Hola! I’m @bugsalome, marine ecologist @DarwinFound, and Nat Geo Explorer. I’m taking over @insidenatgeo to share about the wonders of the ocean and the people that keep inspiring & motivating me to pursue a career in marine sciences #BlackInMarineScience

Most of my research is in the Galapagos, where I'm part of a research team investigating deep-sea marine ecosystems, which remain severely unexplored.

So far, we have found the wonder of diverse creatures living here, especially on seamounts, & have discovered >30 new species to science

In 2018, I got a Nat Geo Society grant + help from the @Videoray team, enabling me to lead my first expedition exploring unchartered seamounts.

We discovered unknown kelp forests on top of a seamount ~50m deep. Kelp algae are known to form productive biodiversity hotspots

Last year I started my PhD on Galapagos kelp & seamounts @UBC. Pursuing academia during pandemia has been a bumpy ride, but a major silver lining that surfaced was finding other black women in marine science and forming our supportive community @Official_BWEEM

Thanks for following along! Learn more about my work here: http://on.natgeo.org/6019H4N5R