I am an evolutionary biologist studying evolution and speciation processes in reptiles and amphibians. For this, the main goal is to combine as many types of data as possible. Using genetic and morphological data and ecological and geographic information is key to describe the evolutionary processes that drove the evolutionary divergence of populations, species, and potentially entire communities. In this context, oceanic islands represent attractive scenarios for this research. Oceanic islands exhibit constrained variables such as time and space. Thus, it is easier to infer past features such as ecology and habitat ranges. These features may be hard to infer in organisms with continental distributions. Charles Darwin genius rationalized these many factors to propose that species are not immutable over time and that natural selection was central to species origins. In effect, islands and the organisms that inhabit them allow an unparalleled look into the contribution of distinct evolutionary forces in the origin of new species and sometimes establish the connection between past and present. Ultimately, whether one studies the evolution of vertebrates in islands or in mainland habitats the driving motivation is to understand the mechanisms that generate and maintain biodiversity. Over 150 years after the publication of 'On the origin of species by means of natural selection' we are only beginning to understand
the processes that originate species diversity. The leaves, of the Tree of Life. 

I am, by the way, a Bolivian national. Not too many people have visited Bolivia. I hope you do one day. The picture above was taken in the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt flats) and it somehow embodies my country - pristine, vast and well, wild. Which means that if you are lucky enough to go you should not expect the standard hotel accommodations at the exit of every small town (you can go to Chile, Brazil or Argentina for that). Still, and logistics aside, in Bolivia, you'll be breathing the purest air in the Americas (I don't think this is an exaggeration). For all our 'logistic' problems Bolivia will surely impress you. Know that you'll be visiting the most authentic country in South America.