I officially studied architecture/environmental design but somehow ended up working as a taxonomist/botanist. You can find me out in the field or at the UPR-RP Herbarium in Puerto Rico.

Currently, I work on several projects and organizations, but most of my time is now spent as a USDA-Forest Service -Caribbean Climate Hub - Plant Taxonomist.

Se habla español!

Je ne sais beaucoup français mais comprend plus

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Feel free to contact me regarding any Caribbean plant species, especially in the PR Bank.

I'm particularly interested in these groups:

Pteridophyta
Poaceae
Arecaceae
Myrtaceae
Coccoloba spp.
Utricularia spp.

Besides these groups/families/genera I'm always looking into naturally occurring hybrids, and natural oddities/variations; as well as introduced species monitoring.

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My profile image depicts me in my typical field-wear, collecting specimens of an alba variation of Jacquemontia solanifolia not reported in the literature or specimens before this.(http://edicionesdigitales.info/jacqsolanifol/solanifoliavar.pdf).

If you are interested in some of my work, a lot of it is soon to be published but for the moment you can look into this published interdisciplinary article:

https://brooklynrail.org/special/River_Rail_Puerto_Rico/river-rail/Recollections-on-the-Cartography-of-the-Caribbean-Coast

this photo essay:

https://issuu.com/revistacruce/docs/crucevol1_feb11/54

and this scientific article:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/65614

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2023 iNaturalist Goals:

-Get to 200,000 observations identified, especially plants in the Caribbean. (I reached my goal of 100,000 last year!)

-Have 2500-3000 plant species in Puerto Rico documented (Again, due to last year only reaching 2266 confirmed to species level and lower (hybrids/subsp./var.) by the end of the year. PR full species estimates range from 2912 to 3559]

[Currently at 127.819 and 2302 respectively (March 9, 2023 Update)]

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

Several of my observations are private, do not ask me to put them public or diffused. If you are a bonafide researcher I will gladly share any localities that may aid your research as long as it is with proper permits, documentation and credit.

Some localities may be hidden due to them being part of personal or colleague research. Some localities are hidden due to species being rare or of high chance of poaching (Orchids, Carnivorous Plants, etc). Many are private due to being part of government-agency related research, I'm required to keep them private.

I upload them even without public locality because there is little photographic reference for many of our Caribbean species and thus even a photo without locality is of great aide to many people.

If you want me to collaborate on research by collecting material or providing more substantial information do not hesitate to do so, but it will be your responsibility to obtain the proper permits for doing so and paying any fees associated with said processes.

I do not collect material, nor export material for nonscientific (research/conservation) purposes.