Onja Razafindratsima surrounded by trees

Research Bio

Onja Razafindratsima is an ecologist, broadly interested in tropical ecology, plant-animal interactions and community ecology. She also aims to apply her research findings to biodiversity conservation. Much of her work has been conducted in the tropical forests of Madagascar, with a focus on lemurs and plants. However, she has been collaborating on ecological research in other systems. She has been involved in projects that aims to:

  • provide new insights about the roles and impacts of frugivorous vertebrates in terrestrial systems as seed dispersal agents,
  • identify mechanisms that underlie the structure of ecological communities
  • characterize biodiversity responses to ecological changes (e.g., land use, defaunation, invasive species)
  • investigate the drivers and consequences of species extinctions
  • apply ecological research to guide forest restoration and biodiversity conservation

She often uses an integrative approach combining empirical work, such as field surveys and experiments, with simulation-based modeling and phylogenetic tools to address her research questions at various spatial and temporal scales.

Research Expertise and Interest

tropical ecology, community ecology, plant-animal interactions, primatology, biodiversity

Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring
  • Ecology  [ESPM C153]  

  • Directed Undergraduate Research  [INTEGBI 191]  

  • Supervised Internship  [INTEGBI 197]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 199]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Graduate Research  [INTEGBI 299]  

  • The Animal In You: Evolutionary Traces In The Human Body  [INTEGBI 38]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 99]  

  • Ecology  [INTEGBI C153]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196A]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196B]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]  

2025 Fall
  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 199]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Graduate Research  [INTEGBI 299]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196A]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]  

2025 Summer
  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 99]  

2025 Spring
  • Ecology  [ESPM C153]  

  • Directed Undergraduate Research  [INTEGBI 191]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 199]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Graduate Research  [INTEGBI 299]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 99]  

  • Ecology  [INTEGBI C153]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196B]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]