Betzi Pérez-Ortega is a NOMIS–STRI Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.

Pérez-Ortega is a Panamanian marine biologist specializing in behavioral ecology and the conservation of marine mammals. She earned her BS in biology from the University of Panama and went on to complete an MS in marine sciences and limnology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she contributed new scientific insights into the reproductive behavior of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that congregate around the Baja California Sur peninsula, Mexico.

Driven by a strong commitment to advancing scientific knowledge in her home country, Pérez-Ortega pursued a PhD at McGill University in Canada, investigating the impact of noise on the acoustic communication of bottlenose dolphins along the Caribbean coast of Panama. Her doctoral research led to collaborations with the ONDAS Lab at the University of Vermont, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the nonprofit marine conservation foundation MarViva, and Panama’s Ministry of Environment. Pérez-Ortega has worked with these entities to collaboratively establish a network of hydrophones to monitor the soundscape in four protected areas along Panama’s Pacific coast.

Research Focus

As a NOMIS–STRI Fellow, Pérez-Ortega’s research is exploring how ecological predictability shapes the social structure of bottlenose dolphin populations and how that structure supports strategic social behaviors and communication. Her study focuses on two dolphin populations living in ecologically contrasting habitats along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Panama. To achieve a comprehensive, multidimensional understanding of these dolphin societies, she is integrating various methodological approaches, including photo-identification to track individuals, remote biopsy sampling and passive acoustic monitoring.

Feature image: Betzi Pérez-Ortega portrait by Jorge Aleman; dolphin photo by Betzi Pérez-Ortega