My lab currently focuses much attention on marine highly migratory species including whales, manatees, sharks, sea birds, billfishes and turtles to better understanding their basic movement ecology and to encourage scientifically supported conservation policies. In the Pacific Ocean from Chile to Mexico, I am satellite tagging humpbacks, blue, orcas and other whales to learn about their little-known migration and movement ecology, and to detect how global change in oceans may be changing their behavior. In Panama’s western Caribbean, I am studying threatened manatee populations and leatherback turtles. My research has also focused on coral reefs in both the Pacific and Caribbean, with a special emphasis on the taxonomy ad ecology of little-known octocoral species of the Eastern Tropical Pacific.