Academic Group

Professor Beatriz Rendon Aguilar is a graduate of the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where she also completed her Master's degree in Biology and her Ph.D. in Ecology, within the area of Evolutionary Ecology. She is a Professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Iztapalapa Campus. She belongs to the area of Ecology, Department of Biology.

The subjects she currently teaches are: Evolution and Ethnobotany in the Bachelor's degree, in addition to the PDI. In the master's program she teaches Ecological and Evolutionary Theory I. She has trained more than 20 students for Social Service and 15 students for PDI. She has trained nine Master's students, both in the UAM system (Master's in Biology, six students) and in other systems (Postgraduate College, two). Currently, there are four active students who are about to receive their Master's degree in Biology. She has trained two students in the doctoral system of the UAM (Doctorate in Biological Sciences).

She has participated in tutorial committees of students from UAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN).

She has published 46 scientific articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals indexed in different indexes, two articles in divulgation journals, and three book chapters.

The results of the research have been presented in various national and international forums.

She has coordinated three projects financed by the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, one project financed by the National Council of Science and Technology and has been a collaborator in two more. As well as four projects funded by the National Institute of Ecology (INE) and one funded by the Natural Resources Commission of the Federal District (CORENA). These projects have been focused on recording and analyzing the use and traditional knowledge of diverse plant resources, from useful plants in general, to medicinal and edible plants, and corn. For the latter, studies have been conducted on germplasm diversity in different regions of Oaxaca and the CDMX, as well as monitoring for the presence of transgenic sequences in Oaxaca and the CDMX.

Since all the research has been carried out in indigenous and mestizo farming communities, at the end of the projects they have conducted talks, workshops, as well as the development of various outreach materials within the same communities. These materials include calendars, posters with summarized information on the results, and talks. Recently, a workshop on biodiversity management and conservation, financed by CONAFOR, was held in one of the municipalities where they have worked in recent years, in which a booklet on theoretical aspects and concepts related to biodiversity management and conservation, as well as a field manual, were handed out.

Within the UAM she has participated in different Academic Commissions such as the Biological Sciences Evaluation Commission, and the Biology Master's Commission. She has been Head of the Ecology area twice and is participating in different commissions of the CBS Division. She is a member of the Botanical Society of Mexico, the Mexican Society of Ecology and the Thematic Network of Non-Timber Forest Resources.


The core discipline of her academic work and research is Ethnobiology. Since she studies the interrelationships established between human groups and nature, there are different approaches or subdisciplines, of which she bases her research on the following: Descriptive Ethnobiology, Quantitative Ethnobiology and Evolutionary Ecology.