2025-present Associate Research Scientist, Yale University. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Liza Comita
2024- 2025 Brown Postdoctoral Fellowship, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale School of the Environment, Yale University Faculty Mentor: Dr. Liza Comita
2022-2024 Gaylord Donnelley Fellowship, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies,
Yale University
Spring 2022 NASA Develop program Internship
2017-2021 Teaching Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Terborgh, Terborgh, J., Huanca-Nuñez, N., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Cornejo-Valverde, F. (2017). "Gaps contribute tree diversity to a tropical floodplain forest." Ecology. 98: 2895-2903. doi:10.1002/ecy.1991.
Terborgh, J., Huanca-Nunez, N., Feeley, K., Beck, H. (2020). "Gaps present a trade‐off between dispersal and establishment that nourishes species diversity:." Ecology. 101(5)e02996. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2996
Huanca-Nunez, N, Chazdon, R., Russo, SE. (2021). "Seed rain-successional feedbacks." Ecology. 00(00):e03362. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3362
Terborgh, Terborgh, J., Huanca-Nuñez, N., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Cornejo-Valverde, F. (2017). "Haiti Agriculture: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Evaluate the Success of Reforestation Practices in Haiti." DEVELOP Spring 2022. NTRS- NASA Technical Reports Server. . https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20220006165
Huanca-Nunez, N., Chazdon, R., Russo, SE. (2023). "Effects of large mammals on seedling communities depend on successional stage and species’ strategies in regenerating Costa Rican forests." Journal of Applied Ecology. 00, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14531
Huanca-Nunez, N., Chazdon, R. L., & Russo, S. E. (2024. "Trait-Mediated Variation in Seedling Performance in Costa Rican Successional Forests: Comparing Above-Ground, Below-Ground, and Allocation-Based Traits." Plants. 13(17), 2378. Special Issue: New Perspectives on New World Tropical Forests. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13172378 *Featured as the cover article for the special issue. .
LaManna, J. A., Hartig, F., Myers, J. A., Freckleton, R. P., Detto, M., Doolittle, C. J., Bachelot, B., Bagchi, R., Comita, L. S., Huanca-Nunez, N., Hülsmann, L., Jevon, F. V., Johnson, D. J., Krishnadas, M., Magee, L. J., Mangan, S. A., Milici, V. R., Murengera, A. L. B., Surendra, A., … Delavaux, C. S. (2024). "Consequences of Local Conspecific Density Effects for Plant Diversity and Community Dynamics." Ecology Letters. 27(9):e14506. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14506
Toro, L., Werden, L. K., Addo-Danso, S., Andersen, K., Batterman, S., Bradford, M., Bragadini, M., Choksi, P., Cole, R. J., Comita, L., Cusack, D., Dent, D. H., Dietterich, L., Fisher, J. B., Fleischer, K., Flores, M., Fuchslueger, L., Huanca-Nunez, N., Lienau, J. R., … Wong, M. (2025). "Integrating belowground recovery into tropical forest restoration design and monitoring; BioScience. 75(7), 689–701. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf097