Arata Honda

Arata is a PhD student in the Jetz lab focused on the conservation and ecology of arboreal mammals across the globe, spanning the macroecological and macroevolutionary forces that has driven these animal’s tree-dwelling lifestyles to fine-scale spatiotemporal dynamics within the canopy community across 3D space and time. Particularly, he is interested in advancing remote sensing applications (e.g., arboreal camera trapping, LiDAR, thermal drones) to better survey these cryptic animals, which have often been overlooked due to the inherent challenges of surveying the forest canopy. Arata completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) where he studied environmental management and conducted one of the largest studies on binturongs (Arctictis binturong), a threatened semi-arboreal civet across Southeast Asia. Outside of his academic inquiries, he is passionate about rope access and tree climbing, filmmaking and the intersection of traditional and scientific knowledge.