Carla López Lloreda

IGC FELLOW    |   Global Change Center

Ph.D. Student  •   Biological Sciences  

Advisor: Dr. Erin Hotchkiss

Research Interests: Watershed biogeochemistry, greenhouse gasses, carbon cycling, disturbance impacts

carlalopez@vt.edu • Google Scholar • Twitter

Carla is from Puerto Rico and a PhD student in Dr. Hotchkiss’ lab. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from her home institution, the University of Puerto at Río Piedras. During her undergraduate, she worked on projects understanding the role of animals in nutrient cycling and on characterizing the aquatic habitat of Puerto Rico’s only native toad, the Puerto Rican Crested toad. After her bachelor’s, Carla worked as a research technician with the University of New Hampshire and Oak Ridge National lab, based in El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. During that time, Carla was in charge of running the on-the-ground research for two projects: one studying stream biogeochemistry and another measuring soil greenhouse gas emissions. Both projects turned into disturbance studies with the passing of Hurricane María in 2017, and she worked throughout the recovery of the forest until 2020. Throughout her time as a technician, she was able to contribute to important work understanding the impacts of disturbance on tropical forests and was driven by this experience to pursue graduate school.

She is broadly interested in watershed biogeochemistry and her graduate work will focus on quantifying and understanding greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands, focusing on different global regions and controls. Her work will take place in geographically isolated wetlands in the Delmarva Peninsula, Maryland, where she will focus on evaluating the role of wetland landscape variables and hydrologic connectivity on greenhouse gasses. She also hopes to work in wetlands in Puerto Rico, with the aim of understanding the impacts of changing land use on greenhouse gasses, on a landscape scale as well as on a local network scale. During her graduate work she also hopes to contribute to outreach and education and has been a part of two funded education projects that work with Puerto Rico students. Within the IGC, Carla hopes to learn from a community that is interested in tackling complex environmental challenges and finding ways to approach these. She is also excited about expanding her outreach and improving how she communicates her science to broader communities.