Mariana Gelambi

Ph.D. IN Chemical Ecology | Analytical Chemistry | Animal-plant interactions. Postdoctoral Researcher at Virginia Tech.

About me

Plants produce diverse molecules known as phytochemicals, which shape ecological interactions. My research uses analytical chemistry techniques (including GC-MS, HPLC, and LC-MS, tools that help separate, detect, and identify molecules) to study patterns of phytochemical variation. I combine these chemical analyses with behavioral and physiological experiments to understand how phytochemicals affect animals.

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Tholl and Whitehead Labs at Virginia Tech. My current work focuses on the chemical ecology of the invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Fulgoridae), and its preferred host, tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Simaroubaceae). We aim to understand host selection, nutrition, and develop potential control strategies. I also study the evolution of fruit toxicity in Neotropical plants, testing whether fruits dispersed by bats, birds, or abiotic mechanisms differ in their chemical defenses.

My previous research focused on the hyperdiverse genus Piper (Piperaceae) and its interactions with Carollia (Phyllostomidae) bats. I used this system to investigate how major classes of phytochemicals influence ecological interactions across the Neotropics.

I received my Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from Virginia Tech in 2024. Before that, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Biology from Universidad de Los Andes (ULA) in 2017, in my home country, Venezuela.

When I am not in the lab, I enjoy running, working out, spending time outdoors with my lovely son and husband, reading voraciously (anything gothic, dark, strange, or Latin American Boom-adjacent; ask at your own risk), and writing fiction amateurishly but very enthusiastically.

Research

Chemical Ecology of the Spotted Lanternfly–Tree of Heaven Interaction

I study the chemical ecology of the invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Fulgoridae), and its preferred host, tree-of-heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Simaroubaceae). This project, in collaboration with USDA APHIS-PPQ, investigates the chemical factors that influence spotted lanternfly host selection, feeding behavior, nutrition, and development.

Using untargeted metabolomics, we compare the metabolite profiles of tree of heaven phloem sap with those of spotted lanternfly honeydew to determine which phloem compounds are ingested, metabolized, and excreted. We are also developing strategies to help manage spotted lanternfly populations, including natural lures derived from tree-of-heaven extracts.

Evolution of Fruit Toxicity in Neotropical Plants

Fruits are often viewed as rewards for seed dispersers, but they also contain bioactive secondary metabolites that can affect animal behavior, digestion, and performance.

This project asks whether fruit chemistry reflects adaptation to primary seed dispersal mode. Using fruit extracts from 18 Neotropical plant species collected on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, we compare the effects of bat-dispersed, bird-dispersed, and abiotically dispersed fruits on a mutualist seed disperser, Carollia perspicillata, and several antagonists (insects and fungi). We combine comparative bioassays with untargeted LC-MS metabolomics to test whether abiotically dispersed fruits are more toxic and whether biotically dispersed fruits show chemical patterns shaped by the balance between attracting mutualists and defending against antagonists.

Chemical Ecology of Bat–Fruit Interactions

My previous work focused on the chemical ecology of bat–fruit interactions. Fruit bats consume ripe fruit pulp that contains both nutrients, such as sugars and proteins, and potentially toxic secondary metabolites. Although the effects of plant secondary metabolites on herbivores are well documented, their effects on frugivores remain less understood.

Through behavioral feeding experiments and fecal metabolomics, I found that fruit secondary metabolites can deter bat feeding, alter nutrient absorption, and reshape the bat fecal metabolome. Some metabolites are excreted intact, suggesting that bats may possess physiological mechanisms that allow them to tolerate or eliminate fruit toxins. These adaptations may fuel the mutualistic relationship between fruiting plants and their seed dispersers.

Synthetic Chemical Lures for Bat-Mediated Forest Restoration

I am also interested in applying chemical ecology to conservation and restoration. In tropical forests, seed-dispersing bats play an important role in forest regeneration, especially in degraded landscapes. We developed synthetic chemical lures based on volatile organic compounds from ripe bat–dispersed fruits that attract fruit bats and increase seed rain.

We found that daily deployment of synthetic lures increased captures of Carollia bats, and longer lure deployment increased the number of seeds collected in seed traps. This work suggests that fruit-derived chemical cues could be used as a tool to enhance bat activity.

Teaching and Mentoring

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching and mentoring philosophy centers on independence and self-directed learning. I believe students learn most deeply when they are given the tools, confidence, and space to explore ideas on their own. As a mentor, I try to ask the kinds of questions that make students want to know more, questions that spark curiosity and then turn that curiosity into research.

I guide students through every stage of the research process, from developing hypotheses and designing experiments to collecting rigorous data, analyzing results, and communicating their findings clearly. I am especially passionate about statistics. I believe good statistical thinking begins before data collection. As R. A. Fisher said, “To call in the statistician after the experiment is done is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination.” For this reason, I encourage students to think carefully about experimental design, replication, and analysis from the very beginning.

I also believe that research requires flexibility and creativity. Experiments rarely go exactly as planned, especially when you are in the middle of a tropical forest, bats escape, your field site floods, and you get bitten by a bullet ant. Learning how to adapt is one of the most valuable skills a student can develop.

Teaching and Mentoring Experience

I have had the opportunity to teach and mentor students in classrooms, laboratories, and field settings. In 2017, I taught Evolutionary Biology in Venezuela, where I developed lectures, exams, and course materials for a small group of students. In the United States, I have worked as a Teaching Assistant for Ecology and Introductory Biology laboratories, both in person and virtually.

I have also mentored students in field settings in Costa Rica, where I trained them in bat handling, behavioral experiments, and field research methods. I had the wonderful opportunity to serve as a mentor in an REU program in Costa Rica, where students investigated how nutrients and fruit secondary metabolites affect ecological interactions involving mutualists (bats) and antagonists (insects and fungi). I wrote a little about that summer in our blog.

Additionally, during my postdoc and Ph.D., I have mentored several undergraduates in lab skills.

I am particularly interested in teaching R and helping students become more confident with data analysis. I love helping students realize that coding and statistics are powerful and very fun. I am always trying to improve my own R skills.

Outreach

As a scientist, one of my goals is to help change the way people perceive bats. They are often misunderstood as scary, dirty, or troublesome pests, when in reality they are beautiful animals that play critical roles in ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect predators. We should not be afraid of bats. We should be much more afraid of a world without them.

Fieldwork in action!

Spotted lanternfly

The area where I live, Montgomery County, Virginia, has become heavily infested with spotted lanternfly, as have many other parts of the United States. In the summer of 2025, I stood beneath a large tree of heaven and listened to the insects’ honeydew rain, sticky, heavy, and constant, striking the leaves on the ground. I had never seen such a massive aggregation of insects before.