Author: javimettalight

Miles Thompson

Posted on by javimettalight in Interns

stri intern

I am a recent graduate of Grinnell College, where I studied Studio Art and Biology. I also studied abroad in the Galapagos Islands through the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, where I grew interested in tropical ecology and marine ecosystems. As an artist and aspiring biologist, I am excited about how art can be used to share scientific insights with wider audiences. In particular, I explore how art can connect others to the excitement and curiosity I feel about nature. In the past, I have worked with natural history museums in New Mexico (where I am from) to produce scientific illustrations of collection specimens and recent discoveries. 

I am excited be a part of the O’Dea lab and to build on my prior art and research experiences. I will be using field observations to create artwork documenting and comparing coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems. I will also be comparing present and past marine ecosystems and learning about paleontological lab techniques, such as fossil extraction and identification. By the end of the internship, I will exhibit a body of work centered on the biodiversity and ecological structure of marine habitats across ecosystems and time periods. My hope is that, through art, I can share the work happening at the O’Dea lab in a way that can be appreciated by a range of scientists and non-scientists. 

Kevin Gómez

Posted on by javimettalight in Interns

stri intern

Mi nombre es Kevin Gómez. Soy biólogo marino egresado de la Universidad de Panamá, con experiencia en ecomorfología y en ecología de peces.

He trabajado como asistente de investigación en proyectos enfocados en peces arrecifales, en particular en el estudio de especies hermanas y sus procesos evolutivos.

Cuento con experiencia en buceo científico, fotografía submarina y trabajo de laboratorio, incluidos la disección y el procesamiento de muestras biológicas. Durante el último año he participado activamente en investigación de campo y en el análisis de datos, lo que ha desarrollado un fuerte interés por comprender las relaciones ecológicas y funcionales entre organismos marinos.

Actualmente estaré trabajando en el laboratorio junto al Dr. Sven Pallacks en la medición y el análisis de otolitos de peces. A través de estas estructuras se evaluarán patrones de crecimiento, edad, historia de vida y condiciones ambientales, con el objetivo de contribuir al entendimiento de la ecología y la dinámica de las poblaciones de peces.

Sofía Chacano Parada

Posted on by javimettalight in Interns

STRI INTERN

Hi! I’m Sofi, a marine biologist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) who is in love with the place that sustains life on Earth: The Ocean. After graduating from university, I had the opportunity to fly from a temperate zone to a vibrant and colorful ecosystem known as the tropics.

The purpose of this journey was to study the local and seasonal variability of nutrient levels in the Gulf of Panama. Since the northeast winds, together with Panama’s topographic profile, provide the gulf with about three months of cold, nutrient-rich waters through seasonal upwelling, it is essential to understand the dynamics of nutrients in the shallow waters of this region and how nutrient availability varies during the dry (upwelling) and wet (non-upwelling) seasons.

Finally, as a curious person who wants to understand how the ocean works, it has been fascinating not only to study a completely different marine ecosystem, but also to compare it with the upwelling systems of temperate zones, such as the Humboldt and California Current systems, and to gain an insight into how and why the tropics host such a high diversity of marine species, even when coastal upwelling is either absent or short-lived.

Isabella Leonhard

Posted on by javimettalight in Fellows

Stri fellow

I am a doctoral student in the Palaeobiology and Historical Ecology group at the University of Vienna. In my dissertation, Survival of the Smallest? I focus on how climate change and other human pressures influence growth and life history in black gobies – small, bottom-dwelling generalists that often swim under the scientific radar. Although not commercially targeted and may appear unremarkable, black gobies are key players in coastal ecosystems, offering valuable insights into how non-commercial species respond to long-term environmental change.

I use incrementally grown ear-stones (otoliths) to compare modern goby growth patterns with radiocarbon-dated fossil (Holocene) otoliths from sediments. These small, calcified structures grow throughout a fish’s life, recording seasonal growth like tree rings. As the only complex parts that regularly accumulate on the seafloor, otoliths offer rare archives of historical growth patterns, making them ideal for reconstructing long-term trends and establishing baselines of pre-industrial conditions.

Thanks to the James Van Tassell Fellowship, I am excited to temporarily swap the Mediterranean for the tropics. During my stay in Panama, I will use similar otolith-based methods to study growth and life history variation in cryptobenthic gobies from the Caribbean and the tropical eastern Pacific – ecologically essential reef fishes that, like their Adriatic relatives, leave behind a historical record that can help uncover how tropical ecosystems have changed through time.

Javiera Mora

Posted on by javimettalight in Interns

STRI Intern

Soy Javiera Mora, bióloga con orientación en biología marina y limnología de la Universidad de Panamá. Nacida en Chile, en Viña del Mar, un país muy rico en diversidad y productividad de los recursos marinos, por lo que desde pequeña estuve en contacto con las zonas marino-costeras, curiosa de entender los procesos que permitían el desarrollo y la presencia de las especies en ciertas zonas.

He sido voluntaria en proyectos científicos desde mi tercer año de universidad, colaborando en colectas y en el procesamiento de diversas muestras, como peces, corales, tiburones y cetáceos. A lo largo de esta trayectoria me enamoré de los peces de arrecife de coral al trabajar en un proyecto sobre ecomorfología trófica de especies hermanas separadas por el Istmo de Panamá, lo cual me permitió desarrollar mi tesis de licenciatura, cuyo objetivo fue comprender la plasticidad alimenticia de dos pares de especies hermanas con nichos tróficos diferentes mediante análisis de contenido estomacal. Sin embargo, dentro de mis intereses también destaca el efecto del sonido en el desarrollo de comunidades biológicas, la ecología trófica y la restauración de ecosistemas.

Durante mi estancia en el O’Dea Lab, trabajaré con otolitos de peces mictófidos, identificando, midiendo y colectando muestras de isótopos estables para comprender cómo han respondido a eventos de hipoxia a lo largo del tiempo evolutivo.