LUQ Newsletter
April 2005

Michael Gannon

New Publication
Gannon, M. R., A. Kurta, A. Rodriguéz-Durán, and M. R. Willig.  2005.  Bats of Puerto Rico.  In Press.  Book publication date June 2005. Texas Tech Press.
A preview of the book can be seen at http://www.biol.ttu.edu/faculty/FacPages/willig/MRWilligpage/Research/Interest%20Pages/prmammals.html

Charlie Hall

CTE

Eight students from SUNY ESF went to El Verde over spring break to give a hand with the canopy trimming experiment as "mules".  They all reported a great time.

NSF Proposal

Charlie and Crew have sent in a proposal with Jorge Gonzalez of UPR-Mayaguez, and Santa Clara College (Cal.) as well, to NSF on measuring and modeling the climate, hydrology and ecology along the Rural-Urban gradient from the center of the LEF to the center of San Juan.  This is based partly on initial measurements made by Charlie's (and Myrna Hall's) students Amy Chen and David Murphy.  This data showed among other things that the forest-suburban changes were greater than the suburban-urban changes, and that climate changes due to urbanization may have a larger impact than those due to greenhouse gas emissions, although they may be in the same direction.  These are all in response to our concept of "going down the mountain".

Eda C. Meléndez-Colom

Information Management

I was invited as the speaker in the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics area to the Antilles Middle School of Buchanan, Puerto Rico (Department of Defense Education Activity) for an orientation activity being held for their 8th Grade students. This was a great opportunity to talk about the LTER Program and the Institute of Tropical Ecosystem Studies (ITES) in addition to my personal career experiences. Half of my talk was oriented toward the importance of information management as a tool for scientific research.
 
The experience was very rewarding since I got the attention of several students, only very few of which were certain that it was this career pathway they will follow, others were opened to any idea, and most of them were completely uncertain of what their career path, if any, will be. I could see the light radiating from one or two pair of eyes as I was talking, which made the experience very rewarding.

The following web page contains a copy of my power point presentation:
 
http://luq.lternet.edu/outreach/IMandAMS.htm

Grizelle Gonzalez

Meeting

IITF (State & Private Forestry, International Cooperation and Research Programs) and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust will be hosting the 2nd Latin - American Meeting on Earthworm Ecology and Taxonomy in San Juan, Puerto Rico -- November 14-18, 2005. To go:  www.elaetao.net for meeting details. New information will be added periodically. Registration and Abstract Submissions are on-line. Please forward this link to interested individuals or institutions.

On the news

Next week, Tues to Friday (April 19-22, 2005), TV Channel 2 will show a 5 min special series on the natural resources inside the former Navy Base of Roosevelt Roads; during the 5 -6 pm news.  This series is part of Planet Earth Week Celebrations and Drs. Lugo, Cuevas, Gould, Gonzalez and others assisted this project.