People - bryodome.uprm.edu - University of Puerto Rico

People

PI: Dimaris Acosta

In the BRYODOME project, I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying the high diversity of protists associated to different species of bryophytes. Additional interests are metacommunities and trophic structure and dynamics in natural microcosms such as phytothelmata and bryophyte patches.

In addition to the research, I also manage the project, particularly the collecting trips, the consultant activities, database selection and group meetings among others.

CoPI: Inés Sastre De Jesús

In this project I collaborate with the botanical aspects of the research; for example, identification of mosses, bryophyte life forms, and bryophyte canopy structure. One of my research interests in this project is: West Indies bryophyte floristics-with special focus to determine which mesohabitats and microhabitats support higher species richness. For other details of my research interests visit the Tropical Bryology Laboratory web page at http://academic.uprm.edu/~isastre/index.html

CoPI: Carlos Santos-Flores

In this project, I collaborated with the zoological aspects of the research and support in the field to my colleagues. I was in charge of the identification of microcrustaceans (ostracodes, copepods and cladocerans) and other metazoans (i.e. rotifers, small arachnids and land snails) associated to bryophyte mats. An additional interest was micrometazoan diversity in bromeliad phytothelmata and forest leaf litter.

Collaborators

Gregorio Dauphin
In this project he is responsible for liverwort identification and also participated in the first field trip (2007) to the Dominican Republic. Currently he teaches at the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, Santa Clara Campus..

Alberto Veloz
The herbarium manager of the Jardín Botánico Nacional de Santo Domingo has provided logistical support during both of our field trips (Cachote, Sierra de Bahoruco, 2007 and Sierra de Neiba, 2008) to Dominican Republic. Particularly, he managed collecting permit logistics, ground transportation, lodging, and food supplies within Dominican Republic. He also assisted us in selecting appropriate sampling areas and advised us in terms of the vascular plant vegetation types.

Steven Rice
During May 2007 he offered a workshop on how to use the MossScan to the Bryodome team. This equipment was designed by him to study micro-canopy structure of bryophytes. He is a biology professor at Union College, New York

Graduate Students

	Azucena Camacho Contribution to Project: She formed part of the first expedition to the Dominican Republic. In this trip she assisted in processing the bryophytes for the LED MOSS SCAN measurements to establish micro-canopy roughness. Back at the laboratory in UPRM she ran statistical analysis to establish the significant differences in bryophytes micro-canopy. Aside from collaborating with the Botany Team she also worked in the Protistology Laboratory staining samples for ciliates and amoeba identification. She completed a Master in Science under the mentorship of Dimaris Acosta.		Irvin M. Estremera Moya Contribution to Project: Irvin is currently enrolled in the MS program at UPRM and has completed his first semester under the supervision of D. Acosta-Mercado (PI). Irvin was part of the second expedition team that collected bryophyte plants during May to June 2008 within the Sierra de Neiba, Dominican Republic. His role included plant labeling, extraction, and fixation of testate amoebae. From August to December 2008, he was partly supported by the project to carry out species identification and quantification of testacean diversity and abundance. Irvin serves as a mentor for undergraduate students in the laboratory.
	Mervin Perez Contribution to Project: Mervin was part of the Botany Team from January 2008 to December 2010. For our second expedition, he assisted in planning and conducting field work in Sierra de Neiba, Dominican Republic As part of the planning activity, he prepared an illustrated field guide with descriptions of different bryophyte life forms and their canopy roughness. This booklet served as the standardized botanical key or tool for the protist and microinvertebrate teams. At the Tropical Bryology Laboratory (UPRM), directed by Inés Sastre-De Jesús, he collaborated with bryophyte identifications and also assisted with ecological data analysis. Also he presented papers at two meetings and a poster: a) American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Botany 2009, Show Bird Utah; b) Latin American Bryological Society (SLB) Symposium at the Latin American Botanical Congress, La Serena, Chile, October 2010. He is coauthor of the Mosses of the Dominican Republic: species catalogue, elevation distribution and floristic affinities. In January 2011, he became curator at Herbarium of the University of San Carlos in Guatemala and is also part of the Center for Conservations Studies of the same university.

Undergraduate Students

	Enox E. Alvarez Garcia Contribution to Project: Enox is currently enrolled in the Industrial Microbiology BS program and has been involved in the project since August 2008. He has two roles within the laboratory, which include managing field samples, and identification and quantification of testate amoebae from permanent slides.		Ivonne M. Alvarez Garcia Contribution to Project: Ivonne is currently enrolled in the Industrial Microbiology BS program and has completed her fifth year at UPRM. Her responsibilities include identifying and estimating testacean diversity from permanent slides, as well as analyses of cell morphometry.
	Ninjisky Cancel Morales Contribution to Project: Ninjisky is currently enrolled in the Industrial Microbiology BS program and has completed her fifth year at UPRM. Her responsibilities within the laboratory include testacean species identification, quantification, and morphometric analyses.		Dagmarie Cruz Contribution to Project: She was a Biology undergraduate student who joined the Botany team from August 2008 to August 2009, Dagmarie was responsible for specimen curation, slide preparation, and bio-imaging at the Microscopy Facility in our department. Currently she is pursuing a career in medicine in México.
	Adrian Del Rio Jimenez Contribution to Project: Adrián is currently enrolled in the Biology BS program and has completed his fourth year at UPRM. He collaborates in assembling the testacean database with SPECIFY WORKBENCH and is in charge of developing electron microscopy images of testate amoebae.		Elizabeth González Arias Contribution to Project: Elizabeth is currently enrolled in the Microbiology BS program and is completing her fourth year at UPRM. Her tasks include design and preparation of protocols to obtain amoeba from bryophytes, and identification and quantification of testate amoebae.
	Siomara Hernandez Rivera Contribution to Project: Siomara is currently enrolled in the Biology BS program and has completed her fourth year at UPRM. Her responsibilities include staining and preparing permanent ciliate and testacean slides (EQPS) and she is currently in charge of the SPECIFY database.		Amelia Mateo Contribution to Project: Student from the Dominican Republic at the Universidad Autónama de Santo Domingo. During the first expedition she was a field assistant in the Botany Team and through this experience became interested in studying bryophytes. Due to her school calendar she could not participate of the second expedition but after the expedition assisted in bryophyte processing at the Botanical Garden Herbarium in Santo Domingo. With the training that she received in bryophyte identification she did her bachelors degree thesis on a floristic inventory of Ebano VerdeForest Reserve in the Dominican Republic. Also she assisted Dimaris Acosta and Carlos Santos on a third expedition to Valle Nuevo in the Central Cordillera. Currently she is applying to our biology graduate program and wants to join the Tropical Bryology Laboratory to continue her training in bryophyte biology.
	Lizbeth McCormick Contribution to Project: She was a Biology undergraduate student who participated in the Botany Team from August 2007 to December 2008. Lizbeth received training on BRAHMS database and was responsible for data entry. She also served as a mentor to other students. Because she is interested in plant ecology, she was involved in validating and contrasting our sampling methodology. After graduating for our Biology program she joined the industry and works for a private company in the United States.		Jayson Méndez Contribution to Project: Biology undergraduate student who worked in the Botany Team for two consecutive semesters (2007-2008). He learned to use the software designed for the LED MOSS SCAN and contributed in determining micro-canopy roughness for 19 cloud forest bryophytes.
	Xiomara Mendez Contribution to Project: A biology undergraduate student who was in the Botany Team for a year (2008-2009), Xiomara performed different activities ranging from specimen curation and slide preparations to BRAHMS data entry and bio-imaging at the Microscopy Facility in our department.		Adriana Ortiz Pacheco Contribution to Project: Adriana is currently enrolled in the Pre-Medicine BS program and has completed her fourth year at UPRM. She has three roles in the laboratory, which include bio-imaging of testate amoebae through inverted light micrographs, statistical analyses of collected bryophyte and testate amoebae data, and she serves as the link between the protistology and botany labs. Additionally, she is charged with managing the preparation of the project webpage.
	Amaury Ortiz Quiñonez Contribution to Project: Amaury is currently enrolled in the Biology BS program and has completed his fifth year at UPRM. His responsibilities include staining and preparing permanent ciliate and testacean slides. He is currently training other undergraduates to use the technique.		Jorge L. Pantoja Contribution to Project: Jorge is currently enrolled in the Biology BS program and is completing his third year at UPRM. He is charged with developing electron microscopy images of testate amoebae.
	Carlos Pasiche Contribution to Project: Carlos is currently enrolled in the Biology BS program and has completed his fourth year at UPRM. He is responsible for the quantification and identification of microcrustaceans.		Lorraine Rodríiguez Contribution to Project: Part of the Botany Team for a year (2007-2008) and carried out different activities as specimen identification and slide preparations. In August 2010 she joined our graduate program in biology and is pursuing a Masters in Plant Molecular Biology.
	Antonio Rodríiguez Contribution to Project: Joined the Botany Team in January 2009 and currently is still working at the Tropical Bryology Laboratory. He helped processing hepatics specimens; that is, he placed specimens in packets, attached barcode and labels. Currently he is completing bio-imaging documentation. As part of the latter he has learned to prepare slides and use microscopy digital photography.		Jaffet Santiago Contribution to Project: A Biology undergraduate student who joined the Botany Team in January 2009, Jaffet received training on BRAHMS and is responsible for data entry and management of bryophyte collections.