Vicente Berovides Álvarez

Professor Emeritus Vicente Berovides Álvarez, Full Professor and Consultant of the Department of Plant Biology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of La Habana. Specialist in Population Biology and Conservation of Biotic Resources.

He dedicated his work to the study of ecology, conservation and sustainable use of our fauna. Author of hundreds of scientific articles and dozens of books, he was an unparalleled popularizer of biological sciences.

An essential figure in the study of evolutionary biology in Cuba, he also conducted research on Animal Genetics, Ecology, and conservation of wild species, while collaborating in the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity together with the National Center for Protected Areas.

Member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), he collaborated with numerous national and foreign publications, and was author of academic texts and other books on various topics.

He was also a recognized science communicator, and a regular contributor to the television program Pasaje a lo desconocido, of which he was one of its most emblematic specialists.

Tireless thinker, keen observer, tenacious student of natural history, ecologist, evolutionist, conservationist. Excellent communicator, jovial, friendly, familial, loved by all inside and outside the island.

Father of evolutionary biology research in Cuba, and very close to the magazine Juventud Técnica on topics related to evolution and paleoanthropology.

He developed more than twenty research studies on Animal Genetics, Ecology and Tourism, and conservation of wild species. He delivered lectures on biodiversity conservation problems at the Autonomous University of Mexico and in Panama.

Since 1984 he worked on the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in collaboration with the National Center for Protected Areas.

Recognized as an outstanding ecologist among specialists in Latin America. He belonged to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Full Professor at the Faculty of Biology of the University of La Habana, where he taught several courses on ecology and conservation of biotic resources.

Specialist in genetics and population ecology.

Publications
He collaborated with 180 national and foreign publications.

Author of numerous books on varied environmental topics, among which are:
Optional Course of Biology: elements of ecology (co-authored with Migdalia Fernández Meneses). Editorial Pueblo y Educación, 1982.
Animal Behavior: Ecology, science for everyone. Editorial Científico-Técnica, 1985.
Genes in populations. Ministry of Higher Education, 1987.
Why do animals behave this way? Editorial Científico-Técnica, 1987.
Order and diversity in the living world. Editorial Científico Técnica, 1988.
Let's protect our fauna. Editorial Gente Nueva, 1983.
Evolutionary biology. Editorial Pueblo y Educación, 1995.
Is man still evolving? Editorial Científico-Técnica, 2000
Diversity of life and its conservation (co-authored with José L. Gerhartz). Editorial Científico-Técnica, 2007.
What makes us human? Editorial Científico-Técnica, 2008.
Genome, culture and evolution. Editorial Científico Técnica, 2009
Human Behavior: inheritance or environment? Editorial Científico-Técnica, 2011
Life on Earth and in other worlds. Editorial Academia, 2014.
Competition and mate choice in animals. Editorial Científico-Técnica, 2015
Studies of the conga hutia (Capromys pilorides) as a natural resource (co-authored with Cañizares Morera, Maikel - Pimentel Pimentel, Omar). Editorial Publicacions Universitat Alacant, 2016.
The connection of humans with animals: the new science of Anthrozoology (co-authored with Portuondo Guerra, Zoila and Cubillas Hernández, Santos Orlando). Editorial El Cid Editor, 2021.
What do monkeys teach us about human evolution? Editorial Universitaria, 2021.
Competition and mate choice in humans. Editorial Universitaria, 2022.

Awards and Recognition
At The Author and His Work (May 22, 2019, Biblioteca Pública Rubén Martínez Villena)

For his outstanding work in the development of Biology education, postgraduate activities, technical assistance to organizations and research centers, he received several national scientific and technical distinctions, among which stand out:

Best Professor of the University of La Habana (1982)
Annual Prize for Scientific Merit (1993)
Diploma for Best Published Scientific Book (1996)

He was awarded the Felipe Poey Prize 2005 granted by the Environment Section of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country (SEAP), in recognition of his contributions to the study and protection of natural resources and the environment.

He also received the Carlos J. Finlay medal from the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, for work carried out on protection and uses of Cuban biodiversity and dissemination of the subject.

He was honored on May 22, 2019 at the space The Author and His Work, sponsored by the Cuban Institute of Books (ICL).