Nataly Guevara
PhD Candidate
Deakin Marine Research and Innovation Centre
Deakin University, Burwood campus
221 Burwood Hwy, VIC 3125
Nataly's research
Nataly is an Ecuadorian microbial ecologist who is passionate about research, conservation, and education.
Nataly was a Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she led a collaborative project on the microbiome of the Galapagos marine iguana. The results of her research were published in the journal Nature Animal Microbiome, and her project was featured in MIT News.
In addition, she served as a Teaching Assistant at the Summer Course of Ecology and Diversity of Marine Microorganisms (ECODIM) at the University of Concepción in Chile. Recently, she was a Visiting Faculty member at the University of Bialystok in Poland through the ERASMUS Program.
Nataly has worked as a lecturer at private and public Ecuadorian universities, including San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ) and Universidad Técnica de Manabí (UTM).
She is a member of the Latin American Ocean Acidification Network (LAOCA) and the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network GOA-ON.
For her PhD, she aims to explore the potential of the microbiomes of salt marshes and mangroves to effectively intervene in the restoration of degraded coastal ecosystems.
Keywords
Microbial ecology, microbiome, climate change, restoration, coastal ecosystems, conservation
Career Highlights
- National Geographic Society Early Career Grant
- Kenan Research Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- MSc scholarship from SENESCYT, Ecuadorian government
- MSc in Marine Microbiology, Max Planck Institute and University of Bremen, Germany
- BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology, San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ), Ecuador
Selected Publications
Research papers
Vasco, K., Guevara, N., Mosquera, J. et al. (2022). Characterization of the gut microbiome and resistome of Galapagos marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) from uninhabited islands. Nature Animal Microbiome 4, 65. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-022-00218-4
Guevara, N, Hassenrück C, Buttigieg PL, Gärdes A. (2018). Characterization of bacterioplankton communities and quantification of organic carbon pools off the Galapagos Archipelago under contrasting environmental conditions. PeerJ. 6, e5984.
Denkinger J, Guevara N, Ayala S, et al. (2017). Pup mortality and evidence for pathogen exposure in Galapagos Sea Lion (Zalopus Wollebaeki) on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, Ecuador. Journal of Wildlife Disease 53(3), 491-498
