Highest Degree
MSc, PhD candidate final year
Subject Area
Biological Oceanography, Marine Ecology
Activities
Ana Belén Yánez-Suárez is a marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer with expertise in coral reef ecology, marine biodiversity, deep-sea taxonomy, population and community ecology, numerical ecology, coral reef assessment and restoration. Her work focuses on understanding the ecological functions of corals and assessing the impacts of climate change on both deep and shallow-water coral reefs.
Yánez-Suárez's work and research in marine conservation in Galapagos, the cost of Ecuador and the Caribbean earned her a Erasmus Mundus Plus scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree at leading European institutions, including Ghent University and Pierre and Marie Curie University (Sorbonne University), where she graduated with honours. She conducted research in the combined effect of ocean warming and eutrophication in soft corals at Bremen University, Germany.
Currently, she is advancing her carreer as a PhD candidate at Memorial University of Newfoundland, investigating the impacts of oxygen loss on deep-sea ecosystems in the Galapagos and Isla del Coco research she proposed and got a grant from the National Geographic Society. She also studies one of the first high-seas marine protected area in the Mid Atlantic Ridge, applying photogrammetry to understand the habitat selection of corals and sponges to contribute to the conservation of vulnerable ecosystems.
Skills
Numerical ecology
Cold water coral taxonomy
Tropical coral reefs taxonomy and restoration
Climate change
Scientific diver certified by the European Scientific Diver Panel
Working language(s)
English
Portuguese
Spanish
