The Ramirez Lab, NCSU
@aramirezlab.bsky.social
Lab account- We study tropical stream ecology, urban streams, and macroinvertebrates.
¡Miércoles de metodología! 💧 Aquí les mostramos cómo nuestras técnicas de campo, Adriana y Gabriela, realizan el muestreo de macroinvertebrados en nuestro proyecto de StreamFRE en Puerto Rico. #StreamFRE #puertorico #LUQLTER #streamecology #macroinvertebrados
Starting the Society for Freshwater Science annual meeting in Spokane Washington by recognizing and celebrating two of our lab members! Congratulations to Alonso for joining the SFS Class of Fellows and to Alex for her travel award! #SFS2026 #freshwaterscience
Congratulations to the 2026 inductees into the Fellows of the Society for Freshwater Science: Dr. Alonso Ramírez, Dr. Mark Gessner, and Dr. Nicholas Aumen! Learn more about their contributions to freshwater science: www.freshwater-science.org/news-item/22... #FreshwaterScience
New publication on the dynamics of coarse particulate organic matter in tropical montane streams. We used our 8-yr dataset to explore the timing, magnitude, and sources of coarse particulate organic matter to our study streams in Puerto Rico. J. Tropical Ecology: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
New Research: How do hurricanes affect the "hidden" world of tropical streams? 🌧️🐜 We found that meiofauna richness and abundance actually increase following major disturbances. Read the full paper in @plosone.org here: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Wishing everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️
Celebrating our team members on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! #IDWGS #womenforscience #WomenInSTEM #Diamujeryniñaenciencia #11f2026
A new study by Reyes-Maldonado et al maps the detailed neuromuscular architecture of the non-biting midge Chironomus vitellinus, to facilitate its use as a model organism in environmental studies and establish the Chironomus neuromuscular junction as an aquatic toxicity marker.
The neuromuscular system of Chironomus vitellinus (Diptera: Chironomidae)
Chironomids are important laboratory model organisms used to assess toxicity in freshwater environments. Cell and tissue features are not commonly used as chironomid markers to detect toxicity, but…
plos.io
Sharing our new publications: Reyes-Maldonado R, A. Ramírez, B. Marie. 2026. The neuromuscular system of Chironomus vitellinus (Diptera: Chironomidae). PLOS ONE 21(1):e0326394. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... Open Access in @plosone.org
Starting the 2026 with lots of plans and goals!
Hurricanes are major disturbances that alter dramatically stream ecosystems. Here we looked at the stability and resilience trajectories of two small tropical streams following major hurricane impacts. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... @pabloguticr.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org
We hope everyone han a great Thanksgiving day!
Alisotrichia (Hydroptilidae: Trichoptera) - a curious microcaddisfly that, as a larva, does not build a case until it is ready to pupate. Almost all Hydroptilidae make silken cases, but Alisotrichia has a free-living larva and inhabits fast flowing habitats. This specimen is from Puerto Rico.
Heteragrion (Odonata: Heteragrionidae), one of the most beautiful damselfly larvae from Centra America! This predators are common in small forested streams, where they leave among leaves and under rocks.
Using automatic sensors in streams- Sharing some pics of our monitoring stations in Costa Rica. We're using sensors to monitor streams over time to understand how environments fluctuate and modify biotic community structure or ecosystem function.
Congratulations to our lab alumni on their professional achievements: - Pablo Gutiérrez began as an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez - Mariely Vega began her work as a Policy Fellow with the NC Sea Grant program - Ana Meza shared her postdoctoral work at Macrolatinos
Big thanks to the Macrolatinos network and the organizers of the VII meeting in Colombia for this recognition!
We had a great time presenting our research at the VII Latin American Meeting of Freshwater Macroinvertebrates in Manizales, Colombia, last week. It was great to finally meet in person after several online meetings since the pandemic. www.macrolatinos.net
A beautiful helicopter damselfly (Megaloprepus caerulatus) in the rainforest!
Tropical research: What I think I'm going to see vs. what I'll actually see … Investigar en el trópico: Lo que pienso que voy a ver vs. lo que realmente estaré viendo…
Studying the effects of nutrients on organic matter decomposition in tropical streams. Our team is working at La Selva, Costa Rica, using cotton strips to evaluate the effects of natural phosphorus inputs on ecosystem function.
What’s our lab up to in Costa Rica this summer?
Time to start our summer field work in Costa Rica!
Gold-tipped Darner (Gynacantha tibiata: Aeshnidae) is an active flyer over swamps in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. #CostaRica #Wildlife #Odonata #Dragonflies #BugSky #nature #wildlife #animals #photography #Outdoors
A pretty dragonfly from the genus Aphylla (Gomphidae / Forceptails), from the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. This group likes swamps and ponds, the picture was taken in a seasonal swamp. #CostaRica #Wildlife #Odonata #Dragonflies #BugSky #nature #wildlife #animals #photography #Outdoors
Sharing information on aquatic insects during a fishing tournament in Puerto Rico. We had a wonderful time!
