About me

My name is Natalia (she/her), I’m from Ecuador and I grew up in ancestral homelands of Kitu Kara territory.

I’m PhD candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and member of the Bowman Lab (https://www.polarmicrobes.org/). My research examines the role of marine microbial communities in ecosystem function and responses to pollution, with particular focus on understanding the drivers of symbiosis and how microbiomes provide resilience to anthropogenic stress. My work involves understanding drivers of microbial community structure, diversity, function, and implications to biogeochemistry in coastal ecosystems; examining mangrove-microbe interactions and responses to salinity and pathogenic stress.

My research aims to develop frameworks on anti-colonial and feminist research relations. I work with a womxn-led fishery at the intersection of gender, race, and environment. I’m working with the Mangrove Network Collective to develop principles for co-production of knowledge and incorporating a care ethics approach to data sovereignty, fisheries, and genetic resources.

I’m interested in conservation and climate change policy, global north-south dynamics, and environmental activism on a local to a global scale.