Education
- Post-Doctoral Fellow. University of South Florida, Tampa FL
- Post-Doctoral Fellow. Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota FL
- PhD Biological Oceanography. University of South Florida, Tampa FL
- MS Zoology. University of Florida, Gainesville FL (Fulbright /LASPAU fellow)
- Licenciatura. Biology. University of San Carlos, Guatemala
Area of Expertise
My research interests include social behavior, ecology, bioacoustics, and marine conservation, in particular of endangered species, whales, dolphins, and sirenians.
What I Teach
- BIOL 104 Introduction to Environmental Science
- BIOL 113 General Biology
- BIOL 342 Behavioral Biology
Publications/Presentations
Recent Publications
De Weerdt, J., Pacheco, A.S., Calambokidis, J., Castaneda, M., Cheesman, T., Frisch-Jordan, A., Garita Alpizar, F., Hayslip, C., Martinez-Loustalot, P., Palacios, D.M., Quintana-Rizzo, E., Randome N., Urban Ramirez, J., Clapham, P., and Van der Stocken, T. 2023. Migratory destinations and spatial structuring of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) wintering off Nicaragua. Scientific Reports 13, 15180. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41923-7
Cheeseman T., Southerland K., Acebes J.M., Audley K., Barlow J., Bejder L., Birdsall C., Bradford A. Byington J., Calambokidis J., Cartwright R., Cedarleaf J., Garcia Chavez A.J., Currie J., De Weerdt J., Doe N., Doniol-Valcroze T., Dacrott K., Filatova O., Finn R., Flynn K., Ford J., Frisch-Jordan A., Gabriele C., Goodwin B., Hayslip C. Hildering J., Hill M., Jacobsen J., Jones M., Kobayashi N., Lyman E., Malleson M., Mamaev E., Marinez-Loustalot P., Masterman A., Matkin C., McMillan C., Moore J., Moran J., Neilson J., Newell H., Okave H., Olio M., Pack A., Palacios D., Peason H., Quintana-Rizzo E., Ramirez Barragan R.F., Ransome N., Sharpe F., Shaw T., Stack S., Staniland L., Straley J., Szabo A., Teerlink S., Titova O., Urban J., van Aswegen M., Vinicius M., von Ziegesar O., Witteveen B., Wray J., Yano K., Zwiefelhofer D., Rosales-Nanduca H., Jiménez-Lopez M.E., and Clapham P. 2023. (Almost) all the humpback whales of the North Pacific: A collaborative comprehensive North Pacific humpback whale photo-ID dataset. Scientific Reports 13, 10237. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36928-1
Palacios D., Felix F., Montecinos Y., Najera E., Kelez S., Samaniego J.,Velásquez P., Zapata L, Lancaster M., Friedlaender A.S., Castro C.A., Quintana-Rizzo E., Bermúdez-Rivas C., Cazas JJ., Villamil Echeverri C., Rojas Bracho L., Sepúlveda M., Medrano-Gonzales L., Santillan L., Aguilar Arakaki R., Pineda, L., Reisinger R., and Johnson C.M. (2023). Blue corridor of the Eastern Pacific: Opportunities and actions for the protection of migratory whales. A Technical Report. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
McMillan, C.J., Ford, J.K.B., Cheeseman, T., Calambokidis, J., Audley, K., Birdsall, C., Byington, J.K., Currie, J., Darling, J.D., De Weerdt, J., Doe, N., Doniol-Valcroze, T., Dracott, K., Finn, R., Frisch-Jordán, A., Gabriele, C., Goodwin, B., Hildering, J., Jones, M., Lyman, E., Malleson, M., Martinez Loustalot, P., Pack, A.A., Quintana-Rizzo, E., Ransome, N., Shaw, T.J.H., Stack, S., Urbán R., J., Wray, J., Wright, B.M., and Yano, K.M. 2023. Spatial patterns in the migratory destinations of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) encountered in Canadian Pacific waters, based on photo-identification data and ocean basin-wide collaboration. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 3519: v + 27 p.
O’Brien, O., D.E. Pendleton, L.C. Ganley, K.R. McKenna, K.D. Kenney, E. Quintana-Rizzo, C.A. Mayo, S.D. Kraus, and J.R. Redfern. 2022. Repatriation of a historical North Atlantic right whale habitat during an era of rapid climate change. Scientific Reports. 12:12407. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16200-8
Curtis, K.A., J. Calambokidis, K. Audley, M.G. Castaneda, J. De Weerdt, A.J. García Chávez, F. Garita, P. Martínez-Loustalot, J.D. Palacios-Alfaro, B. Pérez, E. Quintana-Rizzo, R. Ramírez Barragan, N. Ransome, K. Rasmussen, J. Urbán R., F. Villegas Zurita, K. Flynn, T. Cheeseman, J. Barlow, D. Steel, and J. Moore. 2022. Abundance of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) wintering in Central America and southern Mexico from a one-dimensional spatial capture-recapture model. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC-661. https://doi.org/10.25923/9cq1-rx80
Hodge, B. C., D.E. Pendleton, L.C. Ganley, O. O’Brien, S.D. Kraus, E. Quintana-Rizzo, and J.V. Redfern. 2022. Identifying predictors of species diversity to guide designation of marine protected areas. Conservation Science and Practice, e12665. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12665
Quintana-Rizzo, E., S. Leiter, T. V. N. Cole, M. N. Hagbloom, A. R. Knowlton, P. Nagelkirk, O. O’Brien, C. B. Khan, A. G. Henry, P. A. Duley, L. M. Crowe, C. A. Mayo, and S. D. Kraus. 2021. Residency, demographics, and movement patterns of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in an offshore wind energy development area in southern New England, USA. Endangered Species Research 45:251-268. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01137
Redfern, J.V, Kryc, K.A., Weiss, L., Hodge, B., O’Brien, O., Kraus, S.D., Quintana-Rizzo, E., and P.J. Auster. 2021. Opening a marine monument to commercial fishing creates gaps in ecosystem protections. Frontiers in Marine Science 8:645314. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.645314
Quintana-Rizzo, E., A. Cabrera, J. Ortiz-Wolford, and V. Davila. 2021. Spatial distribution and abundance of small cetaceans in the Pacific waters of Guatemala. Frontiers in Marine Science Frontiers in Marine Science 8:674134. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.674134
M.F. Baumgartner, J. Bonnell, S.M. Van Parijs, P.J. Corkeron, C. Hotchkin, K. Ball, L.P. Pelletier, J. Partan, D. Peters, J. Kemp, J. Pietro, K. Newhall, A. Stokes, T.V.N. Cole, E. Quintana-Rizzo, E., and S.D. Kraus. 2019. Persistent near real-time passive acoustic monitoring for baleen whales from a moored buoy: system description and evaluation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10:1476-1489.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2019. Distribution and abundance of whales in Guatemala with emphasis on humpback whale behavior (Megaptera novaeangliae). Spanish book chapter. In: Perspectivas de Investigación sobre Mamíferos Silvestres de Guatemala. C. Kraker, A. P. Calderón and A. A. Cabrera Editors. Guatemala: Asociación Guatemalteca de Mastozoólogos, pp. 247-261. ISBN: 978-9929-726-33-8.
Romero, C., S. Tracey, B. Carr, E. Quintana-Rizzo, S.W. Ross, D.J. Hollander and J.J. Torres. 2018. A decadal assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mesopelagic fishes from the Gulf of Mexico reveals exposure to oil-derived sources. Environmental Science and Technology 52: 10985–10996. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b02243
Quintana-Rizzo, E., L. García, R. López, S. Tobar and A. López. 2017. A Galapagos fur seal (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) in Guatemala. Marine Biodiversity Records 10:24 DOI: 10.1186/s41200-017-0126-x
Quintana-Rizzo, E. and R.S. Wells. 2016. Behavior of a non-related female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) towards the calf of her associate. Aquatic Mammals 42:198-202. DOI: 10.1578/AM.42.2.2016.198
Quintana-Rizzo, E., J. Torres, S.W. Ross, I. Romero, K. Watson, E. Goodard, and D. Hollander. 2015. Changes in d13C and d15N in deep-living fishes and shrimps after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 94:241-50. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.02.002
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2014. Illegal harpooning and incidental entanglement of wild dolphins in the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammal 9:179-182 DOI:10.55.97/lajam00187
Recent Presentations
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2020. Invited speaker. Status of humpback whales (Megaptera novaenagliae) in the tropical breeding ground of Guatemala. Workshop to develop a Management and Conservation Plan for the population unit of humpback whales from Central America-Mexico-United States for the International Whaling Commission. March 9, Panama, Panama.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2020. Invited speaker. Resighting patterns and social behavior of humpback whales (Megaptera novaenagliae) along the Pacific coast of Guatemala. First Central American Cetacean Conference. March 11-12, Panama, Panama.
Quintana-Rizzo, E., S. Kraus, T. Cole, O. O’Brien, M. Hagbloom, A. Henry, and C. Mayo. 2019. Resighting and movement patterns of right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) sighted in an area designated for offshore wind energy development. World Marine Mammal Conference. December 9-12, Barcelona, Spain.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2018. Invited speaker. The urban whale: how the right whale population ended up on the brink of extinction. Aquarium of the Pacific. October 2, 2018. Long Beach, California.
Quintana-Rizzo, E., and S. Kraus. 2018. Aerial surveys of marine mammals in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island-Massachusetts wind energy areas. Offshore wind marine mammal science framework workshop. Bureaus Ocean Energy Management, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. May 30-31, 2018, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. and J. Calambokidis. 2017. Resighting patterns and behavior of humpback whales sighted in a Tropical breeding ground off Guatemala. 22nd Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. October 23-27 2017, Halifax, Canada.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2016. Invited speaker. Ecology of whales and dolphins in Guatemala with emphasis on coastal species and whale-watching regulations. Workshop “Review of guidelines and regulations for whale and dolphin watching”. Alianza de Derecho Ambiental y Agua. December 7, 2016, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Romero, I. C., W. Patterson, T. Sutton, E. Quintana-Rizzo, S. Ross, A. Kane, S. Murawski, E. Goddard, J. Torres, and D. Hollander. 2016. A time-series assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fish communities before and after the DWH event. Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures. 435. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference, February 1-4, 2016, Tampa, Florida.
Quintana-Rizzo, E., H. Edwards, A. Ubeda, B. Morales, Z. Walker, and N. Casteblanco. 2015. First synoptic aerial survey of Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) in the Mexico-Belize-Guatemala region of Central America. 7th International Sirenian Symposium in conjunction with the 21st. Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. December 13, 2015, San Francisco, California.
Quintana-Rizzo, E. 2015. Invited speaker. State of knowledge of the marine mammals of Guatemala. First Meeting of the Network of Aquatic Mammal Specialists of Central America and the Caribbean at the 21st. Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. December 12, 2015, San Francisco, California.
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
- Society for Marine Mammalogy
Awards
- Fulbright /LASPAU Scholarship
- Best Graduate Student Paper. 13th. International Reunion for the Study of Marine Mammals. Mexican Society of Marine Mammalogy.