Could you be IAATO’s 2023 Antarctic Fellowship recipient?

Eduardo Pizarro from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, is researching the patterns of distribution, abundance, and population trends of six Antarctic and Subantarctic penguin species affected by climate change, through the implementation of different approaches to Ecological Niche Modelling. His research will help to develop conservation strategies for these species and to further explore modelling approaches to account for global change processes in wildlife conservation.

Eduardo completed his undergraduate degree in Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Chile to pursue his interests in wildlife research. Passionate about the use of technological tools for the study of biodiversity, he began his research career at the Molecular Biodiversity Laboratory of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in Natural Resources, specializing his career in Molecular Ecology and Ecological Niche Modelling of Chilean and Antarctic wildlife.

During his career he has investigated the evolution of foxes from the southern cone of South America and the evolution of penguins and flying seabirds from Antarctica. He participated in the Antarctic Scientific Expedition ECA58 at the beginning of the year 2022, organized by the Chilean Antarctic Institute. In this season he will participate in the Antarctic Scientific Expedition ECA59.

Antonio grew up in Salamanca, Spain. After finishing high-school he studied a bachelor’s degree in Geology at the University of Salamanca. During his degree, he developed an interest in volcanoes and because of that, he contacted asking for supervision of his degree thesis to his future PhD director. His thesis was Antonio’s first contact with Antarctic research since it was focused on the petrography (what different rocks constituted by, in which proportion and how the components are distributed) study of Deception Island (Antarctica) and Los Frailes (Spain) volcanoes.

Deciding to continue his studies in volcanology, Antonio moved to France to undertake a two-year master’s degree in volcanology at Clermont-Auvergne University. His master’s research was focused on Santorini in Greece, in which he characterised how much time the magma stays beneath the surface before erupting (residence timescales through diffusion chronometry) in one of its historical eruptions.

Once finished, Antonio moved to Spain under a one-year scholarship at Geosciences Barcelona – CSIC, and came back to Antarctic research working on the characterisation of volcanic tephra layers founded in marine sediment cores drilled along Bransfield Strait, Antarctica.

He is currently working towards his PhD to understand how the different volcanoes located along Bransfield Strait (Deception Island, Three Sisters, Orca) may erupt in the future.

Apart from his scientific background, Antonio speaks French and English. He loves hiking and sightseeing.

Ross Nichols from the University of California, Santa Cruz is furthering research that will help IAATO operators minimise the risk of whale ship-strikes around the Antarctic Peninsula.

Ross grew up in Aromas, California, a small town located inland of the Monterey Bay. Originally interested in working with animals in natural environments, Ross gravitated to marine science during high school, inspired by a course in marine biology. He pursued this interest with an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology followed by an M.S. degree in Ocean Sciences from UC, Santa Cruz. Ross was also part of a cognition and bioacoustics laboratory investigating the effects of high impulse noise on Artic seal species. He has pursued many opportunities working in remote field sites in Hawaii, California, Massachusetts and the Antarctic, performing scientific monitoring of seabird, pinniped and cetacean species.

Most recently, Ross has been part of the Bio-Telemetry and Behavioural Ecology Laboratory advised by Dr. Ari Friedlaender at the University of California, Santa Cruz’s department of Ocean Sciences. Here, Ross has focused on investigating seasonal effects of Antarctic ecosystems and their interaction with the phenology and foraging ecology of humpback whales. His current projects involve investigating bubble net feeding behaviour and, separately, questions regarding anthropogenic interactions of Antarctic humpback whales.

Miguel from the University of Alcala, Spain is researching  the consequences of microplastic introduction to the Antarctic environment. In particular he will study microplastics in Antarctic freshwater to understand their role in potentially spreading antibiotic resistance genes in pristine ecosystems.

Miguel’s work has real global significance given that the fate and transport of antibiotic resistance genes around the world is poorly known. He will test his hypothesis that microplastics in the environment play a critical role.

The geographic focus of Miguel’s research are two freshwater lakes located in the Northeast of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.

Martina Mascioni is a PhD student of the Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina) under her advisors’ supervision, Dr. Gastón Almandoz at the Phycology Division and Dr. Maria Vernet at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, USA. In 2019, Martina was awarded with IAATO-COMNAP and SCAR fellowships to travel to California and collaborate with Dr Vernet and Allison Cusick, also at Scripps. Due to the pandemic, her travel is currently on hold until international travel is deemed safe and available.

Martina was born in Ushuaia, Argentina, one of the cities that most tourists visit before or after their trip to Antarctica. She lived there until she was five years old and then she moved with her family to San Luis, a city in the centre of the country. When she was 18, she moved to La Plata city to pursue a scientific career as a biologist. In 2016 she was granted the degree of Bachelor in Biology with honours and the next year started with her PhD thesis focused on the ecology and taxonomy of the phytoplankton of the coastal zones (fjords) of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Martina is passionate about her work with microalgae and although she is finishing her PhD thesis in a couple of years, she hopes to keep working on polar phytoplankton for many more to come.

Daniela is a researcher and Ph.D. candidate at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid where she is expanding her investigation regarding the social dimensions of Antarctic tourism.

Daniela obtained her Master’s degree in Environmental Management (2010) and a Bachelor in Tourism (2005). She has coordinated and provided technical support to multiple projects on conservation and sustainable tourism planning in various protected areas in South America, particularly in the Galápagos National Park.

Ever since her first Antarctic visit in 2011, Daniela has become passionate about the sustainable future of Antarctica. Her main interests revolve around tourism, adaptive management, and decision-making processes. In 2019, Daniela became the joint-first recipient of the IAATO & COMNAP Fellowship for continuing her research on Antarctic tourism. Daniela is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Tourism and Protected Areas Specialty (TAPAS) Group. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), Humanities and Social Sciences Expert Group (SC-HASS).