Juan Carlos Trejos Espeleta
Doctoral candidate
My deep-rooted connection to the natural environment of Costa Rica led me to pursue degrees in Biology and Geology at the University of Costa Rica. Driven by an interest in large-scale, interdisciplinary systems, my academic focus expanded through ecosystem, soil, and climate change ecology, ultimately converging on Geobiology. I am now specializing in this field at LMU, where my doctoral research investigates the impacts of global change on key ecosystem players in one of the world's most vulnerable regions, such as microorganisms in the Arctic.
- Retreating glaciers: fungi enhance carbon storage in young Arctic soils (LMU News, 3 Jul 2024)
- Shrinking glaciers: microscopic fungi enhance soil carbon storage in new landscapes created by shrinking Arctic glaciers (Queen Mary University of London News, 2 July 2024)
- Fonte des glaciers arctiques: les micro-organismes améliorent le stockage du carbone dans le sol (cnre terre&univers, 15 July 2024)
Research Interests
My intentionally broad, interdisciplinary background in the natural sciences has converged on a critical frontier: the response of microbial communities to environmental change. My current research examines the microbial ecology of the polar regions, where ecosystems are undergoing accelerated transformation. By investigating carbon cycling in these sensitive terrestrial and marine environments, I aim to elucidate the crucial role microorganisms will play in shaping our planet's near-future climate.
Illuminating the ecology of marine fungi via quantitative stable isotope probing
The project aims to elucidate the role of fungal communities on the carbon cycling in the water column and in the sediments of marine environments. Using isotopic tracers, we seek to quantify the poorly explored fungal contribution to the carbon cycling in these habitats.
Trejos-Espeleta, J.C., Marin-Jaramillo, J.P., Schmidt, S.K., Sommers, P., Bradley, J.A., & Orsi, W.D. (2024) Principal role of fungi in soil carbon stabilization during early pedogenesis in the high Arctic. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 121 (28), e2402689121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2402689121.