Dr Ana Barbosa Martins
Adjunct Research Fellow
BSc and MSc | Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Brazil
PhD | James Cook University
Ana was born and raised in São Luís, northeastern of Brazil, and her fascination for the underwater world began at an early age while playing in Amazon rivers and on beaches of the Brazilian shores. Ana is driven to work in areas of spatial and trophic ecology, human dimensions of fisheries resources, and sustainability and conservation, especially of shark and rays.
Favourite papers?
Heupel, M. R., Carlson, J. K., & Simpfendorfer, C. A. (2007). Shark nursery areas: concepts, definition, characterization and assumptions. Marine ecology progress series, 337, 287-297.
Dulvy, N. K., Fowler, S. L., Musick, J. A., Cavanagh, R. D., Kyne, P. M., Harrison, L. R., ... & White, W. T. (2014). Extinction risk and conservation of the world’s sharks and rays. elife, 3, e00590.
As a postdoctoral researcher at Dalhousie University and the Integrated Fisheries lab, Ana is currently working on a multiyear project that aims to unravel the global shark meat trade using a combination of field work and Bayesian statistical modeling. This work includes building data-sharing collaborations across more than 40 countries, developing statistical models to estimate shark fisheries production and volumes in the global shark meat trade, quantifying challenges to sustainable shark management, and providing support for the establishment of management and conservation policies. Ana is also collaborating on projects across the globe encompassing shark and ray spatial ecology, functional traits, meat consumption, nutrient composition, and cultural connections.
Favourite species?
Ornate eagle ray (Aetomylaeus verspertilio)
