ICSEM 10
The ICSEM 10 was successfully celebrated between February 25-28, 2020 in the city of Turrialba, Costa Rica. With representation from 18 countries, participants discussed during the meeting the newest trends in myxomycete research. The activity was organized by Carlos Rojas, Pedro Rojas, Shiori Nakajima and Randall Valverde. This event represented the first time the ICSEM was celebrated in Central America, and the third time in Latin America, after previous successful events in Mexico and Brazil. As part of the meeting, a field trip to La Marta Wildlife Refuge was organized. In this location, participants could observe in detail some tropical species. Other activities included a concert with the Turrialba Municipal Band and a cutural dinner.
February 2020 |
Minicolloquium in UCR Turrialba
On June 5th, Carlos Rojas and Dr. Werner Rodríguez, director of the Finca Experimental Interdisciplinaria de Modelos Agroecológicos (FEIMA) organized a minicolloquium in UCR´s Sede del Atlántico. This event had the objective of communicating the projects that had been carried out in FEIMA during 2017-2019. Students Josué Mora Chacón and Aldo Quesada Chacón and researchers Shiori Nakajima and Pedro Rojas presented different types of results obtained by the team in charge of documenting the station. For this reason, a series of talks ranging from soil characteristics to climate and forest structure were presented in this event. Students from the Turrialba campus attended this event and another one is expected to be held later in the future.
July 2019 |
Visit from LMU
During the period between June 6-20, Hana Hess, a Conservation Biology student from Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) visited Costa Rica and worked with Carlos Rojas on different research projects. She set up an investigation along with Dr. Adam W. Rollins from LMU to study myxomycete colonization using spore traps, and she worked developing gardens with edible plants for preeschool kids in Costa Rica´s Central Valley. During her visit, Hana also had the opportunity to interact with Shiori Nakajima and other JICA personnel in the town of Turrialba.
June 2019 |
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Academic visit to Mexico
Carlos Rojas visited, along with former UCR researcher Randall Valverde, the cities of Tlaxcala and Xalapa in Mexico. This visit took place in order to discuss issues related with the upcoming ICSEM 10 and in relation with potential academic links with Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala and Universidad Veracruzana. During the visit, Carlos Rojas had meetings with Dr. Arturo Estrada-Torres, Dr. Rosario Medel and Dr. Antonio Andrate-Torres. At the same time, Carlos Rojas checked a series of collections of myxomycetes made by grad student Berlia Salazar, from the Master´s Program in Biology at Universidad Veracruzana.
May 2019 |
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Myxomycete workshop in Medellin, Colombia
The University of Antioquia through professors Ana Esperanza Franco (Biology) and Carolina Garcia (Microbiology) organized a myxomycete workshop during the period between April 26-28, 2019. This workshop was given by Carlos Rojas with help from Pedro Rojas (both from University of Costa Rica). The activity was well attended and represented a succesful academic exchange of information among professors, students and researchers. The group engaged in different activities ranging from theoretical discussions on myxomycetes and scientific research in Latin America to field work and myxomycete indentification.
April 2019 |
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Visit from LMU students and professors
A group of students and professors from Lincoln Memorial University were in the Turrialba region along with Carlos Rojas. This group visited FEIMA and discussed the possibility of joint research in this station. The group also visited two local schools to evaluate the possibility of establishing a program of balance in the interest for science and technology areas in the female populations. This visit was supported by the UCR´s Sede del Atlántico, where the group stayed for over a week.
March 2019 |
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Initiative to study Colombian region
Along with professors Carolina García and Esperanza Franco from Universidad de Antioquia, Carlos Rojas is attempting to study the relationship between myxomycetes and urban settings in the Colombian region of Medellín. As part of this initiative, the group is trying to renew an institutional agreement and starting to develop projects in Colombia. For this reason, Carlos Rojas visited Medellín in the winter of 2018 and started interacting with Colombian students. A preliminary project was setup during that time and hopefully, by the summer of 2019 some results can be obtained.
December 2018 |
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FEIMA projects
As part of the research projects in FEIMA, Pedro and Carlos Rojas joined students Aldo Quesada and Josué Mora for field work. During the first week of October, the team carried out both soil and forest work to obtain data for digital maps that will be delivered in the early part of 2019. These base maps are very necessary for climate change and forest management plans since they will show information about a series of environmental parameters and the characteristics of the land. In poorly studied areas such as FEIMA, they also represent important data for the development of socio-economic activities such as agriculture, tourism and biodiversity studies.
October 2018 |
Arkansas Trip
A trip to the Ozark Mountains in Northwest Arkansas took place in late August. The purpose of this trip was to characterize a forest section of the Pea Ridge National Military Park for comparative research with a Costa Rican forest patch. Along with Pedro Rojas from UCR and Dr. Steven L. Stephenson from the University of Arkansas, the team also set up a system of field bags for a myxomycete colonization project. Such investigation will be contrasted with an equivalent survey in the Turrialba area of Costa Rica in the near future.
September 2018 |
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Cooperation from JICA
Shiori Nakajima, a japanese volunteer from JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) with expertise in forestry and remote sensing has joined the Engineering Research Institute. She will be working with Carlos Rojas in FEIMA and the Turrialba region in projects related with climate change, forest dynamics and biofertilization. Her support will allow these projects to move up at a faster speed and translate scientific information to the general public in the region of interest. These efforts are intended to support the University of Costa Rica´s mission to reach out the general population and increase the level of appropriation of technical information on climate change, forest management and ecosystem services.
August 2018 |
Myxomycete Workshop and Discussion
A workshop and discussion of potential research lines for the future was held in San José, Costa Rica, during May 23rd and June 1st of 2018. Two Latin American professors, Solange Xavier Dos Santos from Brasil and Ricardo Enrique Morales from El Salvador participated along with Carlos Rojas from Costa Rica. Two students, Berlia Salazar from Mexico and Kevin Clavel from El Salvador joined the discussion. The group visited several locations and collected myxomycetes with Pedro Rojas and Randall Valverde from Costa Rica.
May 2018 |
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Visit to Colombian cities
In April, Carlos Rojas visited the city of Medellín, Colombia and met with researchers in Biology and Microbiology at the University of Antioquia. The purpose of this visit was to promote the upcoming myxomycete congress in Costa Rica in 2020 and to look for prospective students that can carry out small projects on myxomycetes in the Aburrá Valley and the surrounding regions. In addition to the latter, Carlos also visited the city of Cartagena, where another visit to the University of Cartagena took place as well. The idea is to carry out projects in the caribbean coast of Colombia as well.
April/May 2018 |
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Visit to Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid
As part of the ongoing research process with Dr. Carlos Lado from the Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid, Carlos Rojas visited Spain in November 2017. This time, his visit focused on the generation of manuscripts for publication on a compiled database of myxomycetes for Costa Rica.
The updated information about myxomycetes from that country is expected to represent the parameter to establish new lines of research and different academic activities for the near future. This effort, of course, will include the organization of the ICSEM 10. November 2017 |
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ICSEM 10 to be held in Costa Rica in 2020
The most recent International Congress on the Systematics and Ecology of Myxomycetes (ICSEM 9) took place in Tanabe, Japan in August 2017. In that event, participants decided to hold the next meeting in Costa Rica in 2020. The proposal by Carlos Rojas was presented by Dr. Carlos Lado from the Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid (as part of the Myxotropic initiative) and was voted favorably by attendees. The upcoming meeting will be held in the UCR Campus in Turrialba and more information can be found in the official website.
September 2017 |
IX Latin American Mycological Congress
Carlos Rojas visited the city of Lima, Peru, to participate in the IX Latin American Mycological Congress held at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. The meeting took place between August 21-25 and hosted a myxomycete symposium. In the latter, other myxomycete researchers such as Solange Xavier from Brasil, Ricardo Morales from El Salvador, Iván García from Spain and Pedro Rojas from Costa Rica presented their works. This was also an opportunity to present the "Myxomycetes" book recently released to the public by Academic Press.
August 2017 |
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Visit from Lincoln Memorial University Faculty
Drs. Amiel Jarfster and Adam W. Rollins, from the School of Mathematics and Science of Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) visited Carlos Rojas and the University of Costa Rica (UCR) during the period of June 13-16, 2017. Their visit was made in the framework of an international agreement between LMU-UCR, which will start in 2018 to provide opportunities for students and faculty of both institutions in the fields of microbial ecology and biosystems engineering. The Costa Rican component will take place in FEIMA, in the Turrialba area and students of Ecological Tourism from the Paraíso Campus, will be the target group to interact with LMU´s students in the near future.
June 2017 |
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Visiting researchers during the summer
As part of the academic activities in the Engineering Research Institute, Carlos Rojas received two undergrad students from the USA that will collaborate in research projects in the Turrialba area during the summer of 2017. The two students, Amanda Godar from Michigan State University and Serena Emanuel from Viriginia Tech, will develop projects on Arduino-based environmental dataloggers and myxomycete niche-based modeling. The group will also interact with the Las Americas School in the development of the first phase of a biofertilization project to be carried out during 2018.
June 2017 |
Graduate Program in Tropical Biodiversity from Spain
A group of 20 students and five profesors associated with a Master´s Program in Tropical Biodiversity from Spain visited UCR´s Atlantic Campus and Carlos Rojas´ projects in the Turrialba area during the period between May 12-15. The group completed activities directly related with their biodiversity interests and also got engaged in other ones trying to link biology, engineering and social sciences. With the support of Pedro Rojas from the Forest Research Unit the visit also promoted academic intergration among collaborating units.
May 2017 |
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Visitor from University of Arkansas
During late April, Carlos Rojas received the visit of Erik Pollock from the University of Arkansas. Along with Pedro Rojas, the group visited a couple of study sites in San Carlos and Turrialba where forest research integrating stable isotope analysis is currently taking place. They will likely continue with this collaboration in 2018 by establishing a project intended to monitor isotopic changes related to climate change in the FEIMA experimental forest patch of the University of Costa Rica in Turrialba. This project is part of the activity of the Engineering Research Institute.
April 2017 |
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Research visit to Madrid
Carlos Rojas visited the Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid to continue working on a joint project with Dr. Carlos Lado. Their project intends to build a standard database of Costa Rican myxomycetes in order to make it available for other researchers over the internet.
As part of this trip, the team worked on a GIS-based analysis of the records from Costa Rica and planned some future publications where this information could be included. This visit also served as a starting point to collaborate with the CSIC´s sponsored Master´s Program in Tropical Biodiversity, directed by Dr. Javier Dieguez Uribeondo. The first group of students visiting Costa Rica in April/May 2017 will visit UCR´s FEIMA reserve as part of a future potential agreement to continue bringing students to UCR´s Turrialba Campus. March 2017 |