Plenary Speakers

FRANCES GULLAND

Senior scientist of the Marine Mammal Center (CA) since 1994. Has actively been involved with veterinary care, rehabilitation and research of stranded marine mammals and their diseases. Author of over 100 scientific papers and coeditor of CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine. Headed the Working Group on Unusual Mortality Envents of Marine Mammals for six years, and has directed recovery plans for the Hawaiiaan monk seal and the Southern sea otter. Member of the Scientific Advisory Comittee for the United States Marine Mammal Commission.

Her plenary talk: Urogenital cancer of the California sea lion: a multifactorial condition that requires multidisciplinary approaches.

ILEANA ESPEJEL

Professor at the School of Sciences of the Autonomous Univeristy of Baja California, in México. She heads the research group on Management of Land and Coastal Natural Resources, who in 2011 were awarded the International Ecology and Society Prize. Her research has focused on coastal ecosystem management, dune ecology and land use plannning. She coordinates local, regional and national issues related to ecology and managemento of dunes and coastal shrubs, and participates in land use planning projects. Her research relies on diverse environmental methodologies, for which she has acquired ample experience working with interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teasms. Her main interest is prepairing professionals in alternative and sustainable management of ecosystems.

Her talk is titled "Weaving sciences for the conservation of nature".

MARIANO SIRONI

Founder and Director of the Whale Conservation Institute (Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas, ICB) of Argenting since 1996. Obtained his PhD in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin, where he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Before that he obtained a degree in Biology with honors from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argenting, where he is currently an Associate Professor. Recently awarded the BBVA Foundation Prize for Latinamerican Biodiversity Conservation. Since 1995 he studies the behaviour of southern right whales in Península Valdés and works towards their conservation. He currently works together with the Whale Conservation Institute of Massachusetts conducting aerial surveys of southern right whale populations.

His talk (to be confirmed) is titled "Southern research Right politics Whale economy Peninsula education Valdes comunication Argentina conservation".

LAURA MARTINEZ-LEVASSEUR

Postdoctoral Fellow at Trent University in Canada. Obtained her degree as a Marine Biologist by the University of La Rochelle and her Masters Degree by the University of Marseille. In 2011 she was awarded her PhD at Queen Mary University of London, with a thesis on the effects of solar radiation on whale skin. She currently studies the effect of UV radiation on walruses in the canadian Arctic and evaluates the secondary impact on the communitites at different trophic levels. She combines scientific methods with local knowledge from Inuit communities.

Her talk is titled "Combining scientific methods with Inuit Traditional Ecological Knowledge to better understand the effects of environmental changes on marine mammals in the Arctic".