Alejandra Mora-Soto
Postdoctoral Fellow in Geography, University of Victoria
PhD Geography and the Environment,
University of Oxford, UK
MSc Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management,
King's College London, UK
BA Geography, Universidad de Chile, Chile
Spectral Lab Research:
My projects at the Spectral Lab aim to determine the long-term distribution patterns of kelp forests in British Columbia. We employ large datasets, from satellite imagery to nautical charts, to define how kelp canopies are changing over time in response to environmental drivers.
My first postdoctoral research at the lab was on the resilience and persistence of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) forests in the Salish Sea, funded by an MITACS fellowship in collaboration with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
A second project, funded by NSERC Alliance Grants, looks at kelp forest trends and ocean warming patterns in Haida Gwaii.
Background:
I am a marine geographer specializing in mapping and understanding the distribution patterns of kelp forests, from the Sub-Antarctic Ocean to British Columbia. I work with mapped kelp derived from satellite imagery, drones, in-situ surveys and old cartography records. My goal is to describe the natural history and geographic diversity of kelp forests from their past to their future trends in the current context of a warming ocean. I am a frequent user of GIS software, R, and JavaScript (Google Earth Engine) programming languages, and like exploring old analogue cartography.
My PhD research was on the distribution and changes of the giant kelp forest ecosystem, with a focus on the sub-Antarctic latitudes of South America. I continue working in collaboration with other institutions in Chile (Rewilding Chile, Instituto IDEAL) on kelp forest research.
I am also associated with the Scott Polar Research Institute, in Cambridge (United Kingdom), where I explore the use of old nautical charts from polar regions to expand our baselines of environmental change.
Before getting into kelp research, I worked with foundations (Foundation to overcome poverty, Chile, 2008), government (National Statistics Institute, 2009-2011), and lecturing at different universities in Chile from 2013 to 2017.
Outside of my work, I enjoy knitting and drawing. I’m also an amateur accordionist, always willing to learn and play more songs.
Expertise and Experience:
marine geography, kelp forests, cartography, GIS, remote sensing
Publications:
McHenry, J., Okamoto, D. K., Filbee-Dexter, K…. Mora-Soto A., et al. (2025). A blueprint for national assessments of the blue carbon capacity of kelp forests applied to Canada’s coastline. npj Ocean Sustainability 4, 30. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00125-6
Arafeh-Dalmau, N., Villaseñor-Derbez, J. C., Schoeman, D. S., Mora-Soto, A., Bell, T. W., Butler, C. L., Costa, M., Dunga, L. V, Houskeeper, H. F., Lagger, C. (2025). Global floating kelp forests have limited protection despite intensifying marine heatwave threats. Nature Communications, 16(1), 3173. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58054-4
Arafeh-Dalmau, N., Olguín-Jacobson, C., Earle, S., Bello, M., Lagger, C., Mora-Soto, A., Pantano, C., Palacios, M., Barbosa, R. V., Fica-Rojas, E., Guajardo, E., Aburto-Oropeza, O., Eger, A., Dayton, P., Giraldo-Ospina, A., Cavanaugh, K., García-Pantoja, J., Montaño-Moctezuma, G., Possingham, H., … Micheli, F. (2024). Protect kelp forests. Science, 386(6722), 629. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr4814
Mora-Soto, A., Schroeder, S., Gendall, L., Wachmann, A., Narayan, G., Read, S., ... Costa, M. (2024). Back to the past: Long-term persistence of bull kelp forests in the Strait of Georgia, Salish Sea, Canada. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11, 1446380. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1446380
Arafeh-Dalmau, N., Cebrian, E., Dunga, L. V., Horta, P., Layton, C., Macaya, E. C., Mangialajo, L., Moore, P. J., Mora-Soto, A., Reddy, M. M., Smit, A. J. (2024). Introducing the Seaweed Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. Oryx, 58(2), 147–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060532300193X
Mora-Soto, A., Schroeder, S., Gendall, L., Wachmann, A., Narayan, G. R., Read, S., Pearsall, I., Rubidge, E., Lessard, J., Martell, K., Wills, P., Costa, M. (2024). Kelp dynamics and environmental drivers in the southern Salish Sea, British Columbia, Canada. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1323448
Mora-Soto, A., Aguirre, C., Iriarte, J. L., Palacios, M., Macaya, E. C., Macias-Fauria, M. (2022). A song of wind and ice: Increased frequency of marine cold-spells in southwestern Patagonia and their possible effects on giant kelp forests. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC017801. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017801
Barnes, D. K. A., Bell, J. B., Bridges, A. E., Ireland, L., Howell, K. L., Martin, S. M., Sands, C. J., Mora Soto, A., Souster, T., Flint, G., Morley, S. A. (2021). Climate mitigation through biological conservation: Extensive and valuable blue carbon natural capital in Tristan da Cunha’s giant Marine Protected Zone. Biology, 10, 1339. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10121339
Mora Soto, A., Cadiz, A. (2021). Capítulo 4. Dilemas de representación cartográfica en los espacios transfronterizos. In Azcoitía, A., Nicoletti, M. A., Lanza, M. (Eds.), Araucania-Norpatagonia III: Tensiones y reflexiones en un territorio en construcción permanente. Viedma: Editorial UNRN. https://books.openedition.org/eunrn/5974
Mora-Soto, A., Capsey, A., Friedlander, A. M., Palacios, M., Brewin, P. E., Golding, N., Dayton, P., Tussenbroek, B. V., Montiel, A., Goodell, W., Velasco-Charpentier, C., Hart, T., Macaya, E., Pérez-Matus, A., Macias-Fauria, M. (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, 00, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14221
Mora-Soto, A., Palacios, M., Macaya, E. C., Gómez, I., Huovinen, P., Pérez-Matus, A., Young, M., Golding, N., Toro, M., Yaqub, M., Macias-Fauria, M. (2020). A high-resolution global map of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forests and intertidal green algae (Ulvophyceae) with Sentinel-2 imagery. Remote Sensing, 12, 694. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12040694
Mora, A. (2015). Dinámicas de resiliencia en la zona de Constitución (Maule, Chile) después del terremoto y tsunami de 2010. Revista Espacios 08, 4. ISSN 0719-0573 Mora, A. (2015). Dinámicas de resiliencia en la zona de Constitución (Maule, Chile) después del terremoto y tsunami de 2010. Revista Espacios 08, 4. ISSN 0719-0573
Mora, A. (2013). Una larga tradición y una herencia: la geografía física y su entrelazado con las ciencias ambientales. Revista Espacios 05, 3. ISSN 0719-0573
Armesto, J. J., Manuschevich, D., Mora, A., Smith-Ramírez, C., Rozzi, R., Marquet, P. A. (2010). From the Holocene to the Anthropocene: A historical framework for land cover change in southwestern South America in the past 15,000 years. Land Use Policy, 27, 148–160.
Mora, A. (2006). Territorios culturales en lugares aislados: el caso del Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Anales de la Sociedad Chilena de Ciencias Geográficas.