Transforming soil microbial ecology, one trait at at time!
Our lives depend on soils, and in particular on the biodiversity they harbor. This (hidden) diversity underpins the nutrient cycles that sustain food production and regulates the largest terrestrial reservoir of carbon on Earth. Thanks to advances in next‑generation eDNA and multi‑omics technologies, we live now an era of unprecedented ability to monitor this biodiversity, transforming soil science into a data‑rich discipline. As analytical frameworks—from advanced statistics to AI—continue to evolve, a fundamental challenge remains unresolved: translating information on microbial diversity into a mechanistic understanding of what diversity does, that is, their function.
The Soil functional ecology lab focuses on closing this gap by integrating metabarcoding and other ‑omics data with trait‑based functional measurements. We combine field and laboratory experiments with protocol development and database building to translate microbial community data into mechanistic, functionally meaningful insights.
Ongoing projects
Soil carbon cycling - Mycelial network traits
Carbon cycling depends on the growth of saprotrophic fungi in soils. Growth occurs as a network of filaments, which are collectively known as mycelia. Until recently, the traits of this network were a black box. Using protocols we developed, we are now linking how variation in mycelial networks traits determines the impact of fungal diversity on carbon cycling.
Photo courtesy of Mark Unger
Dispersal: Spore traits
Dispersal represents a major challenge for mutualistic and pathogenic fungi that rely on colonizing sessile plant hosts. This process depends on spores, whose functional traits reflect how fungi allocate resources to survive this journey.
We study variation in spore traits within and across mycorrhizal fungi and plant pathogens to uncover the strategies this functional groups use to survive during dispersal .By building extensive spore trait databases, we link spore traits to climate, urbanization, and life‑history trade‑offs to explain patterns of fungal diversity and abundance.
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Untangling the F2 link: soil mesofauna-fungal grazing effects on soil carbon pools
Fungi strongly influence soil carbon dynamics through their enzymatic activity and extensive filamentous networks. However, these networks are continuously modified by soil mesofauna. Teaming up with the group of Dr. Sten Anslan, we investigate how interactions between fungi and soil animals cascade into changes in carbon cycling and storage in boreal forests.
Effect of intraspecific microbial trait variation on ecosystem processes
The soil microbiome is one of the most complex biological systems on Earth. Part of this complexity arises from the largely unquantified extent of variation in functional traits within and across microbial species. We quantify variation across genotypes and within genotypes through phenotypic plasticity, and link this variation to ecosystem processes in soil.
Decoding fungal network diversity
The history of soils has been shaped by fungal networks. Over millions of years, fungi have diversified into thousands of species built around this networked body plan. Yet we still know remarkably little about how evolution has generated such diverse fungal network phenotypes. As a transversal component of our research, we are building a fungal network phenotype database and collaborating with researchers at SynoSys at TU Dresden to uncover the mechanisms underlying the diversity of fungal networks. Among other applications, this resource will allow us to identify first principles governing how fungal functions scale with network size and growth, providing a quantitative framework to link fungal form, growth, and ecosystem function.
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Welcome to our lab!​
We take a highly integrative and interdisciplinary approach to advance our understanding of fungal ecology. We develop new conceptual frameworks and empirical tools to identify the key traits that drive the functional diversity of fungi.
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Dr. Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros
Research Group Leader
Soil functional ecology Lab
University of Jyväskylä
We are based at the beautiful University of Jyväskylä, one of the most architectural interesting and functional campus. Located right in the center of the Lake Region of Finland, surrounded by inspiring boreal landscapes!​
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Thanks to the support of
Research at the Aguilar Ecology Lab
