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Diana Oviedo Vargas, Ph.D.

500 500 Stroud Water Research Center
Diana Oviedo-Vargas, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Scientist, Principal Investigator

Watershed Biogeochemistry Group

Contact

doviedo@stroudcenter.org
tel. 610-268-2153, ext. 1263
970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9333-0962

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Interests and Expertise

Diana Oviedo Vargas’s research seeks to improve knowledge of the elemental cycles in streams, rivers, and estuaries and how they are linked to each other, the water cycle, and the terrestrial ecosystem at the surface and the subsurface level. Some of her current research interests include the nitrogen and phosphorus transport and transformation in fluvial systems and how human activities such as agriculture and urbanization can affect these processes; the quantification and characterization of the multiple carbon pools and fluxes in aquatic ecosystems and their role in global climate change; and the effects of emerging contaminants, like pharmaceutical products and microplastics, on the health of streams and rivers. Oviedo Vargas’s expertise includes aquatic ecosystems in temperate and tropical zones and along the full river continuum — from headwaters to large rivers to estuaries and the coastal ocean.

Education

  • Ph.D., environmental sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
  • M.S., environmental sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
  • B.S., chemistry, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.

Professional Experience

  • Assistant research scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2017–present.
  • Postdoctoral research associate, Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2013–2017.
  • Associate instructor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2011–2013.
  • Teaching assistant, Analytical and organic chemistry laboratories, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, 2004–2007.
  • Research assistant, Natural Products Research Center, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, 2004–2007.

Publications

Mechanisms of organic matter export in estuaries with contrasting carbon sources

Arellano, A. R., T. S. Bianchi, C. L. Osburn, E. J. D'Sa, N. D. Ward, D. Oviedo‐Vargas, I. D. Joshi et al. 2019. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 124(10):3168–3188.

Eco-friendly organic nanotubes encapsulating alkaline phosphatase and ecotoxicology of nanotubes to natural bacterial assemblages in coastal estuarine waters

Montgomery, M.T., G.E. Collins, T.J. Boyd, C.L. Osburn, D. Oviedo-Vargas, and Q. Lu. 2019. American Chemical Society Omega 4(1):2196–2205.

The fate and transport of allochthonous blue carbon in divergent coastal systems

Bianchi, T.S., E. Morrison, S. Barry, A.R. Arellano, R.A. Feagin, A. Hinson, M. Eriksson, M. Allison, C.L. Osburn, and D. Oviedo-Vargas. 2018. Pages 27–49 in L. Windham-Myers, S. Crooks, and T.G. Troxler (editors), A Blue Carbon Primer. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Regional groundwater and storms are hydrologic controls on the quality and export of dissolved organic matter in two tropical rainforest streams, Costa Rica

Osburn, C.L., D. Oviedo‐Vargas, E. Barnett, D. Dierick, S.F. Oberbauer, and D.P. Genereux. 2018.  Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 123:850–866.

Assessing chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) distribution, stocks, and fluxes in Apalachicola Bay using combined field, VIIRS ocean color, and model observations

Joshi, I.D., E.J. D’Sa , C.L. Osburn, T.S. Bianchi, D.S. Ko, D. Oviedo-Vargas, A.R. Arellano, and N.D. Ward. 2017. Remote Sensing of Environment 191:359–372.

See publications by all Stroud Center authors

Related News

Sharing Our Science at the National Monitoring Conference

Along with networking and learning state-of-the-art water quality monitoring techniques, we presented our research to hundreds of water quality specialists.

Stroud Center Scientist to Serve as Nature Conservancy Trustee

Diana Oviedo Vargas, Ph.D., is to serve as a trustee of the Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware, the conservancy recently announced.

Adventures in Geographic Space: Postdoc Daniel Myers Recalls the Wild as He Solves Water Challenges

On a fateful backcountry internship some years ago, the Stroud Center’s new postdoc, Dan Myers, Ph.D., heard the call of the wild and something more: his life’s mission.

Breaking the Fall

How the Clean Water Act changed the trajectory of America’s waterways and became a beacon for freshwater science.

The Viscosity Effect: A Newly Found Connection Between the Riparian Zone and Water Quality

A new Stroud Center study shows that the density of water plays a previously overlooked role in nutrient and carbon cycling in freshwater ecosystems.

After the Harvest, the Rain Must Come

Researchers at Stroud Water Research Center are using a rainfall simulator to assess how farming practices affect water quality in our streams and rivers.
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