This is a list of previously funded research in the Luquillo Experimental Forest that are no longer active. Resources from these projects are listed followed by more information about the legacy research projects.
- CEER -PRNC Link to Publications
PRNC followed by CEER a Consortium between UPR and DOE
While the World was facing missile crises, active and cold wars between America and Asian countries and local activists against war, the PRNC was created in 1957 having radiation, energy and solar issues as the main research focus. This included the pre-irradiation and intensive post- irradiation studies and measurements after the 90 days-period (starting in January 1965) of gamma radiation (Waide, 1985). These measurements became the baseline for the LUQ Program in the 1980’s. During the shortage and rise of price of petroleum in the 1970’s, the PRNC be- came the CEER in 1976 and the research shifted its focus to drainage basin “to provide baseline ecological data for environmental assessment at the local and regional level” (Bonnet and Pytlinski, 1984). Related to the concern for the effects of chemicals turned into the environment by Puerto Rico’s rapid industrialization since the 1950’s, CEER proposed a five year plan to conduct basic ecological studies contributing to the general knowledge of how tropical ecosystems are organized and how they operate. In the late 1980’s, the research programs of the National Science Foundation (NSF) encouraged the scientific community to perform potentially transformative or multidisciplinary research (NSF, 2016) which greatly influenced the path of the research done by the LTER Program in Puerto Rico. Since 1988, the over- arching theme of the Luquillo LTER research has been to studying the relationship between disturbance regime and forest structure.
NSF. 2016. A Timeline of NSF History. Webpage: https://www.nsf.gov/ about/history/timeline80s.jsp
Waide, R.B. 1985. A Tropical Rainforest: Past and Present. Report from a Workshop on Research at El Verde, Puerto Rico, June 19-21, 1984. CEER-T- 211.
Bonnet Jr, JA and Pytlinski, JT. 1984. Alternative Technologies: Research and Development by CEER in Puerto Rico. CEER-S-187. 12. Tilly, LJ. 1982. CEER Environment Section Five Year Plan. CEER-M-119.