DIRECTOR'S MESSEAGE

On behalf of the staff of the Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies (ITES), it is a great pleasure to present this new issue of Inventio, which commemorates the 50 th anniversary of research that began at the Puerto Rico Nuclear Center (a branch of the Atomic Energy Commission), which was later named the Center for the Energy and Environmental Research, Terrestrial Ecology Division, and today is known today as the Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies (ITES). For 50 years ITES has successfully studied natural tropical systems that house the most precious stores of our knowledge about the status of the environment and the natural resources of our country. Since its inception, ITES and its similar successors have maintained a broad perspective, an interdisciplinary focus, and a spirit of collaboration. The environmental problems pertaining to global biodiversity—habitat loss and transformation, invasive species, climate change, and the factors that produce climactic changes—occur in our region in a rather accelerated fashion and need our immediate attention. Our research and activities focus on these problems, which, in turn, contribute to management plans.

This issue illustrates only a fraction of our history and our research, but does demonstrate the variety of activities and the culture of collaboration and alliance formation that characterizes ITES. It outlines our role in research activities conducted in El Yunque; use of water resources and its environmental effects; the vulnerability of El Yunque to human activity outside its perimeter; the uphill battle to preserve the forest, despite natural and anthropogenic disturbances; work on Mona Island that contributes to invasive and endangered species management; urban rivers ecology; Saharan dust and its effect on climate change; and the effect of disturbances in global temperature on soil ecosystems. The issue also sketches ITES’s non-traditional educational activities and information dissemination, including the Schoolyard LTER program; UNESCO’s HELP program; the environmental science student program, AKKA SEEDS; and the undergraduate training programs: REU, UMEB, and RICO.

In its next phase, ITES will make it a priority to increase research efforts in initiatives that: 1) consider the human impact on the environment and the effect of altering ecosystem services; 2) detect changes in our natural resources in a more efficient way; 3) disseminate information to the communities inside and outside the university in a quick and effective way; and 4) place the scientist in a more active role as a citizen who takes responsibility for sharing information to benefit the community. The success of these initiatives will require collaboration among the university, government agencies, and non-governmental components of our society to create an unprecedented coalition. These collaborations will result in the effective use of natural, human, and monetary resources to create a shared perspective of a country and a world in which natural resources are intelligently used, thereby made sustainable, and citizens understand our responsibility for the legacy that we leave to future generations.

I would like to conclude by urging the university community, as well as local, national, and international readers, to visit our webpage to find more information concerning the duties of our department and ways of collaborating and taking part in our scientific and educational activities.

Elvia J. Melendez-Ackerman

Director - ITES

I would like to thank the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Ana R. Guadalupe for her unconditional support in disseminating our Institute’s work and scientific findings. I express my most sincere gratitude to the editor and main journalist of Inventio, Suzanna Engman, the graphic designer, José Victor Camacho, and the entire Inventio team for giving their time, art, and imagination to make this effort a reality. This issue of Inventio would not have been possible without the financial support of the Center of Applied Tropical Ecology (CATEC) of the University of Puerto Rico (Director Dr. Elvira Cuevas) and the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research program (Director Dr. Nicholas Brokaw). We are also grateful for the technical/scientific support of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service (especially for Director Dr. Ariel Lugo and former Director Dr. Frank Wadsworth’s contributions towards the historic course of our department’s scientific duties), the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and participants in the student ecology program, AKKA-SEEDS of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Píedras campus.