BIOL 225: Biodiversity & Climate Change: September - Hispanic History Month

Dr. Lenin Oviedo Correa is a Venezuelan researcher captivated by the diversity of marine animals in Latin America. During his education, he fell in love with Golfo Dulce, the focus on his current work with Earthwatch, which he describes as a “wonderful tropical fjord.” Last year, his nine years of collecting wildlife monitoring data alongside hundreds of Earthwatch volunteers as the lead scientist on our Conserving Marine Mammals in Costa Rica expedition culminated in the designation of Golfo Dulce as an Important Marine Mammals Area, bringing increased protection for whales, dolphins, and other wildlife.

Dr. Blanco, an expert on penguins, petrels, and other seabirds, has spent much of her career exploring migration and nesting behavior. As lead scientist on Trailing Penguins in Argentina, her work has focused mainly on studying the spatial ecology of Magellanic penguins, studying these creatures’ behavior at sea and their interactions with their overall environment. In response to dwindling Magellanic penguin populations, Dr. Blanco and her teams work to inform efforts to preserve this incredible species, which includes measuring the impact of plastic pollution on pelagic seabirds, and more.

As lead scientist on Wildlife and Reforestation in Brazil, he works in the Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu, collecting important data on how large-scale reforestation efforts are impacting regional wildlife. The data that Dr. Muanis and his team collect is used directly in regional management plans, and his teams also contribute directly to reforestation efforts by planting and helping to grow seedlings in the reserve.

Elsa Valiente Riveros, directors Restauración Ecológica y Desarrollo A.C. (REDES), a local non-profit that aims to increase the health of wetland ecosystems in Xochimilco, Mexico, by monitoring water quality and local biodiversity, providing research results to policymakers, and educating local farmers on sustainable agriculture and business strategies. Elsa has been working in Xochimilco to restore the wetlands since 2002. Through her partnership with Earthwatch, Elsa has worked with volunteers and farmers to create and implement technical and management solutions to agricultural challenges and ensure ecosystem health.

Dr. Ponce de Leon specializes in water chemistry and the effects caused by environmental stressors on aquatic organisms, communities, and ecosystems. In her partnership with Earthwatch, she works alongside Elsa Valiente Riveros, MS, and the rest of her project’s expert team to help farmers protect ecologically critical wetlands. She has also studied many wetlands-related subjects, like the impacts of agricultural and industrial chemicals on wetlands and creating evaluative systems to measure wetland health.

Dr. Claramunt-López is an ecologist who loves mountains. His research centers on discovering how mountain communities at high elevations adapt to changing environmental conditions. His team uses cameras to study how climate change and human encroachment impact wildlife in the mountains of Andorra, sharing their high-quality data with the Andorran government to inform wildlife management decisions. His recent Earthwatch work includes research on the impact of climate change on wildlife in the Andorran mountains, investigations into the social and legal implications of camera traps for wildlife monitoring.

Dr. Bibi Santidrián Tomillo has worked on the Costa Rican Sea Turtles expedition for over ten years, focusing on the effect of climatic events on the hatching success of leatherback turtles and other reptiles. She and her team have protected hundreds of nests, studied the behaviors of hundreds of individual turtles, and ensured that tens of thousands of hatchlings were recruited into the endangered turtle population. Her expertise also includes population biology, marine biology, and conservation.

Pedro A. Sanchez, a native of Cuba, pioneered scientific approaches to increase productivity of tropical soils, which had been long thought to be unsuitable for agriculture. His research helped open millions of hectares of land in Latin America to farming production, and his innovations in agroforestry dramatically improved productivity and ecological sustainability in Africa by pioneering ways to restore fertility to some of the world's poorest, most degraded soils in delicate ecosystems.

From the ‘super fires’ raging across California to the frequent hurricanes barreling through American coastal cities, the United States is already experiencing the effects of climate change. Translating this reality into terms that an individual can understand and grapple with is not an easy task, but it is one to which Nicole Hernandez Hammer has committed her career.

Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine. "A fundamental question in neuroscience is how synapses are assembled in living animals to produce behaviors and store memories. Our lab is focused on this question and uses the nematode C. elegans to examine the cell biological mechanisms by which synapses are precisely assembled during development, maintained during growth and modified during learning to store memories."

"The long-term goal of our research is to uncover basic immunobiological mechanisms that underlie and regulate immune responses in utero through early life. The long-term goal of our research is to uncover basic immunobiological mechanisms that underlie and regulate immune responses in utero through early life. We ask questions about immune system function, kinetics, regulation and development during pregnancy and as a neonate in two distinct contexts."

Dr. Susana López Charretón is a Mexican virologist specializing in the study of cellular and molecular biology of rotavirus infection. One of the most important findings from Charretón's research group is related to viral entry into a human body, in addition to how rotavirus spreads in human populations, the immune response to it, and its replication cycle.