Estuaries

I am currently starting a research program on estuarine ecology taking advantage of my background and research experience as a marine biologist. This program is organized around the following themes:

1) Land-ocean interactions in the coastal zone

2) Regional-scale community ecology of mangrove fauna and flora

3) Detritus-based foodwebs in mangroves

4) Coastal zone conservation and management

The below projects were recently funded and will initiate field work during this year:

a) Linking benthic communities and detritial foodwebs to sedimentation rates at deltaic fans and to upland deforestation and soil erosion at coastal watersheds dominated by extensive banana agriculture at the Uraba region (Río Turbo Watershed, Caribbean coast of Colombia).

b) Regional-scale patterns of macroinvertebrate diversity and phylogeography of selected gastropod and polychaete families associated to mangroves in the Uraba Gulf ( Caribbean coast of Colombia).

c) Scales and controls of spatial variability of biodiversity in mangroves and rocky shores at Utría Sound National Natural Park (Eastern Pacific of Colombia).

GEOGRAPHIC EXPERIENCE

Pacific coast

Buenaventura Bay
Utria Sound

Caribbean coast

Uraba Gulf

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2001. Blanco et al. A new look at computation of the complexity index in mangroves: Do disturbed forests have clues to analyze canopy height patchiness? Wetland Ecology and Management, 9 (2): 91-101.

2001. Blanco. Morphometric alterations of shell in Thais kiosquiformis relative to intertidal position in mangroves. Boletin Ecotropica (Ecosistemas Tropicales), 34: 1-12. (In Spanish).

2001. Cantera & Blanco. The estuary ecosystem of Buenaventura Bay, Colombia. In: U. Seeliger & B. Kjerfve (Eds.) Coastal Ecosystems of Latin America. Ecological Studies, Vol. 144. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

1999. Blanco & Cantera. The vertical distribution of mangrove gastropods and environmental factors relative to tide level on the Central Pacific Coast of Colombia. Bulletin of Marine Science, 65 (3): 617-630.

1995. Blanco & Cantera. Hydrological conditions and human disturbances influencing vegetation structure in Buenaventura Bay mangroves (Colombia). In: J. D. Restrepo & J. R. Cantera (Eds.), Delta del San Juan, Bahías de Málaga y Buenaventura, Pacífico colombiano. Tomo II. Colciencias-Universidad Eafit-Universidad del Valle. (In Spanish. Co-authored four additional chapters).

1994. Blanco & Cantera. The Conidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of the Colombian Pacific Coast. Boletin Ecotropica (Ecosistemas Tropicales). 27: 19-39. (In Spanish).