Eva has always been fascinated by the mystique of the sea. As a child, she never wanted to get out of the water, not even to eat! Born and raised in Costa Rica, she spent a lot of time diving in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, marveling at the coral reefs and the abrupt differences between these oceans. These experiences drove her to study how such distinct reefs could have evolved.

 

Her current research as a PhD candidate is about the phylogeography and population connectivity of a coral reef damselfish, Dascyllus trimaculatus, in the Red Sea. Using genetics and ecological tools, she seeks to understand the dispersal and evolutionary history of these fish and the processes that shape the marine biodiversity in the region.

 

Eva is a collaborating student at the Reef Ecology Lab, co-supervised by Dr. Berumen, and she spends most of her time between the California Academy of Sciences and the University of California Santa Cruz where she is enrolled. Besides coral reefs, she enjoys mountain biking, surfing, kelp forests, and redwoods.