Curriculum Vitae Wilnelia Recart González e-mail: wrecartg@uci.edu RESEARCH INTERESTS Interested in pollination biology, invasive species, community and population ecology, and the interactions between native and invasive species. Also interested in distribution modeling, plant taxonomy and herbivory. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND University of California, Irvine Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. Student GPA: 4.00/4.00 Research: Rapid evolution of floral traits in native plants due to the presence of invasive plants and/or pollinators. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (UPRRP) 2006 2011 B.Sc. Integrative Biology with a minor in Environmental Sciences GPA: 3.55/4.00 AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS National Science Foundation, Graduate Research Fellowships Program UC Irvine, Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship UC Irvine, Graduate Dean's Recruitment Fellowship 2013 Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting travel scholarship from SEEDS (Student Summer 2013 Educators for Environmental Development and Sustainability) in collaboration with Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S) Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S) Mentoring Program Cohort IX Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Annual Meeting Spring, 2011 travel scholarship ESA Annual Meeting travel scholarship from SEEDS Summer, 2010 USDA Faculty and Student Teams (FaST) Program Summer, 2011 UPRRP, Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) fellowship 2009 2010 UPRRP, Honor Roll of the College of Natural Sciences 2009 2011 Who s who among American Universities & Colleges 2009 2011 National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant 2008 2010 UPRRP, Dean list (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus) 2007 2010 RESEARCH EXPERIENCE INDEPENDENT RESEARCH The invasion of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis in Puerto Rico. Using MaxEnt, a species habitat modeling software, to better understand the pine invasion in the island. (With JD Ackerman, W Falcón and J Lazcano) The pollination biology of Arundina graminifolia, Bletia patula, and Oeceoclades maculata in Puerto Rico. (With JD Ackerman and W Falcón)
SPONSORED RESEARCH Graduate researcher Laboratory of Dr. Diane Campbell Studying ecological speciation of Ipomopsis sp. at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). I am also working in Southern California looking at the effects of drought and invasive species on plant-pollinator interactions. RMBL (Gothic, CO) & Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine 2013 - present Research assistant 2010 2011 Laboratory for Integrative Biology, Dr. James D. Ackerman Have been working in several projects related to invasive species in the tropics some of the species include Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis, Arundina graminifolia, Dendrobium crumenatum and Spathoglottis plicata. Center for Advanced Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Undergraduate researcher in invasive species Summer, 2011 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) with the Center for Research on Invasive Species and Small Populations (CRISSP); Mentor: Dr. Mark Schwarzländer Worked with rust inoculations, assessment of rust pustules in stems and leaves of Chondrilla juncea. College of Natural Science, Department of Biology, University of Idaho (Moscow, ID) Student trainee 2010 2011 Techniques in molecular biology applied to ecology; Mentor: Sofía Burgos, Ph.D. candidate Worked with extractions and purification of DNA material for the TRFLP technique in order to profile benthic biofilms exposed to different nutrient treatments. Undergraduate researcher in invasive species Summer, 2010 USDA Faculty and Student Teams (FaST) Program - Hawai'i with Dr. Curt Daehler and Dr. James D. Ackerman Worked with different programs (such as R Statistical Program, MaxEnt, DIVA-GIS and SAGA) to map species distributions. Generated probability maps for Iguana iguana (Green Iguana) in Hawai'i. Collected reproductive success data for invasive orchids in Hawai'i (Arundina graminifolia and Spathoglottis plicata ). College of Natural Science, Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa (Honolulu, HI) Undergraduate Research Experience, UMEB Program 2009 2010 Orchid Reproductive Biology; Mentor: Dr. James D. Ackerman Worked with two orchids, one native (Bletia patula ) and the other invasive to Puerto Rico (Spathoglottis plicata ) through the interactions of a florivorous weevil (Stethobaris polita ). Collected data on reproductive success, density index variables, generated choice experiments and created distribution maps for both of the orchids. Student trainee 2008 Bird Ecology; Mentor: William Beltrán, M.Sc. Worked with bird censuses at Guánica Dry Forest Reserve in Puerto Rico and also worked with the ecology of Dendroica adelaidae. I learned how to use mist nets for catching birds, banding and measuring of bird morphology. Page 2 of 5
WORK EXPERIENCE Laboratory Technician at the UPRRP Herbarium 2012 - May 2013 Webmaster for the UPRRP Herbarium and online database webpage, quality control of herbarium database, data entry of collection specimens on BRAHMS database and scanning of collection specimens. Center for Advanced Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Assistant at the UPRRP Herbarium 2008-2009 Data entry of collection specimens on BRAHMS database and mounting of collection specimens. Assistant at the Program of Business Development 2007 Analyze results from the 2007 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and created advertisement for the business development program around the campus. College of Business Administration, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Math tutor for the Talent Search Program 2006-2007 Gave tutoring to people of low economic standing and underrepresented heritage for the GED (General Educational Development) test. The GED is a test for obtaining a high school equivalency credential. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus PUBLICATIONS Recart W, W Falcón and JD Ackerman. In preparation. Using species distribution modelling to understand the invasion of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis in Puerto Rico. MS 12 pp. Ackerman JD, PJ Hernández-García, W Falcón and W Recart. In preparation. Conquering the islands one fruit at a time: Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) visits Puerto Rico and Hawai'i. MS 18 pp. Falcón W, JD Ackerman, W Recart, and C Daehler. In press. Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. X. Iguana iguana, the green iguana (Squamata: Iguanidae). Pacific Science. Recart W, JD Ackerman and AA Cuevas. 2012. There goes the neighborhood: apparent competition between invasive and native orchids mediated by a specialist florivorous weevil. Biological Invasions. Doi: 10.1007/s10530-012-0283-0 Ackerman JD, W Falcón and W Recart. 2011. New Records of Naturalized Orchids for the Hawaiian Islands. Records of the Hawaiian Biological Survey, Occasional Papers 110:1-4 A SELECTION OF ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS Recart W, JD Ackerman, W Falcón and P Hernández. 2014. Here and there and everywhere: the invasion experience differs among islands for the bamboo orchid. Poster session for National Science Foundation. (Poster Presentation) Recart W, JD Ackerman, W Falcón, J Lazcano. 2013. Using species distribution modeling to understand the spread of the naturalized Honduran pine in Puerto Rico. 98th Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. (Poster Presentation) Recart W. 2012. Introduction to Biological Control. For the course "Invasive Species Biology and Management" given at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (Oral Presentation) Recart W, AA Cuevas and JD Ackerman. 2011. There goes the neighborhood: apparent competition between invasive, and native orchids. 96th ESA Annual Meeting. Austin, Texas, USA. (Oral Presentation) Page 3 of 5
Falcón W, JD Ackerman, W Recart, and PJ Hernández-García. 2011. Hawai i and Puerto Rico: A story of shared orchid weeds. Hawai i Conservation Conference. O ahu, HI. (Oral Presentation) Recart W, M Schwarzländer, M Haverhals, A Weed, M Bennett and B Harmon. 2011. Can Chondrilla juncea resist biocontrol? The race between plant genotypes and rusts strains. CRISSP Summer 2011 REU Presentations. Moscow, Idaho, USA. (Oral Presentation) Recart W, JD Ackerman, W Falcón and P Hernández. 2011. Conquering the islands one fruit at a time: Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) visits Puerto Rico and Hawaii. 30th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting. Bayamón, Puerto Rico. (Oral Presentation) Falcón, W, W Recart, and JD Ackerman. 2011. Invasive green iguanas (Iguana iguana ) on the march: Vulnerability of tropical islands. Tercer Simposio de Herpetología Puertorriqueña. Arecibo, PR. (Poster Presentation) Recart W, S Burgos and A Ramírez. 2011. Exploring the microbial world: assessing benthic biofilms composition to the response of different nutrient conditions. ASLO Annual Meeting. San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Oral Presentation) Recart W, AA Cuevas and JD Ackerman. 2010. There goes the neighborhood: Reproductive success of Bletia patula when Spathoglottis plicata moves in. 1er Encuentro de Estudiantes Investigadores. San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Oral Presentation) Recart W, AA Cuevas, JD Ackerman, NP Flores-Saldaña and CM Zambrana-Torrelio. 2010. There goes the neighborhood: Reproductive success of Bletia patula when Spathoglottis plicata moves in. 95th ESA Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. (Poster Presentation) Recart W, AA Cuevas, JD Ackerman, NP Flores-Saldaña and CM Zambrana-Torrelio. 2010. Naturalized exotics affecting native plants in Puerto Rico: The weevils and orchid interaction. 29th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting. Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. (Oral Presentation) RELATED COURSES AND WORKSHOPS Botany, Zoology, Plant Taxonomy, Ecology, Evolution, Statistics, Genetics, Ethnobotany, Geophysics, Introduction to GIS, Geography, Sampling Techniques in Environmental Sciences, Ecological Economics and Photography. 1 st Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Plant Conservation Workshop June 25-27, 2011 Provided by the USDA Forest Service in collaboration with Fundación Puertorriqueña de Conservación, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Kew Botanical Gardens, and University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus Tropical Lichenology Workshop: Micro and Macro Lichens of Puerto Rico (Part of the Neotropical epiphytic microlichens) by Dr. Robert Lucking University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Advanced geospatial training program in natural resource management and conservation by Dr. Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso Texas A&M University SERVICE Ad Hoc Reviewer: PLOS ONE (1) Mentoring: 2 undergraduate students October, 2011 April, 2010 Founder of the Eco Club at UCI January 2014 Develop and gave an REU Workshop focused on Ecology at UC Irvine Winter 2013 Page 4 of 5
Organizer of the Invasive Species Awareness Week at UPRRP Spring 2013 Teaching Assistant for the course "Invasive Species Biology and Management" at University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Helped students with their final projects on risk assessment and biology of invasive species in Puerto Rico. Served as an Alumnus in the AKKA ESA SEEDS Chapter by mentoring students and helping them organize and restructure the chapter. Fall 2012 Fall 2012 PROFESSIONAL & STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) 2010 2011 Ecological Society of America (ESA) 2009 present AKKA (Amá, Ké, Kachi, Ará) ESA SEEDS 2009 2011 Golden Key International Honor Society 2008 present Vice-president from 2008 through 2009 Sierra Club 2010 2012 Sociedad Eco Ambiental 2009 2010 SKILLS Collecting and curation of herbarium specimens. Highly skilled in programs within the Microsoft Office package and other programs such as Photoshop and MaxEnt (Maximum entropy modeling technique). Also skilled in programs such as BRAHMS, ArcGIS, DIVA-GIS, SAGA-GIS, Minitab, SigmaPlot, JMP Statiscal Software, R Statistical Program and Google Earth. LANGUAGES My native language is Spanish. I am fluent in written and spoken English and I have basic Portuguese skills. Page 5 of 5