[1] His research interests mainly focus on plant-animal interactions, evolutionary ecology, and defaunation in the tropics of Latin America, Africa, and the Central Pacific.
[4] He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in 1972, where he did thesis work on vegetation mapping of a watershed north of Mexico City.
[5] After receiving his bachelor's degree, Dirzo worked in the lab of Professor José Sarukhán, a renowned tropical ecologist, at UNAM for a few years.
[4] His master's thesis and dissertation examined how the white clover (Trifolium repens) may have developed increased cyanogenic properties as an adaptation to herbivory by slugs.
[5] In 1992, Dirzo received a Marine Fellowship from the PEW Fellows Program in Conservation and the Environment, which he used to develop a research laboratory at the Chajul Field Station in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Mexico.
[3] His research in these areas led him to understand that, contrary to his hypothesis, mammals were important to tropical ecosystems, and that Los Tuxtlas was experiencing defaunation (loss of fauna), most likely due to anthropogenic causes.
Below are a selection of these distinctions: 1992 - Pew Scholar in Conservation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Madison, Wisconsin, USA 2002 - Outstanding Service Award: Teaching, Organization for Tropical Studies 2003 - Presidential Award: Ecological Merit in Research by SEMARNAT, Ministry of Environment 2003 - Member, Mexican Academy of Sciences 2003 - Outstanding Researcher, Biology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2003 - Presidential Award in Ecology, Secretary of Environment, Mexico 2004 - Foreign Associate, US National Academy of Sciences 2004 - Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2008 - Member, California Academy of Sciences 2015 - Medal of Honor (Science), State Congress, Morelos, Mexico 2015 - Merit in Ecology Medal, Ecological Society of Mexico 2016 - Miriam Arnold Rollan Prize for Volunteer Service, Stanford University 2017 - Medal for Merit in Research and Education, International Association for Tropical Biology 2017 - President Miguel Aleman Medal for Outstanding Work in Ecology and Environmental Problems, Mexico City 2017 - Medal Alfonso L. Herrera: Distinguished Scientist, Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Mexico, Mexico City 2023 - BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.