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Associate Researchers

	Phd. Adrian Schiavini - Land Mammals in Tierra del Fuego PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires. He currently works as Principal Researcher at CONICET and Professor at the National University of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands. For 30 years he has been studying the ecology of birds and mammals in Tierra del Fuego, generating applied knowledge to resolve conflicts with human activities and the creation of protected areas. In the last 15 years his career has focused on studies applied to invasive species in Tierra del Fuego, such as beavers and feral dogs.
	Phd. Alejandro Gatto - Exotic Invasive Species PhD in Biological Sciences (University of Buenos Aires). He is currently a CONICET researcher at the Center for the Study of Marine Systems, Puerto Madryn. He has participated in projects related to the ecology and conservation of Patagonian seabirds associated with the Wildlife Conservation Society since 1999. He has participated in more than thirty research, conservation and environmental education projects in various natural areas of the country covering several different environments and species. These experiences involved working together with local leaders, local authorities, researchers, park rangers, environmental educators, members of NGOs, and local communities. His academic work is mainly focused on the ecology of communities and the trophic ecology of Patagonian birds, studying for more than twenty years the structure of bird assemblages associated with marine and continental wetlands as well as those associated with terrestrial environments in Patagonia and diverse aspects of the trophic ecology of seabirds.
	Phd. Andrea Raya Rey - Seabirds in Tierra del Fuego Biologist and PhD in Marine Ecology, of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrea lives and works as a researcher at CADIC- Argentine National Research Council. She has been studying seabird ecology and conservation, during the last 20 years mainly in Tierra del Fuego, Beagle Channel and Staten Island, but also in other places in Patagonia, Antarctic Peninsula and the extended Patagonian Shelf. Her research has been funded by national and international agencies, including Wildlife Conservation Society as a field staff. Andrea has been carrying on a long-term monitoring on breeding, feeding and spatial ecology of seabirds in the region. Her research helps to identify hot spots and main threats in the marine ecosystem for seabirds breeding and foraging in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean and Beagle Channel. This in turn allows promoting Marine Protected Areas and guidelines for better practices for seabird and ocean conservation.
	Phd. Esteban Frere - Seabirds in Santa Cruz Biologist and PhD in Marine Ecology, of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most of his postgraduate curses were done at the University of Washington, USA. He has been studying seabird ecology and conservation, as field staff of WCS, during the last 30 years at the Patagonian Coast. He was working, particularly, on penguins, cormorants, albatross and petrels. His studies were focused on coastal Patagonia closely related to management of protected areas, assessing on the design and management of protected areas at state government. He has been working not only in the Southwestern Atlantic but also in the Pacific Ocean at Chile and Peru during the last years. He is professor of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, Santa Cruz province and researcher of the CONICET (National Scientific Agency). During the last two years, he was coordinating the Global Seabird Programme of BirdLife International in South America.
	Phd. Luciana Musmeci - Seabirds in Chubut PhD in Biology. Assistant Researcher – Institute of Austral Diversity and Evolution (CONICET) since 2016, Puerto Madryn. Her main research topics are in migratory, population and trophic ecology of migratory shorebirds in Patagonia, conservation of the sites they use; and the monitoring of southern flamingos in Chubut, their reproductive ecology and management for the conservation sites.
	Phd. Natalia Dellabianca - Marine Mammals in Tierra del Fuego Phd. in Natural Sciences, graduated from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. She arrived Tierra del Fuego in 2004 to do an internship at the Acatushún Museum with Dr. Goodall. Two years later she settled permanently in Ushuaia and since then she has been working in the Laboratory of Ecology and Wildlife Conservation of the Austral Center for Scientific Research (CADIC-CONICET) and is part of the research group of the IMMA Project. Her research is related to the life history and spatial ecology of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine mammals, with special interest in climate variability on them.
	Phd. Pablo Yorio - Seabirds in Chubut Phd. in Biological Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires. He works as a researcher at the Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos-CONICET in Puerto Madryn and is Professor of the Seabird Ecology and Conservation course at the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia. Since 1984, he has been associated to WCS conducting research on the ecology and conservation of Patagonian seabirds, including penguins, gulls, terns and cormorants. Research topics have included distribution and abundance of breeding populations, breeding biology, habitat selection, feeding ecology, interactions with human activities, and conservation strategies. He has worked closely with conservation and fisheries government departments and the National Parks Administration providing advice in seabird conservation and planning of coastal environments. He has also acted as consultant on topics related to coastal and marine conservation for several national and international organizations. He is member of the Penguin Specialist Group of IUCN.
	Phd. Ricardo Baldi - Coexistence & Conservation in Chubut Ricardo’s PhD research at the University of London demonstrated that competition with introduced sheep was a primary force behind the dramatic decline of the guanaco population in the region. Currently he is a researcher of the Argentine National Research Council (CONICET), he now leads WCS Argentina’s regional conservation planning for guanacos. He is a member of the South America Camelid Specialists’ Group of the IUCN, and led the process of evaluation of the status of the South American camelids for the IUCN Redlist. He has served frequently as a consultant on issues related to guanacos, maras, and Darwin’s rheas for provincial and federal government agencies, and was the lead author of the national management plan for the guanaco in 2006. Based in the coastal Patagonia city of Puerto Madryn, he also works with a group of ranchers in the Peninsula Valdés World Heritage Site to help them meet Wildlife Friendly™ standards of production on their sheep farms.