Ariel E. Lugo is a scientist, ecologist and Director of the

International Institute of Tropical Forestry The International Institute of Tropical Forestry () is a program of the United States Forest Service that was founded in 1939. It is headquartered in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, on the grounds of the University of Puerto Rico's Agricultural Exper ...

(IITF) within the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, based in Puerto Rico. He is a founding member of the

Society for Ecological Restoration The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is a conservation organization based in the United States, supporting a "global community of restoration professionals that includes researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and community leaders". Th ...

and Member-at-Large of the Board of the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

Education

A native of

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as ''La Sultana del Oeste'' (The Sultaness of the West), ''Ciudad de las Aguas Pura ...

, Lugo earned bachelor's and master's degrees in biology, both from the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

. He later earned a Ph.D. in ecology from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

at Chapel Hill.Forest Service
/ref>Arizona State University
/ref> Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation
/ref>

Scientific and professional experience

In 1974, Lugo joined the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Resource Analysis after completing post-doctoral research studies on wet forests in El Verde, Puerto Rico and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s in Florida. He has worked on a wide range of tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems:

hardwood forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These for ...

s, mangroves, floodplain wetlands, sand pine forests,

prairie lake A prairie lake is a somewhat shallow lake that will empty naturally during dry seasons, allowing a variety of terrestrial plants to flourish upon the rich nutrients in the exposed lakebed, and the lakes eventually refill with water returning to t ...

s and palm wetlands. His current research focuses on the role of

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fores ...

s in global processes, and on comparisons between tropical tree plantations and natural forests. Before joining the Department of Natural Resources, Lugo served in a variety of leadership positions. He was the Acting Deputy Chief of International Forestry. He also served as the Acting Director of IITF and as Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology in the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. One of his first positions of leadership was as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Resource Analysis (1973-1974).

Environmental issues

Lugo has over 300 publications in scientific journals and books, has served on federal interagency committees, and is frequently required to appear as an expert witness in federal court cases involving

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

. He currently serves on the editorial boards of ''

Conservation Ecology ''Ecology and Society'' (formerly ''Conservation Ecology'') is a quarterly open access interdisciplinary academic journal published by the Resilience Alliance. It covers an array of disciplines from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the h ...

'', ''Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change'', ''

Forest Ecology and Management ''Forest Ecology and Management'' is a semimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering forest ecology and the management of forest resources. The journal publishes research manuscripts that report results of original research, review articles ...

'', ''Restoration Ecology'', ''Journal of Sustainable Forestry'', ''Acta Cientifica'' (as Editor), and ''Journal of the Litoral''.

Works

Among the written works in which Lugo is either the author or co-author are the following: *"Natural Sinks of Co2: Palmas Del Mar, Puerto Rico"; Ariel E. Lugo and Joe Wisniewski *"Big-Leaf Mahogany: Genetics, Ecology and Management (Ecological Studies)"; by Ariel E. Lugo, Julio C. Figueroa Colón and Mildred Alayón *"Tropical Forests: Management and Ecology (Ecological Studies); by Ariel E. Lugo and Carol Lowe *"Los sistemas ecologicos y la humanidad (Serie de biologia) (Spanish Edition)"; by Ariel E. Lugo *"Ecological Development in the Humid Tropics: Guidelines for Planners," by Ariel E. Lugo, John R. Clark and R. Dennis Child *"LOS BOSQUES DE PUERTO RICO (TEXT IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH - INSTITUTO DE DASONOMIA TROPICAL APARTADO AQ - SERVICIO FORESTAL DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, DEPARTAMENTO DE RECURSOS NATURALES)"; by ARIEL E LUGO *"Institute of tropical forestry: the first fifty years (SuDoc A 13.88:IITF-GTR-7)"; by Ariel E. Lugo *"Readings on Ecological Systems: Their Function and Relation to Man"; by Ariel E. Lugo *"People and the Tropical Forest; A Research Report from the United States Man and the Biosphere Program"; by Ariel E. Lugo and John J. Ewel *"Los Bosques de Puerto Rico (Departemento de Recursos Naturales; Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico"; by Ariel E. Lugo

References

External links