Andréa became part of the Davies Lab in January, 2022. Her PhD focuses on habitat modeling of baleen whales in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, especially the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. She is modeling glider data comprised of concurrent measurements of whale presence (passive acoustic monitoring), prey biomass (echosounder), and environmental variables (conductivity-temperature-depth sensor) to determine suitable foraging habitats for baleen whale species and predict where the animals aggregate in relation to anthropogenic threats.

 

     Andréa started her research career as an undergraduate Biology major at São Paulo State University, Brazil (2012-2016). In these early days, she studied the disease ecology of a fungal pathogen in tropical amphibians, but she was always passionate about the ecology of baleen whales in high latitudes. During her MSc. in Biological Oceanography (2017-2020), she applied modeling approaches to study the effect of environmental conditions on the foraging behavior of fin and humpback whales tracked by satellite in the Antarctic Peninsula.

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     In 2019-2020, she attended the Observational Oceanography training at the Centre of Excellence of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany. She conducted an independent research project on the fugacity of carbon dioxide in surface waters of the Weddell Sea. She also had her first onboard experience with oceanographic sampling in the North Sea on the RV Heincke.

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     Andréa is an enthusiast of art for science communication and believes we have a long journey to bridge the gap between university research and societal knowledge. In her free time, she likes outdoor activities like running or hiking, but also being indoors to watch (or re-watch) a movie. She loves traveling and aims to become a diver and wildlife photographer further down the road. Please check out her Twitter.

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