The XXVIII Symposium of Caribbean Flora and Fauna was focused on technology as a research and management tool for natural resources. This annual symposium was celebrated during April 24 of 2009 in the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao and it was sponsored by the Department of Biology of that campus. Since this year main topic was closely related with GERS Lab work the organizers invited Fernando Gilbes to talk about how we are using technology in our research. His presentation was titled “Remote Sensing of Benthic Habitats in Southwestern Puerto Rico” and it was a summary of the past and present CenSSIS work, which focuses on how to improve the study and monitoring of these marine environments using image processing techniques and optical properties. Also, during this symposium Vilmaliz Rodriguez presented a poster, but this time about her current work with the US Department of Agriculture. The title of her poster was “Spatial Risk Assessment of Exotic Fruit Flies Entry in the Northeastern of Puerto Rico using GIS”. Maria Vega and Carmen Zayas, graduate students of the UPRM Marine Sciences Department, also presented their thesis projects. The oral presentations of Maria and Carmen were titled “Remote Sensing of LAI and Net Primary Productivity of Red Mangrove Forests in Southwestern Puerto Rico” and “Habitat Fragmentation and the Distribution of the Sea Urchin Lytechinus variegatus”, respectively. Other presentations discussed topics like characterization of forest canopies using LIDAR by Ralph Dubayah, forecasting honeybee production by Carla Restrepo and Diana Delgado, and evaluation of forest landscaping by Edgardo Gonzalez.
