Prof. Edwin Lebrija-Trejos
Associate Professor
I am a plant ecologist interested in understanding what determines plant species success, how do they live together (coexist) and how do their characteristics affect community structure as well as ecosystem services and functions. For this, in my lab we study patterns of performance, distribution and turnover of species, species ecological adaptations, as well as the interactions that take place between plants and their physical and living environment. The ultimate goal of our research is to contribute to the discovery of general ecological rules that could enlighten the ways in which we interact with nature.
Academic Background
B.Sc. Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico
M.Sc. Nature Conservation and Resource Management, Wageningen University
Ph.D., Community Ecology, Wageningen University
Selected Publications
Lebrija-Trejos, E., Reich, P.B., Wright, S. J. and Hernández, A. 2016. Species with greater seed mass are more tolerant of conspecific neighbors: a key driver of early survival and future abundances in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters (In Press).
Norden, N., Angarita, H.A., Bongers, F., Martínez-Ramos, M., Granzow-de la Cerda, I., van Breugel, M., Lebrija-Trejos, E., Meave, J.A., Vandermeer, J., Williamson, B., Finegan, B., Mesquita, R. and Chazdon, R.L. 2015. Successional dynamics in Neotropical forests are as uncertain as they are predictable. PNAS 112: 8013-8018.
Lebrija-Trejos, E., Wright, S. J., Hernández, A. and Reich, P.B. Heterospecifics matter: phylogenetic density dependent survival of seedlings in a tropical forest. 2014. Ecology, 95: 940-951.
Tielbörger, K., Bilton, M.C., Metz, J., Kigel, J., Holzapfel, C., Lebrija-Trejos, E., Konsens, I., Parag, H., and Sternberg, M. 2014. Middle-Eastern plant communities tolerate 9 years of drought in a multi-site climate manipulation experiment. Nature Communications 5, doi:10.1038/ncomms6102.
Lebrija-Trejos, E., Cardiel-Lobato, M.C., Sternberg, M. 2011. Reproductive traits and soil seed dynamics at two environmentally contrasting annual plant communities: from fieldwork to theoretical expectations. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 57: 73-90.
Lebrija-Trejos, E., Pérez-García, E.A., Meave, J. A., Bongers, F. and Poorter, L. 2010. Functional traits and environmental filtering drive community assembly in a species-rich landscape. Ecology 91: 386 – 398.
Teaching
Flora and Fauna, Botany, Quantitative Methods