Rebeca de Jesus Crespo headshotRebeca de Jesús Crespo

 Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences

Phone: 225-578-4293

Email: rdejesuscrespo1@lsu.edu 

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.