Dr. rer. nat. Mónica Moreno Brush

Postdoctoral researcher

CONTACT

 

T +49 531-391 3968

m.moreno-brush@tu-braunschweig.de

ORCID: 0000-0003-3604-5852

Portrait von Monica Moreno Brush

PROFILE

  • Environmental geochemistry
  • Nitrogen cycling and ammonium fate in landfilled waste (iDS-CN programme)
  • Mercury cycling, transport, environmental fate, and bioaccumulation in tropical ecosystems
  • Environmental impacts from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM)
  • Interdisciplinary research linking chemical pollution, ecotoxicology, fluvial geomorphology and remote sensing

 

CAREER

2026            Postdoctoral researcher, Dept. Waste and Resource Management, TU Braunschweig
2023            Independent Environmental Consultant, UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
2022            Senior Analyst & Researcher, Center for Scientific Innovation in the Amazon (CINCIA), Peru.
2021            Independent Environmental Consultant, UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
2021-2022  Project Coordinator / Principal Investigator, University. of Engineering and Technology (UTEC), Peru.
2020            Postdoctoral researcher, University. of Engineering and Technology (UTEC), Peru.
2018            Doctoral degree in Environmental Geochemistry, University of Freiburg/ TU Braunschweig.
2011            Licentiate in Chemistry (major: Chemical Ecology), Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), Peru.
2007            Bachelor in Chemistry, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), Peru.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Peer reviewed journals

Moreno-Brush, M., McLagan, D.S., Biester, H. (2020) Fate of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining in tropical rivers: Hydrological and biogeochemical controls. A critical review. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 1-39. LINK

Moreno-Brush, M., Portillo, A., Brändel, S., Tschapka, M., Storch, I., Biester, H. (2018) Mercury concentrations in bats (Chiroptera) from a gold mining area in the Peruvian Amazon. Ecotoxicology, 27, 45-54. LINK

Moreno-Brush, M., Rydberg, J., Gamboa N., Storch I., Biester H. (2016) Is mercury from small-scale gold mining prevalent in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon? Environmental Pollution, 218, 150-159. LINK

 

Guidelines and technical reports

Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury (2025). Mercury monitoring in and around artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites – A Technical Background Document. Scientific and Technical Series, Vol. 4. Geneva: Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, 86 pp. LINK

Timana Mendoza, C., Araújo-Flores, J., Peralta-Argomeda, J., Pillaca, M., Vega, C., Santa-María, M. C., Venail, P., Fernández, L. E., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Rapid biological inventory in aquatic communities shows environmental deterioration due to alluvial gold mining in the Madre de Dios River (Peru). River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

Paiva López, K., Rau, P., Horna, D., Langendoen, E., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Increased deforestation in the Madre de Dios river basin, Peruvian Amazon, would increase surface runoff and sediment concentration. River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

García Veramatus, M. P., Vega, C., Fernández, L. E., Araújo-Flores, J., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Mercury in fish and the ecotoxicological risk for fish and piscivorous birds of Madre de Dios, Peruvian Amazon. River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

Estrada Terrel, Y., Portocarrero Trigoso, E. C., García Veramatus, M. P., Timana Mendoza, C., Quintana Cobo, I., Pillaca Ortiz, J. M., Castro, J., Quispe Flores, E.L, Fernández, L.E., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Influence of alluvial gold mining on the fluvial geodynamics of the Madre de Dios River, Peruvian Amazon, in the period 1984-2020. River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

Estrada Terrel, Y., Guerrero, L., Sisniegas, P., Valdivia, G., Vega, C., Fernández, L. E., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Distribution and transport of mercury in the Madre de Dios river basin, Peruvian Amazon: influence of sediments and hydrodynamics. River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

Callan, N., De la Cruz, A. Guerrero, L., Santillan, B., Langendoen, E., & Moreno Brush, M. (2023). Bedform dynamics in the mining-impacted Madre de Dios river, Peruvian Amazon. River Mining project (PEER 8-235). LINK

 

 

MEMBERSHIPS

Society for Tropical Ecology  ( "Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie" before)
www.soctropecol.eu

Asociación científica peruana Sinapsis
www.sinapsis-peru.org

Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)
www.owsd.net