetical(2020). ''The Birds of Richmond County''. Protectors of Pine Oak Woods.

References

External links

Appearances
on

CUNY TV CUNY TV is a non-commercial educational station of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It offers telecourse programming in various subjects ranging from mathematics, physics, and biology to history, art, and social studies ...

U.S. National Climate Assessment

Official website

Published works