Exequiel Ezcurra

His career as a plant ecologist has covered a wide range of interests: nature conservation, land-ocean interactions, application of mathematical models in ecology and conservation, and natural resource management in areas of traditional use. He is recognized for his studies on the interaction between climate variation and ecological dynamics, both in desert environments and in the context of land-sea interactions. He stands out for his important contributions to the political implications of the interconnections between the environment, ecology and people.
He was president of the National Institute of Ecology from 2001 to 2005, and has received accolades for his contributions to the field of ecology, including the Society for Conservation Biology's Conservation Biology Award in 1994, and the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 2006. He has published more than 170 research articles, books and book chapters, including three books on the Gulf of California and its islands, as well as numerous essays and articles for newspapers and popular magazines. As director of research at the San Diego Museum of Natural History, he developed the science script for the large format film Ocean Oasis, which won the Jackson Hole Nature Film Award in 2001, and the BBC Wildscreen Award in 2002, in addition to creating three successful museum exhibitions on the natural history of Baja California, Southern California and the Gulf of California.
 

Octavio Aburto

He studied the bachelor's degree in marine biology at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur; the master's degree at the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences, and the PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of California San Diego. 
He is a professor and researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, but since 1994 he has dedicated much of his time photographing the marine and coastal ecosystems of Mexico; a professional activity that has led him to become part of the International League of Photographers for Conservation (ILCP) and to be an Explorer of the National Geographic Society.

Other activities involving the participant:

The sixth extinction: magnitude and consequences
Ocean literacy: the importance of textbooks for bringing mexican seas closer to primary schools

Catalina López-Sagástegui

She is a marine biologist and master of science in biodiversity and marine conservation. She was a member of the scientific group in the projects of Alternative Futures for the cities of La Paz and Loreto, in Baja California Sur, and from the UC MEXUS Resident Researcher program. She has been the director of the Gulf of California Marine Program since 2017, which joined the Institute of the Americas in June 2021 as a programmatic line within the Environment and Climate Change Program. She is currently the Managing director of dataMares.
 

Other activities involving the participant:

The sixth extinction: magnitude and consequences
Ocean literacy: the importance of textbooks for bringing mexican seas closer to primary schools