David Klinges

David began writing for Mongabay in July 2018. Driven by a life-long passion for ecology and wildlife, he graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Biology and strives to enact positive change in conservation through research and science communication. After conducting fieldwork in Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru and other Neotropical locales, David has gained a special affinity for tropical rainforests, and strives to understand and work with the wildlife and communities of these amazing landscapes. David’s recent series of appointments at the Smithsonian has provided him fresh exposure to the potential of cutting-edge technology in conservation, from using drones to record land use change and track animal movement to constructing web-based tools that share data and facilitate collaboration between scientists. His zeal for the environment has also manifested in a variety of multimedia pursuits, including a publicly broadcasted documentary and generating social media content for academic and non-profit institutions. Understanding that the impact of research is limited without adequate publicity, David has embraced journalism as a powerful means to both herald the breakthroughs in conservation science as well as warn of the threats to our planet’s wildlife and wildlands. After years of reading Mongabay as his goto source for environmental news, it is a dream come true to contribute to this amazing publication.