Félix Ayala has a degree in environmental engineering, and has collaborated with the Punta San Juan Program since 2015 working with birds and otarids. His first studies have focused on showing the incidence of microplastics in sea lions within the reserve. Collaborating with foreign researchers allowed Félix to obtain as a result one of the first publications on this type of contaminant in a top predator in the country. He is currently investigating the threats posed by marine debris causing entanglement and interactions between populations of sea lions. In addition, another of his interests is to understand the threats of solid waste in birds and terrestrial mammals.