Our Researchers

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Jorge Urban R.

Jorge Urban R., Ph.D.

Graduate of National Autonomous University of Mexico. He is a Professor of marine biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, B.C.S., and has led gray whale research in Baja since 1996. He has widely published in the scientific literature on marine mammals and marine conservation, and serves on the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, and is a past President of the Mexican Society for Marine Mammalogy (SOMEMMA).

Steven L. Swartz, Ph.D.

Steven L. Swartz

A 1986 graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz and has researched and published widely on gray whales and their breeding lagoons in Baja California. He served as a consultant to the Mexican government’s Ministry for the Environment, Natural Resources, and Fisheries (SEMARNAP), and worked for the Ocean Conservancy (previously the Center for Environmental Education), the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

Alejandro Gomez Gallardo U.

Alejandro Gomez-Gallardo

A Ph.D candidate and is on the teaching faculty of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, in La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico. His research and teaching interests include vertebrate anatomy, marine ecology, and the interactions between whale and human activities. He is the President-Elect of the Mexican Society for Marine Mammalogy (SOMEMMA).

Aaron Thode

Aaron Thode, Ph.D.

A professor of marine science and ocean acoustics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California. His broad research interests include the physics of acoustic energy in the ocean, the acoustic behavior of marine animals, the detection and enumeration of marine animals like whales using passive acoustic techniques, and the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine life. .

Sergio Martínez Aguilar

Master in Marine Science Student at the Autonomus University of Baja California Sur (UABCS) in La Paz, B.C.S. He made his masters and bachelor thesis on Humpback whale population assessment and recovery rates in México. Sergio leads the gray whale photographic identification program at Laguna San Ignacio, and has conducted research on gray whales since 2009. His a Ph.D. candidate at UABCS. .

Jessica Robles M.

Jessica Robles Mercado

Licentiate candidate, member of the research program of marine mammals (PRIMMA) of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, in La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico, currently researching the birth interval of gray whales that visit the San Ignacio Lagoon in the winter seasons since 2005 to 2012. Jessica completed her thesis on “The birth interval of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in Laguna San Ignacio during the period from 2005 to 2011″ in September of 2012.

Hiram Rosales Nanduca, Ph.D.

Hiram Rosales Nanduca

Hiram completed his bachelor thesis on the social structure of Humpback whales in Bahía de Banderas and Socorro Island, in the Mexican Pacific, and received his Ph.D. at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 2011. Hiram teaches courses on marine mammals at UNAM, and his research interests include the distribution patterns and conservation of marine mammals in regional and global geographic scales. He has worked as a member of the gray whale research team in Laguna San Ignacio since 2009. In 2012 he lead a gray whale photo-identification team in Bahia Magdalena.

Ana Liria del Monte Madrigal

Graduate student in Marine Biology at the Autonomous University of B.C.S. in La Paz, México (UABCS). She is a researcher with the Laguna San Ignacio Ecosystem Science Program (LSIESP) and the Research Program of Marine Mammals (PRIMMA) since 2009. Liria’s interests are broad and they range from environmental education and conservation to the research and implementation of renewable energies. Currently she is working on her bachelor’s thesis project which focuses on a historical analysis of the eco-tourist activity of gray whale watching in San Ignacio Lagoon.

Delphine Mathias

Delphine is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California. She studies the acoustic and diving behavior of depredating sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska using a variety of instruments (acoustic recorders, bioacoustic tags, videocameras). Delphine has worked as a member of the gray whale acoustic research team in Laguna San Ignacio since 2007.

Tabata Olavarrieta G.

Member of the research program of marine mammals (PRIMMA) of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS), and graduate student in Marine Biology at the same institution. Currently Tabata is researching the “Bryde’s Whale” in the Gulf of California for her bachelor thesis, and she has investigated gray whales at Laguna San Ignacio since the 2010 season. Tabata completed her thesis on “The feeding habits of the Brydes whale (Balaenoptera edeni) in the Gulf of California” in September of 2012.

Anaid López Urbán

Anaid is a graduate student in marine science and recieved her Master’s degree in 2011 at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, D.F. She began working with LSIESP gray whale study team in 2009 where she is investigating the vocalizations of the gray whales and human noise in Laguna San Ignacio. In 2012 Anaid accepted a position with the conservation organization Pronatura, where she is working on “Sea Conservation” programs. .

Rafael Riosmena, Ph.D.

Rafael Riosmena

Professor Rafael Riosmena-Rodriguez is currently the leader of the Marine Botany research group of Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in La Paz Baja California Sur, México. He obtained his Ph.D. from the La Trobe University in 2002. Professor Riosmena-Rodríguez is deeply interested in understanding the role of marine plants (where algae are included) in coastal habitats and their evolutionary significance. His research areas include systematic, biogeography, and ecology of marine plants from subtropical habitats. He is an expert on rhodolith beds.

Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Baron

Juan Manuel Rodriguez

Juan Currently works in sea turtle ecology investigation associated at program to the Botany Research Group of Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur, Mexico. Rodriguez-Baron Obtained his MSc from the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, CICIMAR-IPN in 2010. His scientific Interests are in the areas of ecology and physiology of the current and ancient turtles in coastal and oceanic habitats, clarifying its life history. He is an expert in trophic ecology of Chelonids.

Ranulfo Mayoral

Resident of Laguna San Ignacio and member of Grupo Tortuguero has conducted sea turtle monitoring in the lagoon since 2000, and leads sealion research in the lagoon beginning in 2010-2011. He is a “RARE” trained natural history guide with advanced first aid training and SECTUR certification, and works as an Eco-Tourism guide at the lagoon.

Juan Manuel Lopez Vivas

Professor Juan Manuel Lopez Vivas is currently research associate professor at the Marine Botany group of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in La Paz Baja California Sur, México. He obtained his Ph.D. coastal oceanography from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Ensenada, Baja California. Professor Lopez-Vivas is deeply interested in the cultivation of economically/ecologically important seaweed and seagrasses ecophysiology and their geographic distribution.

Bruce Reitherman

Bruce Reitherman began his life-long interest in Baja California as he finished his University education in the late 1970s. At that time, as an independent investigator working with friend and collaborator John Storrer, he studied the remarkably large and dense, ground-nesting population of ospreys that made their home on Isla Garzas and Isla Pelicanio in Laguna San Ignacio. A shift in career priorities soon lead from scientific research to documentary film-making, which he pursued enthusiastically for the next twenty years, visiting six continents and earning an Emmy Award while raising awareness of the need for the conservation of wild places and habitats. Bruce now enjoys a more sedentary life-style and resides with his family in Santa Barbara, California, where he works as an environmental consultant.

John Storrer

John received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1979. Following his 1980’s research on the bird nesting colonies on the islands in Laguna San Ignacio, John formed “Storrer Environmental Services”, a consulting firm specializing in biological survey, environmental compliance monitoring, habitat restoration, and conservation planning. During the past 25 years John has conducted endangered species surveys, habitat assessments, and biological systems analyses for a variety of development projects. He and his company specialize in the design and implementation of mitigation programs for habitat recovery, rare plant restoration , resource management, and monitoring. As a LSIESP consultant he continues to contribute to the conservation of the bird breeding colonies in the lagoon.

Melania Guerra, Ph.D.

Melania Guerra

Received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 from the Universidad de Costa Rica, in San Jose, Costa Rica, where she is native from. In 2002, she worked as an intern at the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. She joined the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and received a Masters degree in Oceanography and completed her Ph.D.in 2010, working under Dr. Aaron Thode. Her doctoral thesis deals with man-made ambient noise around baleen whales; specifically, how it affects our ability to use passive acoustic methods to detect them, but also how it can be used to time-synchronize independent elements in an acoustic array. Melania has been conducting acoustic field work with the gray whales of Laguna San Ignacio since winter 2005. She will begin her post-doctoral research at Cornell University in 2011.

Erandi Alcira Calderón Yáñez

Is a student in Marine Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS), in La Paz, México. Currently she is member of the research program of marine mammals (PRIMMA) and she is working on her bachelor’s thesis concerning the body condition of the gray whales investigating the skinny whale syndrome. Her research interests include the conservation and behavior of marine species. Erandi began to work in the gray whale research team in Laguna San Ignacio in 2011.

Diana Carina López Arzate

Joined the gray whale research team in 2012 to conduct abundance and photographic identification surveys in Laguna San Ignacio. She completed her Bachelor’s Thesis on spinner dolphins in Hawaii, and she is now beginning studies for her Master’s Thesis at UABCS on humpback whales in Mexico’s Pacific waters.

Laura Rodriguez

Laura Rodriguez: participated in gray whale research in Laguna San Ignacio beginning in 2012 by conducting abundance and photographic identification surveys. Laura completed her Master’s Thesis at Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences (CICIMAR) on the use of stable isotopes to identify anthropogenic contamination and process of eutrophic in the seagrass Thalassia testudinum in the Caribbean Coastal. Laura intends to continue her academic research for her Doctorate degree.

Mauricio Rodriguez Alvarez

Began working as a gray whale researcher in Laguna San Ignacio during the winter of 2010. Mauricio is completing his Bachelor’s Thesis at UABCS on the comparison of the distribution of mother-calf pairs of gray whales in Laguna San Ignacio during the winters from 1978 to the present. Mauricio completed his thesis on “Changes in the distribution of gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) mothers with calves in Laguna San Ignacio during the three periods: 1978-82, 1996-00, and 2007-11″ in September of 2012.

Lilia Alonso Lozano

Lilia worked with the LSIESP photographic identification team in Bahia Magdalena in 2012. She is pursuing research for her Bachelor’s degree at UABCS on the distribution and abundance of cetaceans in the south-western portion of the Gulf of California.