Otto Huber

Otto Huber (born 1944 in Bischofswiesen, Bavaria, Germany) is an Italian ecologist known for his work on the botany, phytogeography and conservation of the neotropics. His academic focus has primarily been on the non-forested biomes of the Venezuelan Guayana. Beginning in the 1970s, he led many pioneering expeditions to the inaccessible tepuis (table mountains) of the region. Huber has authored over 120 publications, As a plant collector, Huber was most active around the period 1974–1999.

One important project for Huber was the databasing of concepts and definitions to aid the classification of vegetation in tropical and subtropical America. Since 2004, he has worked for the UNESCO sponsored project 'CoroLab Humboldt', creating the database 'Fitored' with over 10,000 titles on phytogeography and plant ecology.

Between 1999 and 2001 Huber worked as a professor of botany and phytogeography at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, tutoring several theses; he has always tried to transmit his knowledge into the scientific community and in 1990 established a peer-reviewed monographic series Scientia Guaianæ, to stimulate young scientists working between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers. He himself has created over 120 publications. In 2002, he was appointed scientific coordinator of the International Workshop on Biological Priority Setting for Conservation of the Guiana Shield (Conservation International and IUCN). From 2005 Huber has been scientific advisor to the president of the Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, in Caracas.