Minorities in the Aquatic Sciences

I am a Biologist specialized in freshwater ecology. I have taken different courses and I developed many projects concerning freshwater ecology. I know that I can create future projects to improve the quality of our rivers and other bodies of water, decrease erosion, and improve the quality of our water reserves.

In the future, I will develop new projects to preserve endangered species and protect our freshwater ecosystem. I will work to create more hatcheries in Puerto Rico to restore the freshwater species and the seawater ecosystem. I will monitor the illegal entrance of exotic species in our country and contribute to the creation of more natural reserves in our country. I am currently working with freshwater hatchery management as a first step to reaching my goals. I am developing a research entitled “Determination of the Population Density of the Australian Crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, in Puerto Rico and Their Impact on Native Species”. Then, I will be working to better the quality of Puerto Rico rivers, since these are our principal source of water. If our rivers are contaminated, our oceans will eventually receive said contamination.

Previous Research Experience

I worked at the Health Environmental Research at the Medical Sciences Campus (U.P.R.). The Name of the project was “Study of the Actual Situation of the Amphibious of Puerto Rico”. (U.P.R.)

In 1998, I worked at the Environmental Ecology Research at Rio Piedras Campus (U.P.R.). The Name of the project was “Determination of the Water Quality at the Rio Blanco River in Naguabo”.

Publication and Presentations

Project: “Relation of the Size and Gonadal Development to Predict Fish Size during Sex Change of Epinephelus guttatus (RED Hind)”.
-PR-LSAMP 37th ACS Junior Technical Meeting at Arecibo (University of Puerto Rico).
March 16, 2002
-PR-EPSCoR Annual Meeting 14th AAAS $ EPSCor Annual Meeting
May 17-19, 2002

Project: “Distribution and Population’s Density of Exotic Australian RedClaw , Cherax quadricarinatus in Puerto Rico”.
-IX SIGMA Xi STUDENT POSTER DAY (University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Campus)
April 1, 2004
-XXIII Simposio de la Flora yFauna del Caribe (University of Puerto Rico,
Humacao Campus)
April 30, 2004
-V Congreso de la Biodiversidad caribeña ( Hotel Lina, Santo Domingo
República Dominicana)
January 26, 2005.
-1st Annual Sea Grant Symposium on Coastal and Marine Applied Research (University
of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus)
September 2, 2005