About me:

I am currently a doctoral student and research assistant at Purdue University.

My professional interests include:

• Vertebrate Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Bioacoustics
• Population Ecology
• Landscape Ecology
• Biological Databases
• Evolution
• Science Education

Among these areas, I have several questions or areas I want to explore as a scientist:

• Current ecological theory applied to conservation policy
  • Problems like the limited data available for most species and the establishment of conservation policy based on that data
• New uses of technology for ecological research
  • New ways of obtaining data continuously using remote stations that require minimal maintenance while providing huge amounts of data
  • Consumer products applied to ecological methods
• Land-use change and its implications on conservation strategies
• Science education, particularly ecology and evolution
• Ecological research with practical applications

Publications:

• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2007. Digital recorders increase detection of Eleutherodactylus frogs. Herpetological Review 38: 59-63. PDF
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2006. Calling activity of Eleutherodactylus frogs of Puerto Rico and habitat distribution of E. richmondi. MS Thesis. University of Puerto Rico. Río Piedras Campus. Puerto Rico. PDF. Data and recordings.
• Acevedo, M. A. and L. J. Villanueva-Rivera. 2006. Using automated digital recording systems as effective tools for the monitoring of birds and amphibians. Wildlife Society Bulletin 34:211-214. PDF
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. and R. L. Joglar. 2001. Eleutherodactylus cochranae. Reproduction. Herpetological Review 32: 182. PDF
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J., R. L. Joglar, and F. C. Li-Objio. 2000. Eleutherodactylus coqui. Predation. Herpetological Review 31: 100. PDF

Research projects:

• August 2007 – present. Ecological Acoustical Monitoring. PhD Research, Advisor: Dr. Bryan Pijanowski. Purdue University.
• January 2006 – present. Monitoring and distribution of amphibians and reptiles of Puerto Rico. Collaborative online database. http://monitoreo.coquipr.com
• August 2005 – present. Monitoring, distribution, and acoustic activity of a new and endangered frog species of Puerto Rico: the coquí llanero (Eleutherodactylus). Search for new populations, development of long-term monitoring system, and acoustic activity description of a new coquí discovered recently by N. Ríos.
• August 2004 – present. Automating the identification of species from automated recording systems using neural networks with applications for large-scale and long-term monitoring. M. Aide, C. Corrada, M. Acevedo and L. J. Villanueva-Rivera. Project website
• January 2002 – May 2006. Temporal Calling Patterns of Eleutherodactylus Frogs of Puerto Rico and Habitat Characterization, Status and Conservation of an Endangered Frog, E. richmondi. Thesis Advisor: John Thomlinson, Ph.D. Graduate Tropical Ecology Program. Department of Biology. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
• April 2004 – September 2005. Comparing novel methods of digital recordings with traditional surveys for rapid assessment of bird and frog communities. M. Acevedo and L. J. Villanueva-Rivera.
• July 1996 – June 1999. Biology and Population Fluctuations of Two Lowland Puerto Rican Frogs: Eleutherodactylus coqui and E. cochranae. Department of Biology and Program McNair. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.

Websites:

• CoquiPR.com
• AvesPR.org

Presentations

• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2006. Protocolo para el monitoreo acústico de coquíes. Primer Simposio de Herpetología Puertorriqueña. Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo.
• M. A. Acevedo and L. J. Villanueva-Rivera. 2005. Automated digital recording systems as effective tools for the monitoring of tropical vertebrates. International Workshop on Tropical Land-use Changes and Ecological Consequences. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. Yunnan, China.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. and M. A. Acevedo. 2005. Automated digital recording systems as effective tools for the monitoring of tropical vertebrates. 2005 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Tampa, Florida. [PDF]
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2005. Reducing size, weight, and time drift of Frogloggers using digital recorders and microprocessors. 2005 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Tampa, Florida.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. and N. Ríos-Lopez. 2005. Limitaciones de la ciencia aplicadas a la conservación: el caso de los anfibios de Puerto Rico. XXIV Simposio de la Flora y Fauna del Caribe. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Humacao.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. and M. A. Acevedo. 2005. Un nuevo sistema en Internet para evidenciar la distribución, uso de hábitat y estado de las aves en Puerto Rico. XXIV Simposio de la Flora y Fauna del Caribe. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Humacao.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2004. Patrones de actividad de canto para monitoreo de Eleutherodactylus en Puerto Rico. Tercera reunión anual de RANA. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2004. Temporal calling patterns for monitoring Eleutherodactylus frogs in Puerto Rico. 2004 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Norman, Oklahoma.
• Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2003. Habitat Characterization and Current Status of an Endangered Frog, Eleutherodactylus richmondi. I Symposium of Graduate Research: Biology in the New Millennium. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

Computer proficiency

• Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems
• MS Office and OpenOffice suites
• MySQL Databases
• HTML, PHP and some Python and C programming
• Dynamic Web Mapping using GoogleMaps
• Statistical software
• Geographic Information Systems
• Image and audio edition