Speaker Spotlight: Jose-Luis Isurza

ABSTRACT

Freshwater prawns have a high market value, short harvest cycle, and high market demand. Under the assumption that the waste of prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) does not produce enough nutrients to supply their vegetative counterparts Ocimum basilicum (Genovese Basil), the supposed nutrient deficiency was supplemented using worm castings mixed with water to create a vermicompost solution. This solution was added to the systems in the amounts of 1% and 3% based on the aquaponics system water volume. The observation and data collection on plant growth, prawn growth, and water quality were measured every two weeks, every week, and every day, respectively. After 5 weeks of observation, no significant difference in plant growth or prawn growth was observed in both treatments.

BIO 

Jose-Luis Izursa is a lecturer and advisor in the Environmental Science and Technology department at the University of Maryland. He completed a post-doctoral program with the University of Florida, focusing his research on quantifying energy balances of biofuel feedstock production systems and their effect on greenhouse gases production. Prior to that, Dr. Izursa was the Director of science and research at Fundación Natura Bolivia, where part of his work focused on climate smart agriculture and sustainable food production, designing and utilizing innovative social markets techniques as payment for ecosystem services. In cooperation with the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University, he was engaged in developing social games to study local leadership and the voluntary provision of public goods in rural communities in Bolivia.

He also worked as a program coordinator for Conservation International and a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund in Washington DC.  He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences; his M.Sc. in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland; his M.Sc. in Higher Education from the University Amazónica of Pando and has won a number of honors and awards including the Fulbright and the Russell E. Train Education for Nature Fellowships.

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