Dr. Agustina Gómez-Laich

Researcher CONICET| This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

My research focuses on the study of animal movement and behaviour, mainly of diving seabirds. I am particularly interested in how these animals use space, time, and energy during their foraging trips. My research focuses mainly on the breeding season. During this time, foraging movements are constrained by the need to return to the colony periodically to feed the chicks and, on the diving scale, by the need to return to the surface regularly to acquire oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide. I am also interested in how seabirds’ foraging behavior affects their reproductive success. To carry out my research, I analyse the information obtained by instrumenting the animals with electronic devices such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), pressure sensors, triaxial accelerometers, magnetometers, and video cameras. I carry out fieldwork in Patagonia, where I lived during my PhD, postdoc, and the first years of my career as a researcher at CONICET. I mainly work with two species of diving seabirds: the Imperial Shag (Leucocarbo atriceps)and the Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus).