Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences

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Research group

Spanish

ELICE Lotic Ecology: Islands, Coasts, and Estuaries

Academic Unit: Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences

Colombian Ministry of Science

C

Call

833 GrupLAC

OECD

Area

Natural sciences

Subarea

Biological sciences

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Strategic Focus

The group's mission is to conduct basic and applied research to understand the ecosystemic function of lowland forests (e.g. mangroves, wooded wetlands, riparian forests, dry forests, rainforests, and agro-ecosystems) in the Caribbean and Pacific regions, interacting with human systems at spatial scales ranging from the local landscape to planet Earth, in pursuit of socio-ecological resilience and public policy orientation. The main problems studied are 1) deforestation and conversion of forests to agricultural uses, 2) unplanned urban expansion, 3) conflicts in the environmental management of coastal areas and watersheds, and 4) legacies of the Colombian Armed Conflict.

Research Lines and/or Areas

Eco-hydrology.
Species Distribution.
Ecosystemic Processes.
Conservation Biology.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Group Coordinator

Juan Felipe Blanco Libreros, PhD

PhD in Population and Environmental Biology.

Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.

Coordinator's Email

juan.blanco@udea.edu.co

Scientific Cooperation

Collaborative Relationships

Youth Mappers.
CEMARIN (Corporation Center of Excellence in Marine Sciences).
Governor’s Office of Antioquia.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Medellin and Caribe campuses).

Universidad del Valle.
INVEMAR (José Benito Vives de Andréis Institute of Marine and Coastal Research).
CORPOURABÁ.

Highlighted Projects

CARTOCOSTA-URABÁ: Humanitarian mapping of coastal wetlands and fishing communities for resilience to climate change and variability.
Priority guidelines for the formulation of a fishing ordinance for the Gulf of Urabá.
Mangrove fragmentation due to the installation of a power line: Evidence from the evaluation of the ecosystem in a suburban mangrove.
Estuarine expedition, Gulf of Urabá 2013. Phase 1.

Key Research Findings

Synthesis of the Knowledge About Mangroves of Colombia. DOI: 10.18257/raccefyn.780
Estimation of the Net Primary Productivity and Standing Carbon Reservoir of the Mangroves in the Gulf of Urabá (DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106301), Derived Ecosystem Services (DOI: 10.5343/bms.2019.0022), and Estimation of Deforestation Threats (DOI: 10.3390/d7030206).
Linking the Carbon Cycle in Intermittent Dry Forest Rivers and Streams With CO2 Emissions Into the Atmosphere. DOI: 10.1029/2019GB006276; 10.1111/gcb.14537; https://bit.ly/2A5TTGp
Construction of Eco-hydrological Databases About Wetlands for the Climate Change Analysis, Land Cover Change and Analysis of the Achievement of Water-related Sustainable Development goals. DOI: https://bit.ly/2UbaDDa; 10.3390/w11030619

Services and/or Products Portfolio

Cartography or Humanitarian and Remote Participatory Mapping.
Elaboration of Thematic Cartography (particularly of the Biodiversity and Forest Component).
Quantitative Analysis at the Landscape Analysis (Landscape Ecology).
Carbon gauge in the soil and in standing biomass, mainly in wetlands and lowland forests (including plantations).
Estimates of Net Primary Productivity and Litter Decomposition.
Gauge of flow rate in natural streams.
Measurements of meteorological variables using automated sensors.
Talks and informative audiovisual content for the social appropriation of knowledge.