Title: Quantifying the Role of Climate Conditions on Mangrove Island Systems Across the Caribbean
Speaker: Isamar Cortés

Abstract: Mangroves are a tropical and subtropical species of tree residing in the coastal intertidal zone. Although they provide several beneficial ecosystem services, such as blue carbon storage, coastal protection and habitat for thousands of species, mangroves are currently under threat due to anthropogenic influence and climate forcing. In terms of climate forcing, mangroves cannot survive under high net evaporation (i.e. evaporation - precipitation) rates. Thus, through remote sensing and numerical modeling efforts, I explore the effects of net evaporation rates on the mangrove island systems in the Caribbean. In this talk, we will explore how climate conditions affect mangroves spatially and structurally.

Speaker Bio: Isamar is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Environmental Science and Management at Montclair State University. Her research studies are focused on exploring the effects of climate conditions on mangrove island systems across the Caribbean. In 2019, Isamar was awarded a fellowship from NASA to develop numerical modeling tools and couple them with different types of remotely sensed data (i.e. LiDAR, optical) to quantify how climate change is affecting soil stressor concentrations in mangrove soils. Additionally, Isamar also co-directs the code to communicate program whose mission is to foster a positive space for participants to learn open source programming and effective science communication skills in both English and Spanish. In this program, she directs the coding portion, teaching people coding skills in both English and Spanish. Isamar is in the final year of her PhD and looks forward to forming collaborations as she continues in her scientific career.