MS/PHD
MS/Phd
Current
Raquel is currently a Master/PhD student in Marine Sciences and works in between three different labs in the Red Sea Research Centre: IOP Lab led by Pr. Jones, Reef Ecology Lab led by M. Berumen and Ecological Oceanography Lab led by Pr. M. Fox. Her interest is in ecophysiology. She is looking at how the environment, both physical and biogeochemical, interacts with the physiology of whale sharks in the Red Sea, on both daily and monthly basis.
While there is a lot of research on their horizontal movement, research lacks in their vertical movement through the ocean’s levels - how they dive, if they follow plankton, if they dive to reproduce, how deep they go, when they go down and up. Understanding how whale sharks use their environment is important for their conservation and management around the world.
To do so, she collects in situ measurements (Temperature, Salinity, Oxygen, etc.) and data on whale sharks’ nutrition, immunology, and reproduction and stress levels using non-invasive methods to not (or little) stress the animals. While progress has been made, this is a very new research field, so the best data collection methods have yet to be developed.
Shark ecology; movement ecology; physiology; reproduction; oceanography; elasmobranch research; nutritional physiology; vertical migration; horizontal migration; telemetry research; stress physiology
Ostrovski et al. (2021). The media paradox: influence on human shark perceptions and potential conservation impacts. Ethnobiology and Conservation.
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bachelors in Biological Sciences - 2021
University of California Santa Cruz
Exchange program in Marine Biology - 2020
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
MS/PhD Student - Marine Sciences, 2022
2016 - 2018: Internship at Molecular Microbial Ecology Laboratory (LEMM) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coral research assistant
PI: Raquel Peixoto
2018: Internship at Marine Aquarium of Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Marine animals management
PI: Raquel Peixoto
2018: Internship at Biological Reserve of Chico Mendes - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wild animals management
2020: Research assistant at RC Lab - California, USA
Fish larvae development response to climate change conditions
PI: Mark Carr
2019 - 2021: Undergraduate research at Fishery Biology and Technology Laboratory - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ecosystem modelling and fisheries research
PI: Marcelo Vianna
2022 - present: Master student at Red Sea Research Center - KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Movement ecology of sharks throughout the Red Sea
PI: Burt Jones, Michael Berumen and Michael Fox