Lorena Neira Ramírez

Affiliation:

Universidad de Los Andes, Faculty of Sciences
2 Jun 2019 to 29 Jun 2019

Short cv:

I am an MSc student at Universidad de Los Andes, Faculty of Sciences and a TA for the
Department of Biological Sciences. I completed my undergraduate studies in Biology in 2017
and conducted my undergraduate thesis in the Therkildsen Lab at Cornell University. My thesis
focused on the standardization of an aDNA protocol intended for use in analyzing fossil samples
of Atlantic Cod to understand the rapid evolution of cod in response to fisheries- and climateinduced
selection.

Before joining the SoNoAT 2019, I joined the crew of the SSV Robert C. Seamans on the Spring
of 2018 cruise to conduct baseline climate research in the South Pacific on a track from New
Zealand to French Polynesia. I prepared for the voyage during a shore component in Woods
Hole, MA studying the global carbon cycle as well as political, and economic strategies intended
to address climate adaptation and sustainability. While onboard, my research included a study
of gelatinous zooplankton community demographics throughout the Chatham Rise, the South
Pacific Subtropical Gyre (SPSG) and the Southern Subtropical Front (S-SF) and how climate
change is impacting them.

As a researcher, I am broadly interested in ecological and evolutionary genetics and the
impacts of a changing ocean as they relate to marine biology, fish ecology, and natural
resources management. I am also passionate about making my research findings relevant to
policy management, conservation, and science communication when possible. Finally, my
current research includes the validation of the erosion rate of marine lime-boring algae
Ostreobium sp. as a proxy of OA (BIOMMAR, Bogotá, Colombia) using materials engineering as
well as remote satellite data.