
Dr Charlotte Lloyd
MSc(Bristol), PhD (Bristol)
Expertise
I combine cutting edge laboratory analytical and data interrogation techniques to investigate the fate of chemicals in the terrestrial environment, including plastics/bioplastics and agricultural wastes.
Current positions
Royal Society Research Fellow and Proleptic Senior Lecturer
School of Geographical Sciences
Contact
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Biography
I graduated in 2007 with a MSci in Geography from the University of Bristol after which I completed a PhD (Awarded 2012) joint between the Schools of Geographical Sciences and Chemisty at University of Bristol, and Rothamsted Research - North Wyke.
My NERC CASE PhD studentship research used organic biomarkers to trace the movement of cattle slurry in both dissolved and particulate forms through the soil-water system. My work provided new insights into the partitioning of cattle slurry within soil systems and how the organic and inorganic slurry components are transported through the soil system by flowing water and sediment transport. My PhD work stimulated my further research interests on the impact of agricultural pollution, both diffuse and point source, on water sources at large scales and on effective mitigation strategies.
Through my work as a postdoctoral researcher on the DEFRA-funded Demonstration Test Catchment (DTC) project I investigated these problems at the catchment scale. I was involved in advancing modelling and data analysis, working with high temporal resolution sensor data and developing a new statistical framework for quantifying data uncertainty in hydrochemical data and a new method for quantifying the hysteretic response of hydrochemical parameters during storm events.
During my second PDRA post as part of the NERC funded DOMAINE project I have developed and tested laboratory methods for the extraction and characterisation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques. I used these methods to characterise the DOM composition of water from both rivers and point sources to disentangle the complex DOM signatures in the aquatic environment.
I was awarded a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship in 2019.
Research interests
My research is driven by a passion to address key questions surrounding the origins and fate of human and agricultural wastes, particularly in relation to their delivery from land to water bodies. This interest has grown out of my MSci degree in Geography, PhD and postdoctoral research in the fields of catchment hydrochemistry and molecular organic geochemistry.
My research to date has combined biogeochemical and hydrological approaches and has investigated the molecular composition, transformation and transport of organic matter by water and sediment flows. My Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship focuses on important emerging scientific questions concerning the fate and transport of plastic-derived compounds and plastic degradation products in agriculture. Using a combination of cutting-edge chemical analytical techniques in conjunction with data modelling provides exciting opportunities for the exploration of agricultures impact on our environment.
More broadly I have research interests in the transport and fate of pollution, (including plastics and bioplastics) and nutrients in the terrestrial environment.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
MICRO-CYCLE: Unravelling the role of microbial genomic traits in organic matter cycling and molecular composition along the river continuum
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/01/2025 to 31/12/2027
Royal Society Enhanced Research Expenses
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2027
Does Motherhood Need Mitigating? A Collective Examination of Parenting and Academic Practice
Principal Investigator
Role
Collaborator
Managing organisational unit
Department of History (Historical Studies)Dates
01/01/2023 to 31/07/2023
Royal Society Enhancement award
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of ChemistryDates
01/12/2021 to 31/03/2023
8083 Royal Society DH Fellowship DHF\R1\191142 C Lloyd
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of ChemistryDates
01/01/2020 to 13/03/2027
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
02/11/2019Untargeted characterisation of dissolved organic matter contributions to rivers from anthropogenic point sources using direct infusion- and high-performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
Using hysteresis analysis of high-resolution water quality monitoring data, including uncertainty, to infer controls on nutrient and sediment transfer in catchments
Science of The Total Environment
Determining the sources of nutrient flux to water in headwater catchments
Science of The Total Environment
Methods for detecting change in hydrochemical time series in response to targeted pollutant mitigation in river catchments.
Journal of Hydrology
Recent publications
01/12/2024Interpretation of river water quality data is strongly controlled by measurement time and frequency
Science of The Total Environment
Microbial degradation of bioplastic (PHBV) is limited by nutrient availability at high microplastic loadings
Environmental Science: Advances
Quantification of microplastic targets in environmental matrices using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Environmental Science: Advances