Dr Dunia H. Urrego
Associate Professor in Biodiversity & Climate Change Director of Equity Diversity & Inclusion for Geography
D.Urrego@exeter.ac.uk
5874
Laver Building 806
Laver Building, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
Overview
My research focuses on the response of biodiversity to environmental change and human-landscape interactions in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. I use fossilised plant and fungal remains to understand past ecosystem and climate dynamics. I currently lead a group of researchers investigating ecological consequences of megafaunal extinctions, resilience and ecological baselines, the tropical signal of abrupt climate events, and mangrove forest development and carbon sequestration. My early work has highlighted the resilience of Amazonian forests to temperature change and sensitivity to drought, that natural fires and drought drive treeline dynamics in the tropical Andes and that climate change can halt coral reef development in the eastern tropical Pacific. I have worked on understanding how environmental change influenced the development of modern humans in southern Africa and produced the first formal assessment of climate change communication in Colombia. I also led the international network LaACER on abrupt climate change and environmental responses in the American tropics (http://ephe-paleoclimat.com/acer/LaACER.htm).
Links
Google scholar profile: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=GJ0yDhsAAAAJ
Qualifications
PhD in Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, United States
BEng in Forest engineering, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
Career
2023-present Associate Professor in Biodiversity and Climate Change, University of Exeter, UK.
2018-2023 Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Exeter, UK.
2017-2019 Visiting scientist, Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
2013-2018 Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Exeter, UK.
2010-2013 Postdoctoral researcher ERC-CNRS, Université Bordeaux, France.
2009-2010 Adjunct professor, Department of Biology, Florida Institute of Technology, USA.
2006-2010 Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biology, Florida Institute of Technology, USA
Research group links
Research
Research interests
My main research interests are biodiversity and climate change in the tropical Andes and Amazonia. I have worked for 25 years at the interface between the biosphere, the climate system, and human and social systems, understanding how biodiversity responds to environmental change, the functioning of the climate system and human-landscape interactions.
Research projects
BioResilience: Biodiversity resilience and ecosystem services in post-conflict socio-ecological systems in Colombia - NERC/AHRC
This project will examine the long-term resilience of Colombian forest ecosystems to environmental and climatic changes and improve understanding of the future implications of forest degradation for Colombian society. We focus on forests that are not pristine in that they are used by local communities and are affected by logging and fire. BioResilience fills a research gap in understanding how forests, which may be regarded as biologically 'degraded', have undergone changes in biodiversity, in ecosystem services, and in how they participate in local and global cycles of carbon and energy. The project will integrate ecological and socio-cultural research and focus on existing cultures of biodiversity conservation. This understanding is essential if the scientific evidence is to be integrated into long-term management plans and policy, as forest degradation in Colombia is strongly associated with changes to the fabric of social life, including the effects of sustained conflict.
Mangrove ecosystem functioning and degradation in a delta under pressure
This project aims to assess the effects of human interventions on mangrove ecosystem functioning in the Magdalena River Delta, Colombia. We are working with high-school students and teachers from Colegio San Jose in Barranquilla (http://colsanjose.edu.co) with the aim to foster knowledge transfer and increase public awareness on ecosystem services provided by mangrove forests. This is a seed money project with funding from the Future Deltas Initiative at Utrecht University, Netherlands (https://www.uu.nl/en/futuredeltas/project-mangroves-under-pressure), and the Strategic Development Fund from the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at Exeter.
Read our expedition blog here: http://geoblog.weebly.com/expedition-colombia
See our dissemination video here: https://vimeo.com/255247604
The origins of plant domestication in the upper Madeira River basin in lowland South America - NERC/FAPEAM
The principal aim of this project is to combine paleoecology and archaebotany to trace the origin, dispersal and phylogeography of native Amazonian crops. We are currently working in lakes and archaeological sites both in Brazil and Bolivia, Upper Madeira region in Western Amazonia. Funding support is provided by NERC (UK) and Fapeam (Brazil). More information can be found here: https://grants.uberresearch.com/501100000270/5751E9C9-B2F0-4449-84C1-536746D52BA6/The-origins-of-plant-domestication-in-the-upper-Madeira-River-basin-in-lowland-South-America
Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses - ACER
ACER is an International Focus Group of INQUA (International Quaternary Association) that aims to understand the timing, frequency and amplitude of the rapid climate variability and the feedback mechanisms involved. This will help us in understanding the abrupt CO2 and CH4 changes recorded in ice cores and inform our predictions of the responses of the earth system to accelerated climate change. LaACER is a project under ACER that focuses in the regional signature of abrupt climate events in the American tropics. ACER and LaACER have received funding from INQUA, PAGES and NERC. Read more here: http://www.ephe-paleoclimat.com/acer/Home%20acer.htm
Publications
Journal articles
Chapters
External Engagement and Impact
International recognition, such as international research collaborations, visiting research posts in overseas institutions, involvement at senior levels in international research associations, acting as referee for national and international research councils.
2017-2019 Visiting scientist - Utrecht University, Netherlands. Funded by the Netherlands science foundation (NWO)
https://www.uu.nl/staff/DHUrregoSanchez
Research networks
Lead of international research network: Latin American Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses (LaACER):
Teaching
Modules
- GEO1312 - Fieldwork in Physical Geography
- GEO2230 - Reconstructing Past Environments (module lead)
- GEO2324 - Research design
- GEO3321/2 - BSc Dissertation
Modules
2023/24
Supervision / Group
Postdoctoral researchers
- Felipe Franco Gaviria Ecological baselines and ecosystem resilience in the Colombian Andes
- Anggi Hapsari - Mangrove forest development and carbon sequestration
Postgraduate researchers
- Felipe Franco Gaviria
- Jack William Oughton Millennial-scale climate variability in the American tropics
- Felix Pym - Megafauna Extinctions in the Colombian Andes
Alumni
- Charlotte Durden - Ecological impact of Pleistocene Megafauna extinctions in western Amazonia
- Ismael Garcia-Espinoza - Vegetation and fire dynamics in the high Colombian Andes
- Regina Gonda - Environmental impact of pre-Columbian communities in the Purus Madeira interfluve in Central Amazonia
- S. Yoshi Maezumi - Pre-Columbian Amazon scale transformations
- Alex Room - Regime shift analysis for palaeoecology
Office Hours:
Term 3 Monday 14:30 to 15:30 and Wednesday 11:30-12:30
Please email me to book an student office hour appointment and indicate if you want to meet in my office or online. You will receive an outlook calendar event invitation with a Teams link if needed.
My pronouns are she / her / ella. You can hear my name pronunciation here.