I am a Marine biologist allocated in the Marine Research Division at AZTI-Tecnalia Foundation. My research broadly focuses on the life history, ecology and conservation of marine top predators, from marine mammals to large pelagic fish species. I have reached a consolidated expertise in the field of aging using several skeletal hard parts (dolphin teeth, fin spines and otoliths), to estimate age-related biological parameters required for population growth models.
Currently, I am holding a Marie Curie Fellowship working on SIFINS project that aims to investigate tuna dorsal fin spines as a non-lethal and minimally invasive chronological recorder `alternative´ to otoliths for microchemical analysis. Particularly, SIFINS is expecting to demonstrate the ability of this alternative structure in preserving Stable Isotopes (SI) signatures used for reconstructing life and environmental history of several tuna species.
My previous research (PhD) about age determination and interpretation of mineralization anomalies in teeth of small cetaceans (the University of Aberdeen and University of Vigo), was centered on exploring several histological techniques to assess which would work accurately for preparing small dolphin teeth. I have also investigated the incidence of certain tooth mineralization anomalies that could be related to certain life history events (e.g. the age-achievement of sexual maturation), and/ or to effects of bioaccumulation of organic pollutants.
Currently, I am holding a Marie Curie Fellowship working on SIFINS project that aims to investigate tuna dorsal fin spines as a non-lethal and minimally invasive chronological recorder `alternative´ to otoliths for microchemical analysis. Particularly, SIFINS is expecting to demonstrate the ability of this alternative structure in preserving Stable Isotopes (SI) signatures used for reconstructing life and environmental history of several tuna species.
My previous research (PhD) about age determination and interpretation of mineralization anomalies in teeth of small cetaceans (the University of Aberdeen and University of Vigo), was centered on exploring several histological techniques to assess which would work accurately for preparing small dolphin teeth. I have also investigated the incidence of certain tooth mineralization anomalies that could be related to certain life history events (e.g. the age-achievement of sexual maturation), and/ or to effects of bioaccumulation of organic pollutants.