Dr. Daniela Yepes Gaurisas is a marine benthic ecologist and postdoctoral fellow in the Grupo de Ecologia Bêntica at the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória, Brazil. Her research focuses on taxonomy, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and the response of benthic communities to climate change and human pressures across the Atlantic Ocean, from sandy shores and intertidal reefs to deep marine habitats. With a strong interest in the taxonomy and systematics of deep-sea benthos, she has extensive experience identifying and analyzing benthic fauna, especially echinoderms. She started her scientific career at the Marine and Coastal Research Institute—INVEMAR in Colombia, gaining expertise in benthic taxonomy and ecology. Her work now covers tropical regions and the Southwest Atlantic, including the Caribbean, the Brazilian continental margin, and the Cabo Verde Basin, combining field research and experimental ecology to better understand biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning across marine environments. Gaurisas has participated in multidisciplinary oceanographic campaigns and international research initiatives, including the iAtlantic project—Integrated Assessment of Atlantic Marine Ecosystems in Space and Time. She holds a Ph.D. in Animal Biology from the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), a master’s degree in Marine Sciences and Limnology from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and a B.Sc. in Biology from the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. She is particularly interested in understanding the ecological processes that shape benthic communities across environmental gradients while contributing to the conservation of vulnerable marine ecosystems in a changing ocean.
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