Rebeca de Jesús Crespo
Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences
Phone: 225-578-4293
Email: [email protected]
Office: 1263 Energy, Coast and Environment Building
Bachelor's Degree(s): B.S. Biological Sciences, The University of Puerto Rico, 2004
Master's Degrees(s): M.S. Biological Sciences, The University of Puerto Rico, 2008
Ph.D.(s): Ph.D. Integrative Conservation and Ecology, The University of Georgia, 2015
Research interests
Socio-Ecological Systems Dynamics, Urban Ecology, Mosquito Vector Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Landscape Ecology, Watershed Management, Environmental Justice
Research Areas
My current research areas include: The linkages between ecosystem services and human health/well-being; The application of ecosystem service valuation for resilience planning; The ecology of mosquito vectors across socio-ecological gradients in cities; The role of socio-economic disparities on environmental hazard exposure in the US.
Awards
College of the Coast and the Environment Outstanding Faculty Research Award 2022-2023
Louisiana State University Rising Research Faculty Award, 2022-2023
National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellowship, 2019
Environmental Justice Award; the USEPA Office for Research and Development; 2018
Scientist of the Year; The USEPA Office for Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division; 2017
The Ford Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2014
The American Association for University Women Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2014
The Fulbright Foundation U.S. Student Program Research Grant, 2013
Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research; 2013
The Odum School of Ecology Solitary Glove Award; 2012
The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute Travel Grant: 2010
Outstanding Graduate-Student; 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Tropical Ecosystem Studies, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras; 2008.
The University of Puerto Rico Center for Applied Tropical Ecology Grant: 2006
Selected Publications
Rogers, R. E., Polito, M. J, de Jesús Crespo, R. (2023). Tree canopy cover affects basal resources and nutrient profiles of Aedes and Culex larvae in cemetery vases in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. (Journal of Medical Entomology).
De Jesús Crespo, R., & Rogers, R. E. (2022). Habitat Segregation Patterns of Container Breeding Mosquitos: The Role of Urban Heat Islands, Vegetation Cover, and Income Disparity in Cemeteries of New Orleans. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 245.
De Jesus Crespo, R., Harrison, M., Rogers, R., Vaeth, R. (2021). Mosquito Vector Production across Socio-Economic Divides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4).
De Jesús Crespo, R., Méndez Lázaro, P., Yee, S. H. Linking Wetland Ecosystem Services to Vector-borne Disease: Dengue Fever in the San Juan Bay Estuary, Puerto Rico. Wetlands. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0990-5
De Jesus Crespo, R., Wu, J., Myer, M., Yee, S., Fulford, R. (2019). Flood protection ecosystem services in the coast of Puerto Rico: Associations between extreme weather, flood hazard mitigation and gastrointestinal illness. Science of The Total Environment, 676, 343-355. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.287
Yee, S. H., Yee, D. A., De Jesus Crespo, R., Oczkowski, A., Bai, F., Friedman, S. (2019). Linking Water Quality to Aedes aegypti and Zika in Flood-Prone Neighborhoods. EcoHealth, 16(2), 191-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10393-019-01406-6
De Jesus Crespo, R., Fulford, R. (2018). Eco-Health linkages: assessing the role of ecosystem goods and services on human health using causal criteria analysis. International Journal of Public Health, 63(1), 81-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1020-3
Book Chapters
Summers, J.K, L.M Smith, R. S. Fulford and R. de Jesus Crespo. 2018 The Role of Ecosystem Services in Community Well-Being. Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology (InTech Publishing). DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74068.
Government Reports
Yee, S., J. Bousquin, R. Bruins, T.J. Canfield, T. DeWitt, R. de Jesus Crespo, B. Dyson, R. Fulford, M. Harwell, J. Hoffman, C. Littles, J.M. Johnston, B. McKane, L. Ruiz-Green, M. Russell, L. Sharpe, N. Seeteram, A. Tashie, and K. Williams. 2017. Practical Strategies for Integrating Final Ecosystem Goods and Services into Community Decision-Making. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, FL, EPA/600/R-17/ USA. EPA/600/R-17/266.
Johnston, J. M., de Jesus Crespo, R., Harwell, M., Jackson, C., Myer, M., Seeteram, N., ... & Hoffman, J. (2017). Valuing Community Benefits of Final Ecosystem Goods and Services: Human Health and Ethnographic Approaches as Complements to Economic Valuation. National Exposure Research Laboratory, Computational Exposure Division.