Abel Batista
Director, Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation and Research (i4), Autonomous University of Chiriquí (UNACHI); President, Fundación Los Naturalistas
Focus regions: Neotropical
Dr. Abel A. Batista Rodríguez is a Panamanian biologist and conservation scientist specializing in amphibian and reptile diversity, taxonomy, biogeography, and conservation. He earned his B.Sc. from the Autonomous University of Chiriquí (UNACHI), Panama, an M.Sc. from the University of the Andes, Colombia, and a Ph.D. from Goethe University and the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. He is a researcher at UNACHI and a member of Panama's National Research System (SNI II, SENACYT). With more than 20 years of experience exploring some of the most remote regions of Panama, he has contributed to the discovery and description of 36 new species of amphibians and reptiles. Dr. Batista is President of Fundación Los Naturalistas and actively promotes biodiversity research, conservation, citizen science, and environmental education throughout the Neotropics.