ARIA CARRERAS PEREIRA, Ph.D
ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY, BIOGEOCHEMISTRY, MYCORRHIZAE
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am an ecosystem ecologist/biogeochemist with a Ph.D from Columbia University where I worked in the Menge Lab. My doctoral research investigated the use of mycorrhizae as functional plant traits to evaluate forest nitrogen cycling and was motivated by the principal question of “how do individual trees and forest communities interact through belowground mycelial networks? By bridging aboveground ecosystem dynamics with belowground fungal interactions, I examine how plant-soil feedbacks and resource transfer shape forest communities.
My long-term goal is to translate these fundamental belowground symbioses into practical strategies for functional land rehabilitation, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem restoration in a changing climate.
News
August 2024- Presented at ESA in Long Beach, California
August 2024- Maya, Sarah, Lauren, and Marina present their summer research at the SRI Poster Presentation at Barnard
May 2024- Congrats to Maya, Sarah, Laurina, and Marina on their acceptance into the Summer Research Institute & Welcome to the Merry Mycorrhizae lab!
May 2024- Congratulations to Tamia and Sonja on finishing their senior theses and graduating with their BS!
March 2024- Awarded the David Redden Conservation Science Fund
March 2024- Awarded the Incite Institute Dissertation Grant
March 2024- Awarded the Provost Diversity Fellows Small Grants Program
March 2024- Dissertation Proposal Defense!
August 2023- Presented at ESA in Portland, Oregon
August 2023- Tamia, Sonja, Angie, and Marisol presented their summer research at the SRI Poster Presentation at Barnard
May 2023- Congrats to Tamia, Sonja, Angie, and Marisol on their acceptance into the Summer Research Institute & Welcome to the Merry Mycorrhizae lab!
April 2023- Traveled to Mexico with the McAlvay lab to investigate soil biogeochemistry and agroecology practices of milpa crop systems of the Wixárika