At 4,000 m (13,000+ feet) in elevation, the underdressed Daniel got caught in a snowstorm, but instead of resisting the inherent harshness of nature he developed a fascination, even a love for it. Daniel wanted to understand ecosystems instead of being defeated by them. So, he quit his job in insurance and began to study ecology.
Daniel attended the University of Stirling in Scotland for his undergraduate degree. When given three research topics to pursue, he randomly selected pollination. Soon enough, he became enamored with insects of all types and their symbiotic relationships with plants. Following his bachelor's, he completed a master’s degree in Germany and France, a PhD in the Czech Republic, and postdoctoral research appointments in both Panama and Utah State University. During this time, he did all sorts of field work including in Papua New Guinea where he camped in the dense rainforest for four months studying the evolutionary history of local wasp and fig species. It is clear that Daniel has become adept at spending long periods of time in the wilderness.
Balancing field with lab work
Field work is a definitive characteristic of Daniel’s career. “The reason I’ve been satisfied with my research career,” he says, “is that I’ve been able to balance time in the lab with time in the field.” Students who join his research stream in the Science Research Initiative (SRI) at the University of Utah find themselves in the full pipeline of research: field collection, DNA barcoding, deep analysis, community ecology and bioinformatics/programming — skills that are transferable to medicine, conservation and outdoor industry.
Since arriving as an SRI fellow last year, he has replicated this field/lab balance. Field work takes place in the rich biodiversity of nearby Red Butte Canyon which has been protected for over 100 years. One of his projects uses Malaise traps—tent like structures which intercept flying insects—to study changes in insect communities along an altitudinal gradient of roughly 1,000 meters.
Another topic Daniel is hoping to explore is how far pollinators are willing to travel from plant to plant. He suspects that pollinators which travel to generalist plants like Rabbitbrush are more likely to cover short distances whereas specialized pollinators like hummingbirds may cover longer distances, influencing the genetic structure of plant populations. Daniel states that this concept in ecology is relatively unknown, but the beauty is that through studies in our own backyard, we might be able to build a clear picture of what is going on.
All this data means that it needs to be processed in the lab. Daniel stresses that the techniques you can learn in his lab—such as DNA barcoding and computer programming—are important for anyone to learn even if they don’t plan on specializing in insects or, for that matter, ecology in general.When it comes to insects, Daniel believes that we overlook them far too often. But learning about insects can help us indicate the health of an ecosystem. Daniel’s big goal is to understand how insect communities are affected as their proximity to urban environments increases. In doing so, we can learn how we can make these transition zones less harsh.
Even today, notes Daniel, the biodiversity on the U campus is “incredible.”, “If you spend a couple hours on campus looking at a patch of flowers you will start to see dozens of types of bees and insects actively pollinating.”
This all ties back to Daniel Souto's harrowing but ultimately invigorating trip to the mountains in Mexico. He was a self-proclaimed “city boy” working in the insurance industry, but once he had a full-body experience with nature, he couldn’t look away. "It's nice to know you can change your career completely,” he says. “As long as you like what you're doing, it's rewarding. I like to be that example."