ITES PROFESSOR

Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas

Water is necessary to all life forms, yet humans take it for granted, especially when an abundant supply is seemingly endless, as in rain forests. In El Yunque, for example, where 210 million gallons are produced daily, the necessity of water conservation seems ludicrous. Yet with rapid urbanization and a rising human population on the island, water management and conservation is a looming problem. Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas, Ph.D., ITES associate professor in applied limnology, studies the physics, chemistry and biology of inland waters—rivers, lakes, creeks, aquifers, and estuaries—to improve understanding of their ecological structure and function. His main area of research focuses on the study of the carbon and nitrogen cycles in aquatic systems; in addition, along with teaching responsibilities, he works concurrently on three projects: conservation of an endangered aquatic species, community service, and educational outreach.

Limiologist Jorge Ortíz-Zayas, Ph.D., collects a water sample from Quebrada Sonadora (Sonadora Creek), near El Verde Field Station.

Ortiz-Zayas and LTER research have already contributed to improvement of water management in the Luquillo Mountains. To ensure that their research continues to be applied for the benefit of the local and global community, Ortiz-Zayas heads the Hydrology for the Environment, Life, and Policy (HELP) project for the Sierra de Luquillo in Puerto Rico. The HELP program is an international network of sites sponsored by UNESCO, including five in the United States, that aims to improve the management of water in countries all around the world.

“At the local level we promote interaction among scientists, water users, and policy makers in charge of creating new water policies. Project HELP has promoted municipal water dialogues, where we go around the Luquillo Mountains to discuss the research being done. We meet with mayors and state and federal agencies to talk about water and ways to improve management. One of the issues is that there are many people in the Luquillo Mountains who do not have adequate access to water, not only during rainfall periods when the turbidity of the water increases, but year round.”

With project HELP, Puerto Rico has acquired international experiences through the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The GWP also promotes the concept of integrated water resources management among different water sectors. Currently, different agencies in Puerto Rico, such as the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, the Environmental Quality Board, Department of State, Planning Board, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey are working to make Puerto Rico a formal participant of the GWP. As part of the GWP, Puerto Rico would participate in international assessments of water efficiencies and contribute to the global effort of improving water management.

Another hydrology project that Ortiz-Zayas works on, with a much more specific problem, concerns the endangered Puerto Rican Crested Toad (Bufo lemur), which only naturally breeds in the Biosphere Reserve of the Guánica State Forest in one ephemeral pond filled only during heavy rainstorms. As part of the Puerto Rico Crested Toad Project, Ortiz-Zayas’ research contributes to the understanding of the hydrology of this breeding pond. “We want to continue this research and wrote a grant proposal to CREST-CATEC, this time trying to link potential changes in climate from global warming with the chances of survival of this species.” The Puerto Rican Crested Toad Project is funded by the Toronto Zoo, which involves a group of about 20 zoos of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association doing captivity rearing projects.

A third project Ortiz-Zayas works on has personal as well as professional appeal. As part of the Schoolyard LTER Project, Ortiz-Zayas assists students and teachers in developing long-term research plots near their schools to give them hands-on experience measuring and studying ecological processes in nearby forests and rivers. One of the three high schools in Puerto Rico with a Schoolyard Project is in Barranquitas, where Ortiz-Zayas attended high school and was introduced to limnology. “We recently got an NSF grant, administered through Alacima, the Teaching Ecosystem Complexity Through Field Science Inquiry Project, and we will develop a two-week training program for science teachers.”

Ortiz-Zayas’ main area of expertise looks at the effects of urbanization on the flux of carbon and nitrogen. “On a local scale the carbon and nitrogen cycles are very much related to the quality of water, not only for humans as a potential water supply source, but also to aquatic systems that rely on carbon as an energy source to sustain their metabolism. Nitrogen is an element associated with pollution—when too much nitrogen enters fresh water, from a human perspective, you get very undesirable conditions such as excessive algae blooms. From an ecologist’s standpoint, it means a change in structure of the trophic [food] chain.”

Most scientists are focusing on CO₂ in association with global warming, but it is important to study nitrogen as well. “With our dependency on oil as an energy source, we’re burning a lot of oil, and one of the gasses associated with the combustion of oil is nitrogen dioxide, which is a known greenhouse gas. With emissions of NO₂ into the atmosphere, we’re getting increasing nitrogen concentrations in rainfall, which are being documented in El Yunque. Another impact is associated with conversion of forest into urban areas. When you remove the forest, you’re basically removing the capacity of the terrestrial ecosystem to absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. Human activities, such as urbanization, are affecting the natural flux of nitrogen worldwide.

“We’re currently studying the effects of environmental legislation on the quality of water. The Environmental Quality Board of Puerto Rico approved the first water quality regulation in 1974. We’ve noticed that in some places, like Río Fajardo in eastern Puerto Rico, when agriculture was abandoned and natural reforestation occurred, the water quality of the river improved. We need to continually study the effects of concerted human activities related to water management. Have we made an improvement to the quality of the rivers? Where are we and where should we go? What has worked and what hasn’t worked?”

jorgeortiz_ites@yahoo.com

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