María E. Ocasio-Torres Email & Phone Number

Lead an environmental organization that cultivates education in action to create a culture of harmony with nature. Develop, promote, and lead initiatives that promote improving the quality of life in Puerto Rico, through efforts in favor of the relationship between human beings in harmony with nature.

Puerto Rico

Developing Proyecto Raíces as an educational organization that brings access to sustainability through education and advisory to individuals, organizations, and businesses.

Puerto Rico

Development of strategic relationships and alliancesAssist in the integration of an environmental curriculum and solid waste reduction practices in businesses and organizations Assist in the design, coordination, and facilitation of educational activities Educational campaign within the business sector of Piñones

Puerto Rico

TAIS provides services and products to promote fermentative composting, a circular economy, sustainability, and agroecology.

Gurabo, Puerto Rico

Río Piedras, Puerto Rico

The objective of my dissertation was to study the effects of the predatory fish Agonostomus monticola on the morphology, antipredator responses and ecological role of Xiphocaris elongata. Xiphocaris elongata is an amphidromous shrimp that exhibits a long rostrum in streams below waterfalls where predatory fishes are present but exhibits a short rostrum above waterfalls where predatory fishes cannot access. I answered four questions: 1) is the long rostrum inducible by A. monticola, 2) is the long rostrum an effective defense mechanism against A. montocola, 3) is the long rostrum costly in terms of downstream displacement and reproduction, and 4) does predator presence create top-down cascade effects? The data indicated that: 1) the long rostrum is inducible by the presence of A. monticola, 2) the long rostrum is an effective defense mechanism against fish in terms of choice, rejections, and handling time, 3) the long rostrum is not costly in terms of downstream displacement, but there seems to be a trend that the long rostrum may be costly in terms of reproduction, and 4) predator presence creates trait-mediated top-down cascades effects by reducing the amount of shredding by X. elongata, this decreases decomposition rates of the riparian species Cecropia schreberiana. This study demonstrated that the long rostrum in X. elongata fits the criteria of an inducible defense against predatory fish and that predator presence affects the ecological role of X. elongata.

Puerto Rico

Title: Global warming and Caribbean coral reefs collapse: The case of star corals (Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata) in Puerto RicoA long-term monitoring project to address the ecological fate of surviving tissue of physiological fragments of M. annularis and M. faveolata after a massive bleaching event in four coral reefs in Culebra Island, PR. Changes in percent living tissue cover of corals over time, estimation of the colony area size and determination of fragment abundance are determined.

Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

Maine, Usa

Title: Learning behavior of the fish Tautogolabrus adspersus in response to the defense mechanisms of the aeolid nudibranch Flabellina verrucosa.I completed laboratory experiments on the antipredator strategies of the nudibranch Flabellina verrucosa against visual predators. Paper Published:Penney, B. K., L. H. LaPlante, J. R. Friedman, and M. Ocasio-Torres. 2010. A noninvasive method to remove kleptocnidae for testing their role in defence. Journal of Molluscan Studies 76:296-298.

Río Grande, Puerto Rico

Title: Role of predators in structuring shrimp communities in Puerto Rico Determine the effect of predator presence in shrimp abundance and community composition in two streams of Puerto Rico.

Postdoctorate

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, And Population Biology, 4.0

Activities and Societies: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service volunteer, Member of TICATOVE - Conservation Group of Vieques, Association.

Bachelor'S Degree, Coastal Marine Biology

Activities and Societies: Coastal Marine Biology Student Association

Graduate Courses, Organismic And Evolutionary Biology