Juan completed his PhD in the summer of 2009, and began a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

The focal group of my PhD thesis is the Netropical clade of poison frogs (Dendrobatidae). This group of frogs has a widespread distribution in the Neotropical realm extending from southern Nicaragua to southwestern Brazil. Their altitudinal distribution is also extensive and includes species found at almost 4000m in the Northern and Central Andes to the Chocoan and Amazonian lowland rainforests. Poison frogs are also distributed in other biodiversity “hotspots” of the Neotropics including the Guiana and Brazilian Shields, Venezuelan Highlands (“Venezuelan Andes”), and Caribbean and Pacific islands (e.g., Trinidad, Tobago, Gorgona, Martinique, and others). With such diverse group, I have several projects related to evolution within this group of frogs including physiological parameters, acoustic communication, diet specialization, historical biogeography, and coevolution of toxicity and warning coloration (aposematism).