Dr. Nora Álvarez-Berríos is an environmental scientist with research interests in human and environment interactions in tropical forests, and land use and land cover changes. She has expertise in natural resource management, spatial analysis, climate change, geographic information systems and remote sensing, and vulnerability to extreme events in tropical agricultural systems. She currently serves as a Research Fellow with the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub. Her current research involves examining how drought and hurricanes affect forest and farmlands, and developing adaptability scenarios for climate change mitigation in the Caribbean.
Dr. Nora Álvarez-Berríos received a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico in 2016 and a M.S. in Geography and a M.S. in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison 2001. Dr. Álvarez-Berríos joined the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub in 2016.
Current and Ongoing Projects
- Drought vulnerability and impacts on tropical agriculture
- Hurricane effects on agriculture, forestry, and rural communities in the U.S. Caribbean
- Participant in the project Soil Health and Socio-Ecological Feedback Systems
Selected Media Coverage
Cambridge Core blog. Confronting Drought Impacts in Puerto Rico. By Nora Álvarez-Berríos. Published online July 3 2018.
Nature. Gold-rush threat to tropical forests. Published online January 22 2015.
Contributed Assessment
Gould, W.A.; Díaz, E.L.; Álvarez-Berríos, N.L.; Aponte-González, F.; Archibald, W.; Bowden, J.H.; Carrubba, L.; Crespo, W.; Fain, S.J.; González, G.; Goulbourne, A.; Harmsen, E.; Holupchinski, E.; Khalyani, A.H.; Kossin, J.; Leinberger, A.J.; Marrero-Santiago, V.I.; Martínez-Sánchez, O.; McGinley, K.; Méndez-Lázaro, P.; Morell, J. ; Oyola, M.M.; I.K. Parés-Ramos, I.K.; Pulwarty, R.; Sweet, W.V.; Terando, A.; Torres-González, S. 2018: U.S. Caribbean. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II. Reidmiller, D.R.; Avery, C.W.; Easterling, D.R.; Kunkel, K.E.; Lewis, K.L.M.; Maycock, T.K.; Stewart, B.C. eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 809–871. DOI: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH20
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Van Beusekom, Ashley; Álvarez-Berríos, Nora; Gould, William; Quiñones, Maya; González, Grizelle. 2018. Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Caribbean: Disturbance Forces, Variation of Effects, and Implications for Future Storms. Remote Sensing. 10(9): 1386. DOI: 10.3390/rs10091386
Álvarez-Berríos, Nora L.; Soto-Bayó, Sandra; Holupchinski, Eva; Fain, Stephen J.; Gould, William A. 2018. Correlating drought conservation practices and drought vulnerability in a tropical agricultural system. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 33(03): 279-291. DOI: 10.1017/S174217051800011X
Fain, Stephen J.; Quiñones, Maya; Álvarez-Berríos, Nora L.; Parés-Ramos, Isabel K.; Gould, William A. 2017. Climate change and coffee: assessing vulnerability by modeling future climate suitability in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Climatic Change. 43(1): 141. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-017-1949-5
Gould, W.A., Wadsworth, F.H., Quiñones, M., Fain, S.J. and Álvarez-Berríos, N.L., 2017. Land Use, Conservation, Forestry, and Agriculture in Puerto Rico. Forests, 8(7), p.242. DOI: 10.3390/f8070242
Álvarez-Berríos, N. L., & Mitchell Aide, T. (2015). Global demand for gold is another threat for tropical forests. Environmental Research Letters, 10(1), 014006. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/10/1/014006
Álvarez, N. L., & Naughton-Treves, L. (2003). Linking National Agrarian Policy to Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon: A Case Study of Tambopata, 1986–1997. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 32(4), 269–274. DOI: 10.1579/0044-7447-32.4.269
Tools and Infographics
- Agricultural Statistics Tool - Lead (in review)
- Farm Planning Tool - Contributor (in review)
- Climate Connection Infographic: Agricultural Conservation Practices for Climate Risk Reduction | Spanish version Prácticas de Conservación Agrícola para la Reducción de Riesgos Climáticos
Research Mentoring
- Land cover change in agricultural landscapes of the Rio Añasco watershed following Hurricanes Irma and María
- Droughts of the 21st Century in Puerto Rico - Research Map | Spanish version Sequías en el siglo XXI en Puerto Rico
Other
Dr. Nora L Álvarez-Berríos ResearchGate Profile
MOU with the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture Departamento de Agricultura firma un acuerdo con el Servicio Forestal