Armando Rodríguez-Durán, Ph.D. (arodriguez@bc.inter.edu)

DEGREES AND INSTITUTIONS

• Ph.D., Boston University, Boston 
• M.S., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez 
• B.S., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS

• American Association for the Advancement of Science  (President, Caribbean Division, 2004-06)

• North American Society of Bat Research (Board member 2007- Present) 

• The Speleological Society of Puerto Rico 
• Fundación Museo de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico

POSITIONS HELD

• 2006-Present Dean for Research Inter American University, Bayamón, P.R.
• 1998- 2006 Dean, Division of Arts and Sciences Inter American University, Bayamón, P.R.
• 1998-Present Full Professor Inter American University, Bayamón, P.R. 
• 1991-1998 Chairman, Dept. Natural Sciences; Inter American University, Bayamón, P.R. 
• 1992-1998 Associate professor; Ecology, Evolution, Environmental Problems and Integrated Science Inter American University, Bayamón, P.R. 
• 1990-1991 Assistant professor; Inter American University, Aguadilla, P.R. 
• 1987-1990 Instructor (Lecturer); Ecology, Environmental Problems, Microbiology and Zoology; Inter American University, Aguadilla, P.R. 
• 1984-1986 Research Assistant (Physiological Ecology), Boston University 
• 1981-1984 Teaching Fellow; Laboratory of Introductory Biology, Human Anatomy. Coordinator; Animal Parasitology. University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS 

• 2007 - Present. The Role of Bats and Birds in the Reforestation of Disturbed Areas. NSF Citizen Science Program   and The Puerto Rico Conservation Trust.
• 2003-2006. Ecology and Management of Bats Roosting in Western Vieques. Puerto Rico Conservation Trust.
•  2000. Improvement of the Karst Forest's Mata de Platano Field Station. NSF Award No. DBI-0085342.
• 1997-Present. PR-NSF Alliance for Minority Participation. Resource Center for Science and Engineering (Funding for the development and supervision of undergraduate research). 
• 1988. Research Grant. Research Institute, Inter American University of Puerto Rico 
• 1986. Grant-in-Aid of Research, American Society of Mammalogists Grant-in-Aid of Research, Sigma XI Society, Boston U. Chapter

PUBLICATIONS 

Articles

• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and A. R. Lewis. (1985). Seasonal predation by Merlins on soothy mustached bats in western Puerto Rico. Biotropica 17:71-74. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and A. R. Lewis. (1987). Patterns of population size, diet and activity for a multispecies assemblage of bats. Carib. J. Sci. 23:352-360. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and T. H. Kunz. (1992). Pteronotus quadridens. Mammalian Species No. 395, pp. 1-4, 3 figs., American Society of Mammalogists. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. (1992). Importancia de las cuevas calientes en la conservación de los murciélagos. Verde Luz 2:3 (Bulletin of the Puerto Rico Conservation Foundation). 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A., A. R. Lewis and Y. Montes. (1993). Skull morphology and diet of Antillean bat species. Carib. J. Sci. 29:258-261. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. (1995). Metabolic rates and thermal conductance in four species of Antillean bats roosting in hot-caves. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 110A:347-355. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. (1996). Foraging Ecology of the Puerto Rican Boa (Epicrates inornatus): Bat predation, carrion feeding, and piracy. J. of Herpetology, 30:533-536. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. (1998). Distribution and nonrandom aggregations of the cave bats of Puerto Rico. J. of Mammalogy, 79 (1):141-146. 
• Whitaker, J. and A. Rodríguez-Durán. (1999). Seasonal variation in the diet of Mexican free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis antillularum (Miller) from a colony in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci., 35:23-29. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. (1999). First record of reproductive Lasiurus borealis minor from Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci., 35:143-144. 
• Barlow, K.E., N. Vaughan, K.E. Jones, A. Rodríguez-Durán, and M.R. Gannon. (2000). Are bats which pollinate and disperse forest plants particularly sensitive to disturbance? A case study of the effects of Hurricane Georges on bats of Puerto Rico. Bull. of the British Ecological Society, 31:36-39. 
• Jones, K.E., K.E. Barlow, N. Vaughan, A. Rodríguez-Durán, and M.R. Gannon. (2001). Short-term impacts of extreme environmental disturbance on the bats of Puerto Rico. Animal Conservation, 4:59 - 66. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and R. Vázquez. (2001). Ecology of an Antillean population of Jamaican fruit-eating bats: Seasonal variations in diet, patterns of activity, and response to disturbance caused by hurricanes. Acta Chiropterologica, 3:53 - 61. 
• Rivera-Marchand, B. and A. Rodríguez-Durán. (2001). Renal biology of Neotropical bats as a function of roost microhabitat. Carib. J. of Sci. 37:272 - 274.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and J. A. Soto-Centeno. (2003). Temperature selection by tropical bats roosting in caves. Journal of Thermal Biology 28:465-468.
• Bhatnagar, K.P., T. D. Smith, A. Rodríguez-Durán, and J. R. Wible. (2006). Observations on the vomeronasal organ of Pteronotus macleayii and Pteronotus quadridens (Chiroptera:Mormoopidae). Mammalia, 2006:288-292.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and E. Padilla-Rodríguez. 2008. Oxygen Transport and Wing Morphology of Antillean bats. Caribbean J. of Science, 44: 375 -379.
• Brian A. Schaetz, Allen Kurta, Armando Rodríguez-Durán, Olivia M. Münzer and Rodney Foster. 2009. Identification of Bats in Puerto Rico Using the Scanning Electron Microscope to Examine Body Hairs. Caribbean J. of Science
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and E. Padilla-Rodríguez. (In Press). New records for the bat fauna of Mona island, Puerto Rico, with notes on their natural history. Caribbean J. of Science
• Miranda, E., R. Canales, and A. Rodríguez-Durán. (In Prep.). Computer simulation of bat movements: Importance in understanding roosting assemblages and conservation strategies.

Books and Chapters

• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 1993. Cave bats in Puerto Rico. In Biology (E. P. Solomon, L. R. Berg, D. W. Martin, C. Villee, eds). Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia. 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A., N. López-Ramírez, and H. Quintero. 1997. Ciencias: El Ser Humano y su Ambiente Natural. International Thomson Editores, México. (Textbook for a course on integrated science). 
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. and T.H. Kunz. 2001. Biogeography of bats of the West Indies: An cological perspective. In Biogeography of the West Indies (C. Woods and F. Sergile, eds.) CRC Press.
• Lugo, Ariel E., L. Miranda, A. Vale, T. Lopez, E. Hernandez, A. Garcia, A. Puente, A. G. Tossas, D. A. McFarlane, T. Miller, A. Rodriguez, J. Lundberg, J. Thomlinson, J. Colon, J. H. Schellekens, O. Ramos, and E. Helmer. 2001. Puerto Rican Karst – A Vital Resource.  USDA, Forest Service. General Technical Report WO-65.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2002. Evaluation of the status of bat populations in western Vieques: Recommendations for a wildlife refuge management plan.  Prepared for The Puerto Rico Conservation Trust. 
• Gannon, M.R., A. Kurta, A. Rodríguez-Durán, and M.R. Willig. 2005. The Bats of Puerto Rico: An Island Focus and a Caribbean Perspective. Texas Tech University Press.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2005. Mamíferos Voladores. In Historia Natural de Puerto Rico (R. Joglar, ed.) Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena. 
•  Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2009. Bat assemblages in the West Indies: The role of caves. In Island Bats: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation (T. H. Fleming and P. Racey, eds.). University of Chicago Press.
• Rodriguez-Duran, A. and K. Christenson. In Press. Breviario sobre los Murcielagos de Puerto Rico, La Espanola y las Islas Virgenes. Ediciones Puerto, San Juan.

Other Publications

• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2000. Noche, Sutil Maravilla: Los Murciélagos del Túnel Negro. Alborada Cultural, 5:15.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2002. Los murciélagos en las culturas precolombinas de Puerto Rico. Focus, 1: 15 – 18.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2002. The Karst Province of Puerto Rico: Confluence of Science, Technology, Economic Development, and Conservation. Dimension, 16:19-21.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2003. La "Educación General" en Puerto Rico y algunas divagaciones sobre coquies, tainos y chupacabras. Focus, II(1):61-68.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2003. Los vampiros y la pseudodoxia epidémica. Focus, II(2):43-52.
• Miranda-Maldonado, e., R.R. Canales-Pastrana, and A. Rodríguez-Durán. 2004. Computer code to simulate bat movements and its role in the formation of roosting assemblages. Focus, III(1): 7-12.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2004. Para no perder el paso al siglo XXI: El rol de la universidad y del país. Focus, III(1):43-50.
• Rodríguez-Durán, A. 2004. La raza asimétrica: Una definición del hispano y sus implicaciones para "the melting pot". Focus III(2): 65-72. 

Synergistic Activities

• Fundación Museo de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico. Consultant for the development of the Museum of Natural History (pro bono, 1997 – present). The Foundation of the museum of natural history is a non-profit group working with the local government to establish a quality museum in Puerto Rico, one of few U.S. jurisdictions deprived of such an establishment.
• U. S. Forest Service New Century of Service Award (2002) as part of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry’s Karst Group.  This group consists of an interdisciplinary team from federal and state agencies, academia, and environmental groups. The aim is to establish a large unfragmented reserve along the northern karst province of Puerto Rico.
• Activity Director of development of faculty competencies in technology and student centered learning to improve student academic outcomes. This is a Department of Education Title V project (2001 – 2006) for the standardization and enhancement of science gateway courses.
• Cuentos del Carso (Zulma Ayes, author).  Series of three short stories for kids ages 10 to 12.  Worked with the author and the illustrator to provide scientifically correct literary and visual images. The intention with this work is to provide young readers not only good literature, but information on the natural history of their surroundings, dispelling some myths, and raising environmental awareness.

Abstracts (selected)

• 2007. The importance of caves for bat assemblages in the West Indies. 3rd International Biogeography Society Conference, Tenerife, Spain.
• 2007. Predation on bats by feral cats at Culebrones Cave, Puerto Rico. 14th International Bat Research Conference, Merida, Mexico.
• 2004. Bat assemblages in the West Indies: The role of caves. Symposium on Ecology and Conservation of Island Bats (Invited contribution). ATBC, Miami, FL.
• 2001. Oxygen Transport and Wing Morphology of Antillean bats. 31st North American Symposium on Bat Research. Victoria, Canada.
• 1998. Renal structure of bats in Puerto Rico. 11th International Bat Research Meeting, Pirenopolis, Brazil.
• 1995. Bat predation by the Puerto Rican boa: Foraging ecology, carrion feeding, and piracy. Joint meeting of the 25th North American Symposium on Bat Research and the 10th International Bat Research Conference, Boston, USA. 
• 1994. Population estimate in a complex bat colony. 24 th North American Symposium on Bat Research. Ixtapa, México. 
• 1992. Patterns of use and association among Antillean cave dwelling bats. 9th International Bat Research Conference. Madurai Kamaraj, Madurai, India. 
• 1989. Comparative physiological ecology of bats roosting in hot-caves. 8th International Bat Research Conference. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. 
• 1988. Morphoecology of insect-eating bats (In Spanish). XII Research Congress, Inter American Univ. Condado Plaza, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
• 1987. Food habits and skull morphology of Antillean insect-eating bats. 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. 
• 1985. Feeding ecology of three species of bats from western Puerto Rico. 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists. University of Maine, Orono. 
• 1983. Merlin predation on insectivorous bats (In Spanish). 5th Symposium on the Fauna of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. University of Puerto Rico, Humacao, Puerto Rico.

DIRECTED STUDENT RESEARCH

Undergraduate

• Yarisa Montes. Skull morphology of Antillean bats (Co-directed with Allen R. Lewis, UPR-Mayagüez). 1987. 
• Carolyn Parra and Glorimel Pérez. Ecological assessment of sector Mata de Plátanos, Arecibo. (Co-directed with Francisco Marcano-Santiago, UIPR-Bayamón). 1992. 
• Juan Fernández. A technique to estimate population size of bats in complex roosts. 1994. 
• Bert Rivera. Comparative analysis of the renal structure of bats. 1997 to 1998. 
• Rafael Vázquez. Foraging ecology of the fruit eating bat Artibeus jamaicensis. 1997- 2000. 
• Nancy Cintrón. Social Structure of Artibeus jamaicensis using PCR. 1997 - 1999. 
• Larisa Archilla and Dérlim Bravo. Bucal microbiota of bats. (Co-directed with José Pérez-Jiménez, UIPR-Bayamón). 1997- 2000. 
• Julio A. Soto-Centeno. Temperature preferences of bats roosting in hot-caves. 1998 - 2001. 
• Lee De León, Viviana Negron, Jesus Rios. Roosting ecology of Molossus molossus. 2001 - 2005.
• Mari Ana montalban, Jean M. Sandoval, Jansel Perez. Predation on cats by feral cats. 2006 - Present.

Graduate

• Wilmarie Cruz (M.S. student). Impact of urban development and environmental disturbance on bat diversity and abundance (Graduate Program in Environmental Science, IAUPR - San Germán).

Graduate committee member (not as major advisor) 

• Ramón López-Rosado (M.S. student). Population Genetics Studies in Bats. (UPR-Mayagüez).
• Bert Rivera-Marchand (M.S. student). Reproductive biology of columnar cacti pollinated by bats. (UPR-Río Piedras).
• Carlos Conde Costa (Ph.D. Student). Nitrogen Dynamics in a Tropical Cave Stream. (UPR-Río Piedras).

SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS

•  Lecturer and Session Leader - 9th International Bat Research Conference. Madurai, India (1992). 
• Workshop Leader - Ecological methods for the study of tropical bats. 10th International Bat Research Conference, Boston (1995, post-conference workshop in Puerto Rico).

EDITORIAL REVIEWS 

• Reviewer for the journals Biotropica, Caribbean Journal of Science, Journal of Mammalogy, Acta Chiropterologica, and for the National Science Foundation.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Board of Directors, Residents Association, Urb. Parque San Miguel (1996-1998). 
• Fundación Museo de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico (consultant for the design of the Museum of Natural History, 1995-1997).
• Ciudadanos del Karso (environmental organization). Scientific Advisor, 1998 - present.
• Bat Conservation International. Scientific Advisory Board. 2000 - present.
• Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Puerto Rico. Advisory Board to the Secretary on matters of wildlife. 2001 - 2003.

AWARD AND COMMENDATIONS 

• 2009. International Institute of Tropical forestry US Forest Service Science  Award “In recognition of long term research on bats”.
• 2008. IUCN Global Mammal Assessment: Small mammals of Mesoamerica, México and the Caribbean, Centro Zamorano de Biodiversidad, Honduras. Member of the Chiroptera Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission.

• 2006. NSF’s Committee of Visitors to Evaluate the Program of Environmental Sciences.

• 2002. United Who's Who Registry.
• 2002. Dedication of the 22nd Symposium on Wildlife. Sacred Heart University, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
• 1992. Dedication of the 7th Initiation Ceremony; Students Techno-Scientific Association, Inter American University at Bayamón, Puerto Rico. 
• 1989. Exceptional Merit Award Inter American University of Puerto Rico (One faculty member was selected at each campus based on his/her performance in teaching, service to the University, community service and research; a cash prize accompanied the award).

HOBBIES 

• Sea-Kayaking, snorkeling, literature and history.

MISCELANEOUS 

• Field experience with bats in Australia, Brazil, India, New England, México,Costa Rica, Panamá, Malaysia, and Dominican Republic. Some research experience with insects, nectar-feeding birds, and estuaries.