My research interests focus on the strategies used by organisms to cope with their environment and how these strategies affect their species boundaries. In this context, I am interested in the patterns and processes of diversification and phylogenetic relationships within and between herbivorous species. My focal organisms have been tropical butterflies, but I also have broader interests in insect biology.
My current research focuses on the phylogenetic relationships of species of the genus Choristoneura globally, divergence processes of the coniferophagous species of this genus in North America, and the relationship between variation in pheromones and species definition in the spruce budworm species complex. The biological information available for these species is among the best for Lepidoptera; therefore Choristoneura is an ideal group for understanding the factors that may promote increased speciation, such as dispersal and global climatic change, as well as the effects of host plant associations, behavior, and hybridization.
I finished my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and my Master’s in Biology (Systematics) at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota. Currently, I am a professor (on study leave) at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota), where my research has dealt with butterfly biodiversity and insect ecology.
Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giovanny_Fagua
The Sperling Lab 