How Development and Plastic Waste Destroyed the Beauty We Came to See – From the Caribbean to the Celebes Sea

Marina E. De León is a wildlife biologist and microbiologist living in Puerto Rico. She has traveled the world documenting rare animals. Marina is a passionate environmental conservationist whose work bridges disease ecology, molecular biology, and microbiome research to address pressing environmental and ecological challenges. Her fieldwork spans Central and North America, where she conducts extensive surveys of amphibian populations, investigates the spread of chytrid fungal pathogens, and contributes to the understanding of microbial symbioses and bacterial taxonomy.