Received his education in zoology, marine science and oceanography at the universities of Kiel (Germany) and Maine (USA), respectively. He is full professor of Marine Biology at Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) in Coquimbo, Chile. His main research interests are in the behavioral ecology of marine invertebrates and the functioning of marine communities. Together with his students he has studied the reproductive biology of a variety of free-living and symbiotic crustaceans, and the community dynamics in biotic habitats (mussel and ascidian beds, algal turfs and kelp forests).