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Juliana Lopez-Angarita
PhD Student

Profile

Biography

Juliana is a biologist with an interest in fisheries and conservation in tropical marine ecosystems. Her research focuses on the interaction between ecological, social, and cultural characteristics of coastal communities, using science to inform best practices and promote sustainable livelihoods. She is a founding director of Talking Oceans (http://talking-oceans.org/) a marine conservation non-profit organization in Colombia. Juliana has a diverse range of experience including work in socio-ecological resilience models, marine protected area effectiveness, parrotfish conservation strategies, elasmobranch critical habitat and ecology, sawfish conservation, and divulgation of science through film festivals. Currently she has focused her research on the role of mangrove nursery grounds in enhancing fisheries yields. 

Career

2012– Present   PhD Student – Department of Environment and Geography. University of York

2008 – 2010     MSc Biological Sciences – Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)

2004 – 2007     BSc Biology – Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)

Research

Overview

Description of PhD

Title: Mangroves and estuaries protection for fisheries purposes in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Supervisors: Prof. Callum Roberts, Dr Julie Hawkins

Funding: Department of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia (COLCIENCIAS), Russell E. Train Fellowship – World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Faculty for the Future – Schlumberger Foundation. 

Description of Thesis 

Overfishing, pollution and bycatch threaten fisheries health in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP), one of the most productive marine ecosystems of the world and an important migratory route for many marine species. To enhance the ecological resilience of this area, and ensure that it can support sustainable fisheries, there is an urgent need to strengthen existing protection schemes. Current conservation efforts aim predominantly at protecting biodiversity through marine reserves, yet in regional fisheries, success is measured in terms of productivity and recruitment to populations of commercially important species. Effective protection of nursery grounds such as mangroves can ensure a twofold success of protected areas by safeguarding economically important juveniles and habitat, while fostering biodiversity. My research aims to assess the effectiveness of the existent marine protected area network in the ETP in achieving these two complimentary benefits, in order to strengthen the return of healthy fish stocks and support the move towards sustainable regional fisheries. Recommendations from this study will prove especially crucial given system connectivity across international boundaries, as well as provide essential information for fisheries sustainability and marine protected area management.

Publications

Selected publications

López Angarita J, Roberts CM, Tilley A, Hawkins JP, Cooke RG. (2016) Mangroves and people: Lessons from a history of use and abuse in four Latin American countries. Forest Ecology and Management 368:151–162.

Tilley A, López-Angarita J. (2016) Predicting vulnerability to management changes in data-limited, small-scale fisheries. Marine Policy 72:211–218.

Tilley, A., Carter, E., Wassermann, S. and López-Angarita, J. (2015) Enhancing management effectiveness of invasive lionfish using distance sampling and detection probability. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2549

López-Angarita, J., Moreno R., Maldonado J., Sánchez J.A. (2014) Evaluating linked social-ecological systems in Marine Protected Areas. Conservation Letters. 7 (3): 241–252.

Tilley A, López-Angarita J, Turner J.R (2013). Diet Reconstruction and Resource Partitioning of a Caribbean Marine Mesopredator Using Stable Isotope Bayesian Modelling. PLoS ONE. 8(11):e79560. 

Tilley, A., López Angarita, J. Turner, J. (2013) Effects of scale and habitat distribution on movements of the southern stingray Dasyatis americana on a Caribbean atoll. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 482: 169–179.

Lopez Angarita J., & J.A. Sanchez. (2012). Perspectivas en ecología de arrecifes coralinos. Colección Ciclo Básico. Ediciones Uniandes. Bogotá, Colombia. 348p

Velásquez J, López-Angarita J, Sánchez J. (2011). Evaluation of the FORAM index in a case of conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation. 20(14): 3591-3603. 

López-Angarita, J., R. Moreno-Sánchez, E. Alvarado, M. del P. Restrepo, J. Maldonado y J. A. Sánchez. (2011). Resiliencia soioecológica en el Parque Nacional Natural Corales del Rosario y de San Bernardo.pp 364-376. En: Zarza-González, E. (Ed.). El Entorno Ambiental del PNN Corales del Rosario y de San Bernardo. Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia – Banco Mundial – Global Environment Facility (GEF) – Patromionio Natural. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. 416 p

Contact details

Juliana Lopez-Angarita
PhD Student
Department of Environment and Geography
Wentworth Way, University of York
Heslington
York
YO10 5NG