Michael Gilmore

Associate Professor

Ethnobiology, community-based conservation, biocultural diversity, sustainable development

Dr. Michael Gilmore joined the faculty of the School of Integrative Studies (SIS) in 2008 where he is passionate about using an interdisciplinary approach to both research and teaching. He has over twenty years of experience working with the Maijuna indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon on community-based biocultural conservation and sustainability projects. Dr. Gilmore has published widely in a variety of scholarly journals spanning the fields of ethnobiology, geography, ecology, and policy. He is also the producer of the award-winning documentary film Guardians of the Forest (2020), which chronicles the Maijuna people’s fight for their biologically rich ancestral lands and cultural survival. Dr. Gilmore developed and regularly co-teaches Conservation and Sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest, a field course that takes place in Maijuna lands. In addition to his work at George Mason University, Dr. Gilmore founded and is president of OnePlanet, a non-profit organization that partners with the Maijuna.

Current Research

Ongoing community-based work with the Maijuna indigenous group includes a wide variety of projects focused on:

- Community organization and well-being

- Biocultural conservation

- Sustainable development

Selected Publications

Wingfield, A., and M. P. Gilmore. 2021. Along the Sucusari River. Places Journal. https://placesjournal.org/article/a-journey-with-indigenous-leaders-in-the-peruvian-amazon/#0

Gilmore, M. P., B. M. Griffiths, and M. Bowler. 2020. The socio-cultural significance of mineral licks to the Maijuna of the Peruvian Amazon: implications for the sustainable management of hunting. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 16:59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-020-00412-1

Nagy-Reis, M., J. E. F. Oshima, C. Z. Kanda, F. B. L. Palmeira, F. R. de Melo, R. G. Morato,…M. P. Gilmore, et al. 2020. NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics. Ecology 101(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3128

Bowler, M., C. Beirne, M. W. Tobler, M. Anderson, A. DiPaola, J. E. Fa, M. P. Gilmore, L. P. Lemos, P. Mayor, A. Meier, G. Menie Menie, D. Meza, D. Moreno-Gutierrez, J. R. Poulsen, A. de Souza Jesus, J. Valsecchi, and H. R. El Bizri. 2020. LED flashlight technology facilitates wild meat extraction across the tropics. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2242

Griffiths, B. M., M. Bowler, M. P. Gilmore, and D. Luther. 2020. Temporal patterns of visitation of birds and mammals at mineral licks in the Peruvian Amazon. Ecology and Evolution 10: 14152–14164. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7006

Griffiths, B. M., M. P. Gilmore, and M. Bowler. 2020. Predation of a Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) by an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) at a mineral lick in the Peruvian Amazon. Food Webs 24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2020.e00148

Tavares, A. S., P. Mayor, L. F. Loureiro, M. P. Gilmore, P. Perez-Peña, M. Bowler, L. Pereira Lemos, M. S. Svensson, K. Nekaris, V. Nijman, J. Valsecchi, and T. Queiroz Morcatty. 2020. Widespread use of traditional techniques by local people for hunting the yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulatus) across the Amazon. Journal of Ethnobiology 40(2): 268-280.

Wingfield, A., and M. P. Gilmore. 2020. Three days of masato. ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 27(2): 406-415.

Expanded Publication List

Trautmann, N. M., and M. P. Gilmore. 2019. The Maijuna: fighting for survival in the Peruvian Amazon. Arcadia 46. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8956

Bickley, S. M., F. G. Lemos, M. P. Gilmore, F. C. Azevedo, E. W. Freeman, and N. Songsasen. 2019. Human perceptions and interactions with wild canids on cattle ranches in central Brazil. Oryx. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605318000480

Horn, C. M., V. H. Vargas Paredes, M. P. Gilmore, and B. A. Endress. 2018. Spatio-temporal patterns of Mauritia flexuosa fruit extraction in the Peruvian Amazon: implications for conservation and sustainability. Applied Geography 97: 98-108.

Endress, B. A., M. P. Gilmore, V. H. Vargas Paredes, and C. M. Horn. 2018. Data on spatio-temporal patterns of wild fruit harvest from the economically important palm Mauritia flexuosa in the Peruvian Amazon. Data in Brief 20: 132-139.

Trautmann, N. M., and M. P. Gilmore. 2018. Educating as if survival matters. Bioscience 68(5): 324-326.

Bowler, M. T., B. M. Griffiths, M. P. Gilmore, A. Wingfield, and M. Recharte. 2018. Potentially infanticidal behavior in the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). Acta Ethologica 21(2): 141-145.

Mere Roncal, C., M. Bowler, and M. P. Gilmore. 2018. The ethnoprimatology of the Maijuna of the Peruvian Amazon and implications for primate conservation. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 14:19 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-018-0207-x

Jones, M. K., L. E. Reiter, M. P. Gilmore, E. W. Freeman, and N. Songsasen. 2018. Physiological impacts of housing maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) with female relatives or unrelated males. General and Comparative Endocrinology 267: 109-115.

Roucoux, K. H., I. T. Lawson, T. R. Baker, D. Del Castillo Torres, F. C. Draper, O. Lähteenoja, M. P. Gilmore, E. N. Honorio Coronado, T. J. Kelly, E. T. A. Mitchard, and C. Vriesendorp. 2017. Threats to intact tropical peatlands and opportunities for their conservation. Conservation Biology 31(6): 1283-1292.

Virapongse, A., B. A. Endress, M. P. Gilmore, C. Horn, and C. Romulo. 2017. Ecology, livelihoods, and management of the Mauritia flexuosa palm in South America. Global Ecology and Conservation 10: 70-92.

Young, J. C., and M. P. Gilmore. 2017. Participatory uses of geospatial technologies to leverage multiple knowledge systems within development contexts: a case study from the Peruvian Amazon. World Development 93: 389-401.

Bowler, M., M. W. Tobler, B. A. Endress, M. P. Gilmore, and M. Anderson. 2016. Estimating mammalian species richness and occupancy in tropical forest canopies with arboreal camera traps. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation DOI: 10.1002/rse2.35

O'Bryhim, J. R., E. C. M. Parsons, M. P. Gilmore, and S. L. Lance. 2016. Evaluating support for shark conservation among artisanal fishing communities in Costa Rica. Marine Policy 71: 1-9.

Chen, C., and M. P. Gilmore. 2015. Biocultural rights: a new paradigm for protecting natural and cultural resources of indigenous communities. The International Indigenous Policy Journal 6(3): 1-19.

Young, J. C., and M. P. Gilmore. 2014. Subaltern empowerment in the geoweb: tensions between publicity and privacy. Antipode 46(2): 574-591.

Gilmore, M. P., B. A. Endress, and C. M. Horn. 2013. The socio-cultural importance of Mauritia flexuosa palm swamps (aguajales) and implications for multi-use management in two Maijuna communities of the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 9: 1-23.

Endress, B. A., C. M. Horn, and M. P. Gilmore. 2013. Mauritia flexuosa palm swamps: composition, structure and implications for conservation and management. Forest Ecology and Management 302: 346-353.

Young, J. C., and M. P. Gilmore. 2013. The spatial politics of affect and emotion in participatory GIS. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103(4): 808-823.

Gilmore, M. P., and J. C. Young. 2012. The use of participatory mapping in ethnobiological research, biocultural conservation, and community empowerment – a case study from the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnobiology 32(1): 6-29.

Horn, C., Gilmore, M. P., and B. A. Endress. 2012. Ecological and socioeconomic factors influencing aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa) resource management in two indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management 267: 93-103.

Gilmore, M. P., and W. H. Eshbaugh. 2011. From researcher to partner: ethical challenges and issues facing the ethnobiological researcher. In: E. N. Anderson, E. S. Hunn, D. Pearsall, and N. Turner (eds.), Ethnobiology. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken.

Gilmore, M. P., C. Vriesendorp, W. S. Alverson, Á. del Campo, R. von May, C. López Wong, and S. Ríos Ochoa (eds.). 2010. Perú: Maijuna. The Field Museum, Chicago. [.pdf]

Gilmore, M. P. 2010. The Maijuna: past, present, and future. Pages 226-233 in M. P. Gilmore, C. Vriesendorp, W. S. Alverson, Á. del Campo, R. von May, C. López Wong, and S. Ríos Ochoa (eds.), Perú: Maijuna. The Field Museum, Chicago.

Gilmore, M. P., and J. C. Young. 2010. The Maijuna participatory mapping project: mapping the past and the present for the future. Pages 233-242 in M. P. Gilmore, C. Vriesendorp, W. S. Alverson, Á. del Campo, R. von May, C. López Wong, and S. Ríos Ochoa (eds.), Perú: Maijuna. The Field Museum, Chicago.

Gilmore, M. P., S. Ríos-Ochoa, and S. Ríos-Flores. 2010. The cultural significance of the habitat mañaco taco to the Maijuna of the Peruvian Amazon. Pages 141-158 in L. Main-Johnson and E. S. Hunn (eds.), Landscape Ethnoecology – Concepts of Biotic and Physical Space. Berghahn Books, New York.

Gilmore, M. P., W. H. Eshbaugh, and A. M. Greenberg. 2002. The use, construction, and importance of canoes among the Maijuna of the Peruvian Amazon. Economic Botany 56(1): 10-26.

Courses Taught

INTS 102: Global Networks and Communities – Food and Sovereignty (6 Credits)

INTS 334: Environmental Justice (4 credits)

INTS 402: Plants and People - Sustenance, Ceremony, and Sustainability (6 Credits)

INTS 498: Environmental and Sustainability Studies in the Amazon Rainforest (4 credits)

INTS 498: Sustainable Solutions in the Developing World (2 credits)

Education

Ph.D. in Botany, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

B.S. in Biological Sciences, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado

Professional Activities

President and Founder, OnePlanet

Technical Advisor, Federación de Comunidades Nativas Maijuna (FECONAMAI)

Member, Board of Directors, Center for Amazon Community Ecology

In the Media

SIS Faculty, Michael Gilmore, Collaborated on an Important New Study Focused on Hunting and Conservation in the Tropics, GMU Website

A Winning Record: Both of Dr. Mike Gilmore’s PhD Advisees are Awarded 2020 Summer Impact Research Grants, GMU Website

State Department Grants Help Mason Further its Mission as a University for the World, GMU Website

Amazon WaSH Project to Start Funding Campaign for 2015 Peru Trip, GMU Website

Mason Community Joins in a Crowdfunding Effort to Give an Imperiled Indigenous Group a Voice, SIS Website

Mason Team Helps Maijuna with Clean Water Project in the Peruvian Amazon, GMU Website

Ethnobiologist Helps Peruvian Maijuna Chart and Protect Ancestral Lands, SIS Newsletter

Mason Professor Enlists Student Engineers for Project in Peruvian Amazon, Broadside

Radio Interview about Maijuna Research, National Public Radio (NPR)

Ethnobiologist Helps Peruvian Maijuna Chart and Protect Ancestral Lands, GMU Website

Loreto: The Maijuna struggle to reclaim their heritage (English), El Comercio, Lima, Peru

Mason's Clean Water Project in the Peruvian Amazon, Social Action and Integrative Learning (SAIL), GMU

Student’s Beekeeping Project Empowers Peruvian Indigenous Group, GMU Website

Conservation Solutions for Palms and People, Institute for Conservation Research – San Diego Zoo

Gilmore: Connecting Plants and People, Center for Amazon Community Ecology (CACE)