CATEC Annual Report 2009-2010
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Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation Annual Report September 1st, 2009– August 31st, 2010 NSF HRD-0734826 Dr. Elvira Cuevas Director I. Organizational Chart of the Center The Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC) is under the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus. It is an intra-campus, multi campus center with participation from professors and students from the Department of Biology, the Institute of Tropical Ecosystem Studies, UPR- Humacao campus and the UPRM-Rio Piedras Experimental Station, and close collaborative ties with the PR Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry and the USGS Caribbean Water Science Center. I.2 Certification of institutional funds I.3 Project participants CATEC participants reflect our two-fold mission: to train a new generation of Hispanic scientists and professionals with strong education and research experience in applied ecology and conservation that integrates research activities with societal needs, and to become an institutionally established center that promotes and supports state-of-the-art research in applied ecology and conservation. Ninety five per cent of our participants are Hispanic research scientists and students carrying out inter- and trans-disciplinary research in three strategic thrust areas under the unifying theme of biodiversity conservation under a scenario of climate change. All projects foster synergic interactions within each thrust area, the University of Puerto Rico system, and local, national and international agencies and institutions. We have been very successful in developing the Center concept at UPR-Rio Piedras. Each thrust area provides a broad research venue so that researchers and students, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, can choose and develop their research interests. The Center concept also provides an excellent opportunity for the members of the thrust areas to interact and collaborate within and across thrust areas. This is a transformative development of interactions across disciplines that have become a role model for other activities at the institution. This year we had 152 participants in CATEC, of which 74% are students, maintaining a similar ratio of graduate to undergraduates as the previous year. We incorporated two CATEC Participants by Thrust Area 2009 - 2010 post-doctoral fellows paid from other Type MEEG SPM EPF Total funding sources. Forty four percent Research 8 9 6 23 Fellows (44%) are funded directly by CATEC. Post-Doc 2 0 1 3 We leverage resources with other Students 14 59 39 112 programs such as NIH SCORE, RISE Graduate 5 22 16 43 Undergraduate 9 37 24 70 and MARC, NSF Bridge to the Technicians 3 4 1 8 Doctorate, IGERT and UMEB, NOAA Administration 6* Total 27 72 47 152 Sea Grant, NSF/USDAFS Ultra, UPR * Includes two part-time undergraduate students DEGI Honor Scholarships, etc. We also take advantage of undergraduate research training courses in Biology and Environmental Sciences where students receive university credits for the research they are carrying out in our thrust areas. Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation List of Participants 2009-2010 Thrust Area I - MEEG Thrust Area II - SPM Thrust Area III - EPF Research Fellows Research Fellows Research Fellows Tomas Hrbek Eugenio Santiago-Valentín Elvira Cuevas Maria Gloria Dominguez Elvia Meléndez-Ackerman Edwin A. Hernández Jason Rausher Raymond Tremblay Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas Paul Bayman Denny Fernández Olga Mayol Stephan Funk James Ackerman Mei Yu Tugrul Giray Miguel Garcia Juan Felipe Blanco Ingi Agnarsson María-Eglée Pérez Riccardo Papa Carlos Diez Post-Doc Post-Doc José C. Rodrigues Yogani Govender Carlos Toledo- Hernandez Filipa Godoy-Vitorino Technicians Technicians Aixa Tolentino Larry Diaz Doralis Villanueva Technicians Milka Miranda Graduate Students Maria Dávila Franklin Axelrod Sondra I. Vega Castillo Yadira Ortiz-Ruiz Michelle Rivera Angel Rivera Graduate Students Jessica Fonseca da Silva Ana A. Cuevas Raisa Hernandez-Pacheco Graduate Students Marcia Muñoz Yaharira M. Hutchinson-Delgado Luis A Ramirez Camejo J. Camilo Fagua Carlos Conde Ida Pantoja Adriana Herrera Montes Rafael Benítez Joubert Karla Maldonado Mariely Hernández Debora Figueroa Pascal Mege Keyla Pagán Hamlet Pérez Ana Luisa Maldonado Contreras Edgard Almodóvar Rita Cáceres José Fumero Sheila Soler Undergraduate Students Julissa Rojas Betzaida Ortiz Maria T. Lazaro Cielo Figuerola Jorge Viqueira Veronica Hernandez Kendall Colibrí Sanfiorenzo Sol Cintrón Berdecía Marella Trifilio Martínez Paola Olaya Ricardo J. Colón Camille Timossini Rossi Charito Orengo Oscar Abelleira Carla Saladini Aponte Hana López Gabriela Román Ben Crain Undergraduate Students Melissa Navarro Luisa Rodríguez Vélez Erica Ventura Guzmán Carolina Camacho María E. Ocasio Torres Julie A.M.Plaud González Kassandra M. De Jesús-Laboy Benjamín James Crain Nishma N. Ramos Frederick Abbott Emilio Soto Soto Nirzka Martinez Zoreli Rivera Guzmán Joel Mercado Carlos Juan Cruz Quiñonez Omara Ortiz Brandon Baums Robles Eneilis S. Mulero Oliveras Undergraduate Students Desireé Garcia Rivera Bernice Escobales Cuevas Agnes M. Torres Rivera Alvaro Bravo Gisela Marrero Rivera Wilnelia Recart Jean Paul Rodriguez Carlos Vega Tagrid Ruiz-Maldonado Carlos J. Acosta Muller Lorna Moreno Kristopher Bonefont Flores Jerymar Cabrera Molina Lourdes Lastra Julio Oms Hernandez Betsabé Castro Luis Ríos Debora De Jesús Vega Alexandra Marcano Estrella Santiago Bianca Rodriguez Bimely Torres Wilnellia Antuna Solmarie Rodríguez Rodríguez Annette Mendoza Miriam Toro Rosario Kaira Fuentes Lisángela Morales Díaz Josue Sanchez Diana M. Rosario Torres Angel Santiago Marielle Peschiera Rivera Jonathan G. Rivera Lugo Dylan J. Rhea Fournier Xavier Jaime Alichy Ubiles Daisy Ramírez Elizabeth Rivera Emily Pérez Leidy González Mara Castro Maiteé Santiago Noelia Cruz Efraín Martínez Esther Morales Leisha Claudio Gloriell Cardona Wilfedo Falcón Desiree Coløn Oyola Elson Viruet Adrian Valls Andrea Díaz Astrid Coral Valls Ortiz I.4 DIRECTOR’S NARRATIVE OF THE CENTER’S ACHIEVEMENTS: Phase II of CATEC ((NSF-HRD 0724836) expands the research and activities carried in the first phase of the Center to include research under the scenario of global climate change and climate variability in the Caribbean. The research areas of the Center are divided in three major thrust areas: Molecular Ecology and Evolution Group (MEEG), Species Population and Management Group (SPMG) and the Ecosystems Processes and Function Group (EPFG). All the thrust areas interact in research and human resource development by collaborating in the various research projects and actively participating as research mentors of graduate and undergraduate students and members of graduate students’ theses committees. Being the University of Puerto Rico a Hispanic serving institution we considered that increasing the participation of undergraduate and graduate students in research is a top priority. For this reason Phase II of CATEC maintains the commitment for transformative research and human resource development established in Phase I of the Center. Our graduate students benefited this year from training in laboratories at other universities. Our research fellows and students presented their research results in national and international meetings. This year we had 83 presentations in local, national and international meetings, congresses, symposia and seminars. Ninety-seven per cent (97%) were either presented or coauthored by students. We also had 65 publications (published, accepted, or submitted under review) of which 49% were either authored or co-authored by students. Four (4) CATEC sponsored graduate students, Julissa Sandoval (PhD), Paola Olaya (MS), Oscar Abelleira (MS), J. Camilo Fagua, and (MS) Marcia Muñoz (MS) graduated this year. Dr. Sandoval was hired in CATEC as a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Dr. Meléndez-Ackerman. MS Olaya is a research assistant in the El Verde LTER group. MS Muñoz is a researcher with COLCIENCIAS in Colombia. MS Fagua is training in Geographic Information Systems at the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, Colombia. MS Abelleira will start his PhD studies at San Diego State University in August 2010. CATEC provides exposure to the Graduate program of the Department of Biology and the newly established Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences that began in august 2009-2010. CATEC continues to be very successful in the following areas: a) Improvement of administrative management and research facilities, both at UPR-Rio Piedras and UPR-Humacao. b) Thesis and training support for students working in the area of applied ecology and conservation in CREST sponsored research and others not directly supported in the CREST grant. c) Promotion, support or sponsoring of activities such as seminars, symposia and workshops, and short courses. d) Support for researchers' and students' travel for training, courses, or presentations in congresses and symposia. e) Financial support of additional research projects related to CREST supported thrust areas. f) Maintenance and development of the web page for the Center. g) Maintenance and development of web pages for CATEC's research fellows and laboratories. CATEC sponsored eight (8) activities such as seminars, symposia and workshops, and a short course. The book entitled "A Systematic Vademecum to the Vascular Plants of Puerto Rico" authored