Campus Directory

Division Social Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Environmental Studies Department

Title PhD Student

Graduate Major PhD Student in Environmental Studies

Affiliation Graduate

Other UCSC Campus Affiliation Environmental Studies Department

Primary Office Location Nat Sci 2 Annex
429

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=ZWRybWVuZG9AdWNzYy5lZHU

Mail Stop Environmental Studies

Biography, Education and Training

Sergio Arboleda University, Bogota, CO January 2014-March 2018

Master’s in environmental management and evaluation 

Thesis:  Analysis of environmental impacts generated by sulfates from coal mining in the agricultural soils of Samaca, Boyacá. 

Advisor: German Eduardo Cely.

Xavierian Pontifical University, Bogota, CO July 2003-September 2009 

Undergraduate degree in Agricultural and Veterinary Microbiology  

Thesis: Isolation, identification, and characterization of race 2 of Ralstonia solanacearum causal agent of moko in banana, in cultivars of the southern Amazon trapezium. 

Advisor: Dr. Clara Patricia Peña Venegas.

Awards, Honors and Grants

Virginia Gutiérrez de Pineda Grant for Young Researchers and Innovators, Recipient.  Department of Science, Technology, Innovation, Colciencias. January 2011 – March 2013. 

Selected Publications

• Edmundo Mendoza, Scott Winton, Alison Hoyt, Juan Benavides. “Isotopic and Elemental Variability of Carbon and Nitrogen in Colombian Amazon Peatlands”, delivered as part of the session “PS-4 Soil Ecology in Tropical Ecosystems” at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, held in Oaxaca, Mexico, from June 30th to July 4th, 2025.

• R Scott Winton, Juan C Benavides, Edmundo Mendoza*, Antje Uhde, Adam Hastie, Eurídice N Honorio Coronado, Andres Giovanny Hernandez Ortega, Stella Paukku, Bailey Mullins, Jhon del Aguila Pasquel, Gerardo A Aymard-Corredor, Tim R Baker, Freddie C Draper, Gerardo Flores Llampazo, Rafael Herrera, Oliver L Phillips, José Manuel Reyna Huaymacari, Hans ter Steege, Juliana Stropp, Ian T Lawson, Angela V Gallego-Sala, Arnoud Boom, Bernhard Wehrli and Alison M Hoyt. Widespread carbon-dense peatlands in the Colombian lowlands. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 20, Number 5, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/adbc03 . 

• Uhde, A., Hoyt, A. M., Hess, L., Schmullius, C., Mendoza, E., Benavides, J.C., et al. (2025). Mapping peatland distribution and quantifying peatland below-ground carbon stocks in Colombia's Eastern lowlands. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 130,e2024JG008505. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008505

• R. Scott Winton, Juan Carlos Benavides, Edmundo Mendoza, Antje Uhde, Adam Hastie, Euridice Honorio, Jair Felipe Restrepo Cañola, Andrés Giovanny Hernández Ortega, Stella Paukku, Bailey Mullins, Ari Barbella-Blaha, Angela Gallego-Sala, Arnoud Boom, Bernhard Wehrli, Alison Hoyt (2022). Contrasting carbon functions of Colombia’s palm swamp and white sand peatlands. AGU Fall meeting 2022. 

• R. Scott Winton, Juan Carlos Benavides, Edmundo Mendoza, Adam Hastie, Arnoud Boom, Stella Paukku, Jair Felipe Restrepo Cañola, Andrés Giovanny Hernández Ortega, Angela Gallego-Sala, Bernhard Wehrli, Alison Hoyt (2021). Diverse carbon-rich peatlands in the Amazonia and Orinoquia of Colombia. AGU Fall Meeting 13-17 DEC- 2021 https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/846921.

• Peña Venegas, Clara Patricia, Mendoza Olmos, Edmundo Rafael, Rodríguez León, Carlos Hernando, Cardona Vanegas, Gladys Inés, Betancourt Parra, Bernardo Eusebio, & Garzón Gómez, Maolenmarx Tatiana. (2015). Carbon Fixing Capacity Of Amazonian Soils In Relation To Its Degradation Conditions. Journal EIA, (spe2), 47-53. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1794-12372015000300004&lng=en&tlng=en.

• Mendoza E.R; Betancourt B., Garzón M.T., Rodriguez C. H., Cardona G.I., Peña-Venegas, C.P. ¨Carbon fixation capacity of Amazonian soils and their relationship with their level of degradation¨. Event: XVII Conference of the international organization for soil conservation and environmental sustainability through soil conservation. Medellin (Colombia), July 8th to 12th, 2013. 

• Peña-Venegas C.P, Mendoza E.R, Alfonso-Vargas N. C, Cardona-Vanegas G. I. "Ralstonia solanacearum: A bacterium that threatens food security in Colombia Amazon ISSN: 0120-6222 Journal Guadalupe v.3 p.117 - 128, 2010.