Alejandra Mora Soto, DPhil

Alejandra Mora-Soto

DPhil (PhD) Geography and the Environment

University of Oxford (St. Peter's College)

Postdoctoral fellow,

Spectral Lab

University of Victoria, BC

Canada

Postdoctoral fellow,

Scott Polar Research Institute

Cambridge,

Marine geography- Kelp forests

Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing

Bio

I am a marine geographer working with satellite images to detect kelp forests from space. Kelp forests are critical habitats for a multitude of organisms and have been connected with humans since the earliest times. Identifying these magnificent underwater forests is a way to understand their dynamics, as well as a tool to promote their conservation status.

Education

Geographer, University of Chile (2006)

Applied Geomatics Diploma, University of Chile (2008)

MSc. in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management, King's College London (2012)

DPhil Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (2021) Supervised by Dr. Marc Macias-Fauria.

Teaching (2013 to 2017):

GIS, Remote Sensing, Introduction to Geography

Universidad Católica de Temuco (Temuco)

Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano (Santiago)

Universidad Austral (Valdivia)

Universidad San Sebastián (Santiago)

(Sea lions in the Falklands (Tussac Is.), 2019)

I was born and raised in Santiago, Chile and live in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada).

I respectfully acknowledge that I learn and work in the ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples in the north and the south of this continent.

Home

projects

Global Map of the Giant Kelp forests

My main DPhil project was the creation of a remote sensing tool to detect giant kelp forests (Macrocystis pyrifera), using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. You can explore the map interactively and see kelp forest canopies in their almost entire distribution.

Mora-Soto A, (2020) A High-Resolution Global Map of Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) Forests and Intertidal Green Algae (Ulvophyceae) with Sentinel-2 Imagery. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12(4):694.

Github repository

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projects

The Beagle Kelp Project

This project aimed to assess kelp persistence over the last centuries in sub-Antarctic latitudes (Patagonia, Falklands and South Georgia). To do so, satellite-derived observations were compared with UKHO nautical charts from the 1800s and 1900s, as well as with surveys made in the decades of 1970s and 1980s.

Mora-Soto, A. et al., (2021). One of the least disturbed marine coastal ecosystems on Earth: Spatial and temporal persistence of Darwin’s sub-Antarctic giant kelp forests. Journal of Biogeography, 48, 2562– 2577.

Dryad repository

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projects

Marine Heatwaves and Marine Cold-spells in SW Patagonia

This project integrated Sea Surface Temperature and wind records to detect marine heatwaves and marine cold-spells along the Patagonian coastline. The focus was to identify the abiotic stressors for kelp in this region.

A Song of Wind and Ice: Increased Frequency of Marine Cold-Spells in Southwestern Patagonia and Their Possible Effects on Giant Kelp Forests

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projects

Kelp resilience in British Columbia

This exciting postdoc project was about detecting and quantifying kelp trends across several geographical conditions in the Salish Sea of British Columbia, using high-resolution imagery, GIS, local observations and historical data.

This project is led by Dr. Maycira Costa, at the Spectral Lab of the department of Geography at the University of Victoria.

Kelp dynamics and environmental drivers in the southern Salish Sea, British Columbia, Canada

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PUBLICATIONS

Click on each title to read the article

(The asterisk (*) indicates I’m the first author)

Global Kelp Map *

Blue Carbon in Tristan Da Cunha

The Beagle Kelp Project *

Net Primary Production of Kelp in Patagonia

Kelp resilience in the Salish Sea, BC *

Land Cover Change in Southwestern South America

Marine Heatwaves and Cold-Spells *

You can find the complete list here:

EXTRAS

Memberships:

IUCN- Seaweed Specialist Group- Link to article

Reviewer:

United Nations Environment Programme (2024)

Into the Blue: Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests

Algal Research

Frontiers in Marine Science

Organizer:

Kelp mapper’s meeting (Hakai- UVic) 2023

1er Encuentro y curso de mapeadores de macroalgas en español- Punta Arenas, Abril 2024

(Kelp forest surveys in the Beagle Channel, 2019)

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GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

2024: Isaac Newton Trust, Research Grant (Cambridge, UK)

2021- 2023: Spatial-temporal resilience of kelp forests in the Salish Sea, BC (SSKelpR). MITACS Accelerate (in partnership with Pacific Salmon Foundation)- NSERC Alliance grants. Project led by Dr. Maycira Costa.

2017- 2021 Postgraduate scholarship (PhD) Becas Chile Programme. National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT). Chilean government.

2019 Santander Academic Travel Awards, University of Oxford 2019

2018 St. Peter’s College, Foundation Graduate Awards, Trinity Term 2018

2018 St. Peter’s College: J.B Bossanyi Bursary in Environmental Conversation and Sustainable Resource Use. Graduate Awards, Michaelmas Term 2018

2011- 2012 Postgraduate scholarship (MSc) Becas Chile Programme. National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT). Chilean government.