Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This short paper presents an informal, personal view of factors that may help - or prevent - women to embrace careers in computing. Based on the author's professional and personal experience, it mixes facts with conjectures on how we may work towards a more gender-diverse future, with the help of scientific societies.

This special issue of the CLEI Electronic Journal (CLEIej) consists of extended and revised versions of Selected Papers presented at the 44rd Latin American Conference in Informatics (CLEI 2019), held in Panama City, Panama, September 30th to October 4th, 2019.

This study aimed to evaluate the soil quality through quality indexes consisting of three minimum data sets (3, 5 and 6 indicators) in five agroecosystems with organic coffee (Coffea arabica), guatila or chayote (Sechium edule), polyculture (Anthurium andraeanum, Manihot esculenta, Musa balbisiana o Zea mays), conventional pasture (Pennisetum clandestinum y Cynodon dactylon) and Guadua (Guadua angustifolia), in the municipality of Cachipay (Cundinamarca). During the sampling, two representative areas were randomly selected for each agroecosystem and two quadrants (2.5 x 2.5 m) were delimited, from which two composite samples of soil were taken (20 subsamples, depth of 0-15 cm). It was evidenced that independent of the minimum set of data used, the lowest soil quality indexes were presented by the conventional pasture and the guatila culture. The highest values of the quality index corresponded to polyculture, forest and organic coffee cultivation. In conclusion, the use of variables such as bulk density, stability index, pH, dehydrogenase activity, heterotrophic density and solubilized phosphate bacteria are important indicators to measure the soil quality in agroecosystems.

The Tropical Forestry Center (CFT) "Pedro Antonio Pineda" (Buenaventura, Colombia), is the main academic training center with rural character at the Faculty of Forestry Engineering, University of Tolima, located at the territory of the community council of Afro-descendant communities. Between 2013 and 2017, observations were made in seven locations associated with three habitat types (open areas, forest edge and forest interior), mainly in April and September, to provide knowledge of the tropical forest birds of the CFT. In overall, 166 species were registered (20 orders and 40 taxonomic families); the order with the highest relative abundance was Passeriformes (62.6%) and the families with the highest relative abundance were Thraupidae (17.3%) and Tyrannidae (8.9%). There were 22 species nearly endemic and 31 with migratory status; from a regional context, most of the birds were recorded in open areas (44 species) followed by forest edge species (42 species).

Aboveground biomass estimation, using machine-learning systems, is useful for rapid and systematic knowledge of productivity in forests and plantations. In this study, forest aboveground biomass (AGB) was estimated for plantations of Eucalyptus grandis and Pinus spp located in the central-eastern sector of the department of Cauca (Colombia). The variables with the highest incidence in AGB for E. grandis were the SWIR bands and the VV polarization textures, while for Pinus spp. were Correlationvv, GNDVI and B2. The models obtained by combining optical data and SAR show better results with a determination coefficient R2 = 0.27 and an average square error EMC = 42.75 t.ha-1 in E. grandis, and R2 = 0.36 and EMC = 141.71 t.ha-1 in Pinus spp. The study demonstrated the potential of combining Sentinel data to estimate AGB in commercial plantations and the use of Randon forest for model construction.

Despite the numerous scientific information on global climate change, there are no studies that show effects on biodiversity on a smaller scale. Therefore, using 19 bioclimatic variables, five solar radiation, altitude, specialized software (MaxEnt) and geographical coordinates of the presence of five species of categorized flora verified in the field, their current ecological niches were modeled and projected to the four future emission scenarios (2050 and 2070) showing that Buddleja coriacea will decrease by more than 80 % due to future variations in precipitation and temperature due to climate change, while Carica candicans, Haplorhus peruviana, Kageneckia lanceolata and Weberbauerella brongniartioides will remain and increase, deducing that Its threat categories derive mainly from anthropogenic activity. These models significantly improve the understanding of ecosystem functioning, providing useful information to design conservation policies and actions that guide territorial management towards the Ecosystem-based Adaptation strategy.

Melina, also known as white teak, is a species of high timber quality and economic importance for different tropical countries like Colombia. However, information about its genetics is scarce, which is relevant for breeding programs. In order to determine the genome size of Gmelina arborea (C value), nuclei suspensions were obtained from leaves, and analyzed using flow cytometry. To obtain aqueous nuclei suspensions, four extraction buffers were evaluated, LB01 buffer produced intact populations with greater homogeneity. Three species were analyzed as possible reference standards for the determination of the C value; using tomato as a reference species, a C value for melina of 467 Mpb was obtained. This is the first report related to the estimation of the C value in Gmelina arborea, generating important information to increase knowledge related to this species

The purpose of this research is evaluating the results of the effect of M. bracteata, Desmodium sp y P. phaseoloides cover crops in growth, and their influence in the phytosanitary conditions of a two years old natural rubber crop in the “Altillanura Colombiana”. We established treatments by cover crop with three repeats and a control crop. The development of the trees was evaluated through the measurement of perimeter and total height. Additionally, inoculations of C. gloesporioides were carried out in the three cover crops under semi-controlled conditions. It was found that the three cover crops generated a slight increase in the organic matter of the soil and have a favorable effect on the development of the trees. Also, that the most frequently isolated fungi corresponded to Cladosporium sp., E. sorgui and Fusarium sp., and that the inoculations showed that the three coverages are susceptible to C. gloesporioides.

In tropical montane forests, bryophytes are important in terms of diversity and functioning, in which epiphyllous species grow on tree leaves of trees and shrubs, and they are particularly abundant. The objective of this article was to evaluate epiphyllous bryophyte species richness and community composition in three canopy zones (low, medium, high) of a host tree in “La Amistad” International Park, Panama. From each sampled tree, six random leaves were randomly collected, two per canopy zone. A total of 48 species were recorded, of which 89% belong to Marchantiophyta and 11% to Bryophyta. The Lejeuneaceae family accounted for 70% of the species. Species richness decreased from the lowest to the highest canopy zone, however, species communities were similar between zones. Microclimatic conditions characteristic of the forest understory might have favoured greater species richness in the lower canopy zone. Further research is needed, for taking into account environmental factors and forest structure may lead to a better understanding of the observed changes in diversity.