Dr Juan Carlos Berrio

I carry out research in tropical regions of Latin America including Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela; across diverse ecosystems such as the tropical rainforests of the Amazon Basin, the Orinoco savannas, and the páramo ecosystems of the Andean cordilleras.

My research focuses on understanding the patterns of distribution and dynamics of tropical vegetation, the biogeographical controls on different plant species, and their relationships with the main drivers of climate change. To investigate climate variability and environmental change, I apply multiple proxies to study both long- and short-term sedimentary records across various tropical biomes. Much of my work is dedicated to tracing climate fluctuations and vegetation changes at millennial and decadal timescales.

• Sellers, H., Williams, M., Berrio, J.C., De Sabbata, S., Rose, N.L., Turner, S.D., Yang, H., Bennion, H., Sayer, C.D., Roberts, N. and Wrisdale, A., 2025. A mid-20th century stratigraphical Anthropocene is recognisable in the birth-area of the industrial revolution. The Anthropocene Review, 12(2), pp.176-200. https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196241306407

• Mills, M.B., Shenkin, A., Wilkes, P., Disney, M., Page, S., Berrio, J.C., Kaduk, J., Malhi, Y., Robert, R., Nilus, R. and Riutta, T., 2025. Investigating the accuracy of tropical woody stem CO2 efflux estimates: scaling methods, and vertical and diel variation. New Phytologist, 246(5), 2004-2014. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70122

• Wang, Y., Feldpausch, T., Swindles, G., Moss, P., McGowan, H., Sim, T., Morris, P., Benfield, A., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Wahl, D., Berrio, J.C .,Montoya, E. et al., 2025. Unprecedented burning in tropical peatlands during the 20th century compared to the previous two millennia: Tropical peatland burning through time. Global Change Biology.

• Anderson, K.C., Beekman, C.S., Heredia Espinoza, V.Y., Berrio, J.C., 2025. An 8500‐Year Record of Lacustrine Activity and Changes in Archaeological Settlement Patterns in the Magdalena Lake Basin, Jalisco, Mexico. Geoarchaeology, 40(2), p.e70007. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.70007 

• Holmes, R., Salzmann, U., Djamaluddin, R., Hocking, E.P., Williams, M., Berrio, J.C., Siregar, I., Tjoa, B.A., Fusi, M. and Diele, K., 2025. Mangrove dynamics and resilience in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, across the Holocene. Ecological Indicators, 171, p.113231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113231

• Mills, M.B., Both, S., Jotan, P., Huaraca Huasco, W., Cruz, R., Pillco, M.M., Burslem, D.F., Maycock, C., Malhi, Y., Ewers, R.M. and Berrio, J.C., 2024. From tree to plot: investigating stem CO2 efflux and its drivers along a logging gradient in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. New Phytologist 244: 91–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20043

• Williams, M., Zalasiewicz, J., Barnosky, A.D., Leinfelder, R., Head, M.J., Waters, C.N., McCarthy, F.M., Cearreta, A., Aldridge, D.C., McGann, M. and Hamilton, P.B., Berrio, J.C., 2024. Palaeontological signatures of the Anthropocene are distinct from those of previous epochs. Earth-Science Reviews, p.104844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104844

• Holmes, R., Pelser, P., Barcelona, J., Tjitrosoedirdjo, S.S., Wahyuni, I., van Kleunen, M., Pyšek, P., Essl, F., Kreft, H., Dawson, W., Berrio, J.C., Wijedasa, L., 2024. Naturalizations have led to homogenization of the Malesian flora in the Anthropocene. Journal of Biogeography, 51(3), pp.394-408. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14766

• van der Sande, M.T., Bush, M.B., Åkesson, C.M., Berrio, J.C., Correia Metrio, A., Flantua, S.G., Hooghiemstra, H., Maezumi, S.Y., McMichael, C.N., Montoya, E., Mosblech, N.A., 2023. Warming, drought, and disturbances lead to shifts in functional composition: A millennial‐scale analysis for Amazonian and Andean sites. Global Change Biology. 29:4775–4792. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16818

• Holmes, R., Pelser, P., Barcelona, J., Tjitrosoedirdjo, S.S., Wahyuni, I., van Kleunen, M., Pyšek, P., Essl, F., Kreft, H., Dawson, W., Wijedasa, L., Kortz, A., Hejda, M., Berrio, J.C., Siregar, I., Williams, M. 2023. The naturalized vascular flora of Malesia. Biol Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02989-y

• Himson, S., Williams, M., Zalasiewicz, J., Waters, C., McGann, M., England, R., Jaffe, B. E., Boom, A., Holmes, R., Sampson, S., Pye, C., Berrio, J. C., Tyrrell, G., Wilkinson, I. P., Rose, N., Gaca, P., & Cundy, A. 2023. The San Francisco Estuary, USA as a reference section for an Anthropocene series. The Anthropocene Review, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221147607

• Crifò, C., Berrio, J.C, Boom, A., Giraldo-Cañas, D., and Bremond, L. 2023. A paleothermometer for the northern Andes based on C3–C4 grass phytoliths. Paleobiology, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.44

• Williams, M., Leinfelder, R., Barnosky, A.D., Head, M.J., McCarthy, F.M., Cearreta, A., Himson, S., Holmes, R., Waters, C.N., Zalasiewicz, J., Berrio, J.C., Turner, S., Zinke, J. 2022. Planetary‐scale change to the biosphere signalled by global species translocations can be used to identify the Anthropocene. Palaeontology, 65(4), p.e12618. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12618
  Hooghiemstra, H., Sarmiento-Pérez, G., Torres-Torres, V., Berrío, J.C., Lourens, L., Flantua, S.G.A. 2022. 60 years of scientific deep drilling in Colombia: the north Andean guide to the Quaternary. Scientific Drilling 30, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-1-2022

• Espinoza, I.G., Franco-Gaviria, F., Castañeda, I., Robinson, C., Room, A., Berrío, J.C., Armenteras, D. and Urrego, D.H., 2022. Holocene fires and ecological novelty in the high Colombian Cordillera Oriental. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, p.475. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.895152

• Robinson, M., Morcote-Rios, G., Aceituno, F.J., Roberts, P., Berrío, J.C., Iriarte, J. 2021. ‘Moving South’: Late Pleistocene plant exploitation and the importance of palm in the Colombian Amazon. Quaternary, 4(3), p.26. https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4030026

• Velez, M.I., Mackenzie, M., Boom, A., Bremond, L., Gonzalez, N., Carr, A., Berrio, J.C. 2021. Lacustrine responses to middle and late Holocene anthropogenic activities in the northern tropical Andes. Journal of Palaeoelimnology 65,123-136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-020-00152-y

• Adolf, C., Tovar, C., Kühn, N., Behling, H., Berrio, J.C., Dominguez-Vázquez, G., Figueroa-Rangel, B., Gonzalez-Carranza, Z., Islebe, G.A., Hooghiemstra, H., Neff, H., Olvera-Vargas, M., Whitney, B., Wooller, M., Willis, K.J. 2019. Identifying drivers of forest resilience in long-term records from the Neotropics. Royal Society Biology Letters,16(4), p.20200005. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0005

• Onyia, N.N., Balzter, H., Berrio, J.C. 2020. Evaluating the performance of vegetation indices for detecting oil pollution effects on vegetation using hyperspectral (Hyperion EO-1) and multispectral (Sentinel-2A) data in the Niger Delta. In Hyperspectral Remote Sensing (pp. 377-399). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102894-0.00018-8

• Onyia, N.N., Balzter, H., Berrio, J.C. 2019. Spectral Diversity Metrics for Detecting Oil Pollution Effect on Biodiversity in the Niger Delta. Remote Sensing 11, 2662; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222662

• Cardale de Schrimpff, M., Berrio, J.C., Groot, A.M., Botero, P., Duncan, N. 2019. Culture and the environment on the floodplain of the river Cauca in southwestern Colombia: Reconstructing the evidence from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. Quaternary International 505, 34-54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.12.022

• Onyia, N.N., Balzter, H., Berrio, J.C. 2018. Normalized Difference Vegetation Vigour Index: A New Remote Sensing Approach to Biodiversity Monitoring in Oil Polluted Regions. Remote Sensing 10, 897. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10060897
  Teh, Y.A., Murphy, W., Berrio, J.C., Page, S., Boom, A. 2017. Spatial and temporal variability in methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from Amazonian tropical peatlands. Journal of Biosciences 14, 3669–3683. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3669-2017

• Leal, A., Bilbao, B., Berrio, J.C., Behling, H., Montoya, J.V., Mendez, C. 2016. Late Holocene gallery-forest retrogression in the Venezuelan Guayana: new data and implications for the conservation of a cultural landscape. The Holocene 26, 1049-1063. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683616632892

• Berrio, J.C., Cleef, A.M. 2016. Vegetation History during the Quaternary in Colombia. In: Bernal, R., S.R. Gradstein & M. Celis. (eds.). Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Volume I. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. pp 55-69. ISBN 978-958-775-727-9.

• Carr, A.S., Armitage, S.J., Berrío, J.C., Bilbao, B.A., and Boom, A. 2016. An optical luminescence chronology for late Pleistocene aeolian activity in the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos. Quaternary Research 85, 299–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2015.12.009

• Bogota-A, R.G., Hooghiemstra, H., Berrio, J.C. 2016. North Andean environmental and climatic change at orbital to submillennial time-scales: Vegetation, water-levels and sedimentary regimes from Lake Fúquene between 284 and 130 ka. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 226, 91-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.09.007

• Groot, H.M., Hooghiemstra, H., Berrio, J.C., Giraldo, C. 2013. North Andean environmental and climatic change at orbital to submillenial time-scales: vegetation, water levels and sedimentary regimes from Lake Fuquene 130-27 ka. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 197, 186-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2013.04.005

• Duncan, N., Cardale Schrimpff, M., Groot, A.M., Botero, P., Betancourt, A., Berrio, J.C. 2013. Human Occupation and the Environment during the Holocene in the River Cauca Valley, Colombia. The evidence from paleobotany and from soil studies. Dialogo Andino 41, 159-170.

• Leal, A., Bilbao, B., Berrio, J.C. 2013. A Contribution to Pollen Rain Characterization in Forest-Savanna Mosaics of the Venezuelan Guayana and Its Use in Vegetation Reconstructions from Sedimentary Records. American Journal of Plant Sciences 4, 33-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2013.47A1006

• Vriend, M., Groot, M.H.M., Hooghiemstra,H., Bogota-Angel, R.G., Berrio, J.C. 2012. Changing depositional environments in the Colombian Fuquene Basin at submillennial time-scales during 284-27 ka from unmixed grain-size distributions and aquatic pollen. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 91, 199 – 214. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016774600001591

• Bogotá-A., R.G., M.H.M., Groot, H., Hooghiemstra, L.J., Lourens, M. Van der Linden, Berrio, J.C. 2011. Rapid climate change from north Andean Lake Fúquene pollen records driven by obliquity: implications for a basin-wide biostratigraphic zonation for the last 284 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 3321-3337.

• Leal, A., Berrio, J.C., Raimundez, E., Bilbao, B. 2011. A pollen atlas of premontane woody and herbaceous communities from the upland savannas of Guayana, Venezuela. Palynology, 35, 226-266.

• Romero, M. H., Flantua, S.G.A., Tansey, K., Berrio, J.C. 2011. Landscape transformations in savannas of northern South America: Land use/cover changes since 1987 in the Llanos Orientales of Colombia. Applied Geography 32: 766-776.

• Bogotá-A RG, Groot MHM, Hooghiemstra H, Lourens LJ, Van der Linden, M., Berrio, J.C. 2011. Rapid climate change from north Andean Lake Fúquene pollen records driven by obliquity: implications for a basin-wide biostratigraphic zonation for the last 284 ka. Quaternary science Reviews 30, 3321-3337.

• Groot, M. H. M., Bogotá, R.G., Lourens, L.J., Hooghiemstra, H., Vriend, M., Berrio, J.C., et al. 2011. Ultra-high resolution pollen record from the northern Andes reveals rapid shifts in montane climates within the last two glacial cycles. 2011. Climate of the Past 7, 299-316.

• Carr, A.S., Dunajko A., Boom, A., Bateman, M.D. Holmes, P.J., Berrio, J.C. 2010. New evidence for the age and palaeoecology of the Knysna Formation, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 113 (3), 241-256

Vegetation Dynamics and Climate Change Palynology Environmental Change South America Amazon Rainforests and other tropical ecosystems Above Ground Biomass Carbon fluxes Greenhouse Gases Biodiversity Biogeography

I do teach in the following modules:

• FS0050 - Academic Support
• GY1432 - The Contemporary Earth System (module convener)
• GY2434 - The Dynamic Biosphere (module convener)
• GY2435 - Research Design (module convener)
• GY3426 - Research Communications
• GY3431 - Neotropical Rainforests (module convener)
• GY3433 - Understanding Ecosystems and Environments of the Distant Past (module convener)
• GY3440 - Ecology, Climate and Land-use processes of the Amazon Tropical Forests
• GY3450 - Dissertation.

Environmental and climate change, Vegetation analysis and Biogeography

Member of the Leicester's Anthropocene Research Group and Contemporary Environments. I am also a member of the Palaeoclimate Commission (PALCOM) of INQUA.

BSc Biology from the Colombian Universidad Javeriana (Colombia); PhD in Biology from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands).