Graduate students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines struggle with developing research agendas that balance the overall goals of their work with questions of civic concern. The Earth Stewardship Initiative helps to resolve this disparity. Furthermore, connecting STEM research to civic concerns increases the relevance of research and facilitates the development of cross-disciplinary approaches. We describe how STEM graduate students can incorporate Earth Stewardship into their research, identify opportunities for educational institutions to support such research, and discuss the potential benefits of, and barriers to, linking Earth Stewardship to graduate-level studies. In a nutshell:• The implementation of a research agenda that is consistent with the Earth Stewardship Initiative requires transformation of the current academic culture • Graduate students and faculty members can be important actors in the transformation, although broader, departmentlevel support is crucial in facilitating this process • Earth Stewardship projects can deliver benefits to graduate students, including enhanced professional development and increased employment opportunities • Supporting Earth Stewardship in graduate training programs can also benefit academic departments by improving funding prospects and increasing the relevance of research to society
Gastropods associated with the calcareous alga Halimeda opuntia (Udoteaceae) in Puerto Rico. Gastropod communities associated with the calcareous green alga Halimeda opuntia are described and compared for two Puerto Rico coral reefs: one in the northeast with front tradewinds (windward zone) and one in the southwest (leeward zone). We analyzed the content of 21 lots (2432 g) of H. opuntia from leeward zone and 15 lots (2448 g) from the windward zone. In total we recovered 526 gastropods (prosobranchs) classified in 54 taxa. Thirteen species of gastropods represented 79.6% of the community. Differences between species richness and mean density values were not significant (p>0.100). Forty species were identified from leeward and thirty one (31) species from windward. Gastropod mean density was 13.9 /100g of algae in leeward and 7.6/100g in windward. Significant differences were found for the Simpson Diversity Index (0.91 in the leeward and 0.82 in the windward community; t=3.44, α=0.005). We found no correlation between the weight of the algae and the frequency of the gastropods (R 2 =0.0893 in leeward, 0.0249 windward and 0.0923 for both). The relationship between species composition in lots of windward and leeward study sites was explored via polar ordination and no segregation was found. When compared, the gastropod communities found in H. opuntia collected in coral reefs in Puerto Rico were more similar within them than any other communities found in other genera of seaweed and in other environments. Our results agree with the hypothesis that H. opuntia offers the interstitial community a protected microhabitat from water movement impact. H. opuntia creates more homogenous conditions than those of the habitat where we found the algae. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (4) Las comunidades de moluscos asociados a macroalgas marinas en El Caribe han sido descritas por Warmke y Almodóvar (1963) y García-Ríos (1983). Warmke y Almodóvar (1963) recolectaron 25 especies de algas en el suroeste de Puerto Rico. Encontraron 90 especies de moluscos de los cuales 99% de los individuos eran gasterópodos. Al comparar los moluscos encontrados en algas rojas, verdes y pardas concluyeron que existe una mayor cantidad y diversidad de éstos asociados a las algas rojas. Sin embargo, de acuerdo a los datos de esa misma publicación, Halimeda opuntia (Linnaeus) Lamouroux, un alga verde calcárea, presentó mayor riqueza de especies que cualquiera de las especies de algas rojas.García-Ríos (1983) describió las comunidades de gasterópodos asociadas a macroalgas marinas, que se recolectaron en cuatro hábitats: costa rocosa, arrecife de coral, manglar expuesto al oleaje y canales de mangle. En ese trabajo se determinó que existe una mayor similitud entre las comunidades de gasterópodos que coexisten en el mismo hábitat, independientemente
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