Research

Below is a summary of my research program. Themes are representative and non-exclusive, particularly given the cross-cutting nature of our work. A complete list of publications can be found on my Google Scholar page. PDFs of non-open access papers are available upon request (cj.rivera@umb.edu).

Upcoming Projects

Upcoming projects will explore the ecological, social, and biocultural dimensions of conservation in urban and urbanizing systems (including in coastal cities). Prospective students should review the information on the Join the Lab page.

Human-Wildlife Interactions and Conservation in the Urbanizing Amazon

Rivera, C.J., W.R. Travis, M. Caireta Camps, R.M. Rocker, P. Montero Alvarez, J. Velásquez Varela, D.S. Wilcove, and A. Fuentes. Human-wildlife interactions, tourism, and conservation in the globalizing Amazon. In revision.

Rivera, C.J. and P. Montero Alvarez. Toward more inclusive governance and conservation in the urbanizing Amazon. In revision.

White, M.C., C.J. Rivera, J. Sánchez Babilonia, J. Velásquez Varela, and D.S. Wilcove. Factors influencing survival of orphaned Amazonian manatees (Trichechis inunguis) during clinical rehabilitation in Peru. Conservation Science and Practice, 2026; e70235.

Rivera, C.J., A. Fuentes, and V. Hull. Cultural roles of primates in an Amazonian urban center. 2024. Journal for Nature Conservation, 78, 126548.

Rivera, C.J., S.K. Macey, M.E Blair, and E.J. Sterling. 2021. Assessing ecological and social dimensions of success in a community-based sustainable harvest program. Environmental Management, 67, 731-746.

**Diverse ecological, economic, and symbolic roles of primates in the Amazon city of Iquitos, Peru (Rivera et al. 2024)**.

Social-Ecological Integration for Conservation

Rivera, C.J., J.S. Kahler, W. Nurbandi, and A. Fuentes. 2025. A framework to analyze primate species vulnerability to trade in urban markets. American Journal of Primatology, 87:e70102.

Hull, V., C.J. Rivera, and I.E. Coleman. 2024. Telecoupling. In: Warf, B. (eds) The Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Springer, Cham.

Hull, V., X. Bian, D. J. Episcopio-Sturgeon, C.J. Rivera, V. Rojas-Bonzi, and A. Morzillo. 2023. Living with wildlife: a review of advances in social-ecological analysis across landscapes. Landscape Ecology, 38, 4385-4402.

Kahler, J., C.J. Rivera, and M. L. Gore. 2022. Introducing IPOACHED: A conservation criminology-based framework to understand wildlife species targeted by poachers in protected areas. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 3, 992621.

Rivera, C.J., D. Mayo, and V. Hull. 2021. Social-ecological interactions influencing primate harvest: insights from Madagascar. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2, 1-13.

Kahler, J., J.W. Rivera, Z.T. Steele, P. Morales-Giner, C.J. Rivera, C. Ahossin, A. Kaur, and D.J. Episcopio-Sturgeon. 2021. Advancing applied research in conservation criminology through the evaluation of corruption prevention, enhancing compliance, and reducing recidivism. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2, 1-13.

Hull, V., C.J. Rivera, and C. Wong. 2019. A synthesis of opportunities for applying the telecoupling framework to marine protected areas. Sustainability, 11, 4450.

Environmental Education

Rivera, C.J., S. Gunda, E.J. Kim, D.Y. Prosser, and M. Shapiro. Teaching the wildlife trade: a social-ecological systems approach. In revision.

Porzecanski, A.L., S. Akabas, E. Betley, M. Blair, N. Bynum, J.R. Ginsberg, M.J. Groom, S.K. Macey, C. Moore, C.J. Rivera, and P. West. 2023. Lessons from a transformative conservation educator and building the future of conservation education. Lessons in Conservation, 13, 5-14.

Rivera, C.J. and C. Savage. 2020. Campuses as living labs for sustainability problem-solving: trends, triumphs, and traps. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 10, 334-340.