Dr. Jesús Ernesto Arias González

Dr. Arias González began working in the Departamento de Recursos del Mar of CINVESTAV-Unidad Mérida in 1994, after a doctoral fellowship with Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the CONACYT-SPHERE Program. He is currently a researcher and full professor with CINVESTAV. He has founded and is responsible for the Laboratorio de Ecologia de Ecosistemas de Arrecifes Coralinos (LEEAC). His research interests include three primary areas related to coral reef ecology: Landscape ecology; ecosystem diversity and function; and connectivity between fish and corals in reefs of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

He had a fellowship from the Education Ministry of France from 1996 to 1998 to conduct coral reef research in collaboration with the Centre de Biologie et d'Ecologie Tropicale et Mediterranéenne. In 2002 he did a sabbatical in the Australian Institute of Marine Science with Dr. Terry Done. He participated in a pioneer research based on a multinational and interdisciplinary study lead by Professor Peter Mumby on the connectivity between coral reefs and mangroves in the Caribbean. In 2008 he did a sabbatical in the University of Exeter with Dr. Peter Mumby.

Dr. Arias González is a founding member of the Consejo Científico y Técnico de los Arrecifes Coralinos and its first president, as well as founding member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Arrecifes Coralinos. He currently is a participant in various national and international projects among which the Coral Reef Targeted Research on connectivity and modeling for management and decision-making regarding coral reefs, and the Mexican Ecosystem Network stand out.