A. Israel Muñiz-Castillo is currently the marine science consultant at the Healthy Reefs Initiative. He is a marine ecologist focused on the analysis of spatial and temporal changes in tropical marine ecosystems. He has experience in ecological data analysis, geographic information systems, field methods applied to benthic groups in coral reefs, and statistical programming tools such as R. His major interests are the identification of drivers of change, the development of early warning systems for ecological risks, the ecological restoration and conservation of coral reefs. He has a PhD in marine sciences from CINVESTAV Merida Unit in Mexico and has an extended experience working on ecological characterizations, restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican Caribbean and in the Dominican Republic, research on the impact of climate change on the Mesoamerican reef, highlighting the development of a vulnerability model of coral bleaching in the MAR using multiple predictors, as well as an analysis of three decades of exposure to heat stress in the Caribbean and research focused on the impact of various extreme event stressors and local stressors. He loves outdoor activities such as hiking, surfing and climbing.