Throughout the years I have  developed together with colleagues 4 research projects in Mexico and one H2020project (submitted last September 2020). 

I have done research in Mexico and in the Netherlands with colleagues from different countries, establishing close collegial ties, which allow me to develop research without borders at an international level.

I have been  invited as key-note speaker at international forums like FAO (Italy 2018), Food security (Lousville Kentucky, 2019), and organizing symposiums (NAEM, Netherlands, 2020).

I have been the head of the vermicomposting project (1993-1994), I worked with municipal wastes, interacted with the local and state governments, I gave workshops on environmental education to different stakeholders on the separation of wastes, including plastic waste.  I researched how to use earthworms for producing organic fertilizer from municipal wastes. Later,  I was promoted to be head of the Department of Natural Protected Areas in the Government of the State of Yucatan (1995-1997).

Then I decided to go deeper into biology and ecology of soil macroinvertebrates (mainly earthworms) and ended up studying my PhD in soil ecology at the University Paris VI, Pierre & Marie Curie (1998-2002). There I researched the spatial relationships between different earthworms and soil nutrients at field and laboratory scales.

Afterwards I gave lessons on cell biology by teaching undergraduate students at the Mayab University, Mexico (January 2003 – June 2003).

Later, at the Colegio de la Frontera Sur, a research Institute in Tabasco, Mexico, I tried to understand how soil management influences the abundance and diversity of earthworms on natural and managed sites.

Then, I invented composting boxes to produce household compost in homes and schools, a project that was financed by the government of the state of Tabasco, Mexico. There, women, children and young people participated and it was an interesting project that encouraged the empowerment of women through the production of compost from their own household wastes.

During the last years, in the department of soil physics and land management degradation in Wageningen University, I have been a complementary piece contributing with my expertise in soil ecology, indicating how the management of the soil affects soil biota, which is fundamental in diverse ecosystem services. Likewise, I have approached ecotoxicological aspects to clarify how the degradation of the soil occurs and degrades soil macroinvertebrates activities. We discovered the effect of microplastics on earthworms, producing the first article cited in science informing on how microplastics enhance death in earthworms.

Likewise  I found bacteria that degrade low density polyethylene, and all this has been developed and achieved in conjunction with colleagues.

I have also carried out on the study how microplastics are transferred through the terrestrial trophic chain, first from the soil to the earthworms and from the earthworms to the chicken, and now from the soil to the sheep (article viewed more than 1400 times, Linkdn November 2020).

I interact with students from different levels (bachelor, master and doctorate), I have directed about 18 students in bachelor, master and doctoral programs in Mexico and in the Netherlands.

Last but not least I am current reviewer,  being now journal editor for a special number of microplastics (call to be launched in January 2021).

Finally, I  speak English, French, Spanish and Dutch.