Our team in action

Carlos is a Marine Biologist with Master and PhD degrees in Marine Sciences. During the last 18 years, his career and research have been focused on evaluating biological-ecological aspects of some marine mega-vertebrates groups especially marine mammals. He has participated in multiple projects that combine fieldwork, laboratory work and teaching.  

Carlos has been university professor since 2008, when he started to work as assistant professor for the marine mastozoology class in the University of South Baja California. Currently, he works as a research-professor at the University of Quintana Roo, where he is responsible of the University Vertebrate Collection, and the research program titled “Monitoring program of aquatic megafauna in the Mexican Caribbean”.   

His research also including trophic studies through the use of chemical tracers such stable isotopes, and the evaluation of environmental contamination associated with those groups.

Nataly has carried on research projects in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean including Colombia, Venezuela, French Guyana, Brazil, Belize and Mexico. She has worked mainly with manatees, but also with Giant and Neotropical otters, dolphins, crocodiles and turtles. She studied biology at the National University of Colombia, and has a MSc in Freshwater Biology and Fisheries (INPA/Brazil) and a PhD in Ecology and Sustainable Development (ECOSUR/Mexico)

Nataly is a fellow researcher of Conacyt/Quintana Roo University, and is based in Chetumal, Mexico.  She is currently conducting part of the Monitoring Project of Aquatic Mammals in the Caribbean. She is also collaborating with several  researchers in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Nataly coordinates the scientific group of the Marine Mammals Stranding Network of Quintana Roo.

Pilar is an enthusiastic Marine Biologist specialized principally on studying Elasmobranchs species (sharks and rays). She gathers her degree by the University of Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Colombia and graduated from the Master's and Doctorate by the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.  Her first works on cartilaginous fish began during her bachelor degree, studying aspects of the fisheries of these organisms in the Colombian Caribbean. Her early projects were focused on the ecology and biology of fish in the Colombian Amazon, the population parameters (Age and growth) of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) of the Mexican Pacific coast and the biology, ecology and fisheries of a species of ray (Zapteryx exasperata) in the Gulf of California.

 Pilar currently works as a researcher for the Mexican Council of Science and Tecnology (CONACyT) in Mexico, under the Researcher/Fellowship program with the University of Quintana Roo in Chetumal, Mexico. She is responsible of the Elasmobranchs Monitoring program. She participated in the most recent evaluation of the elasmobranchs conservation status, which was carried out by the IUCN. She is also a member of the committee of researchers specializing in elasmobranchs.

Eric has a PhD candidate in Animal Behavior and Comparative Psychology from the Graduate Center, CUNY. He's worked throughout Central America and Mexico since 2011, primarily focused on the study of the acoustic behavior and ecology of bottlenose dolphins and Antillean manatees. Currently, he works with octopuses as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Rockefeller University.

Eric research focuses on the study of behavior, movement patterns, and habitat use of bottlenose dolphins and Antillean manatees. He collaborates broadly with NGOs and governments towards improving conservation measures. He also works with many valued international colleagues to study animals all over the world, including but not limited to studying humpback whales in Nicaragua (with ELI-Scientific), with whale and dolphin distribution and habitat use in the Pacific coast of Mexico (with the Whales of Guerrero Research Project),  with bottlenose dolphin distribution and occurrence in the New York Bight Apex (with Gotham Whale),  and with the vocalizations of African manatees in Cameroon (with the African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization).