Maria José Alderete

Alumni

María José is a marine biologist from the Universidad de Baja California Sur. She has always been fascinated by the perfection of sharks as large marine predators. She realized that their nature made them the most feared organisms on the planet, thus she decided to focus her studies on the feeding ecology of sharks, with the goal to help demystify beliefs around their form of eating. During her undergraduate career, she reviewed the eating habits of the Pacific sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon lngurio) through the analysis of stomach contents. Following this, she took part of a series of studies that found protection of whale sharks in Quintana Roo. Her masters thesis described the importance of Isla Holbox as a feeding habitat for this species. She recently finished her PhD dissertation at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR) and Pelagios Kakunjá, with a study about fatty acids in muscle tissue of elasmobranchs, with Dr. Mauricio Hoyos as her Committee member.