My name is Gabriel Monteiro, and I am a PhD student at the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, under the supervision of apl. Prof. Gerd Gleixner.

My research focuses on tropical soil biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, and dissolved organic matter dynamics in Amazonian ecosystems. I am especially interested in how soil microbial communities and molecular organic matter pools change across seasons, soil depths, and extreme climatic events.

Currently, I work primarily at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) and on research related to AmazonFACE, combining field sampling, molecular analyses, and computational approaches to better understand how Amazonian soils respond to seasonal water stress, drought, and future atmospheric change.

Research interests

"Essentially, all life depends upon the soil. There can be no life without soil and no soil without life. They have evolved together."
C. Kellogg

I am a soil microbial and chemical ecologist fascinated by plant–soil–microbe interactions. My broader goal is to understand how belowground microbial and molecular processes regulate carbon and nutrient cycling in tropical ecosystems, especially in the context of climate change.

I’m researching:

• Soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry
• Dissolved organic matter molecular composition
• Plant–soil–microbe interactions
• Tropical forest resilience to drought and climate extremes
• Amazonian soil carbon and nutrient cycling
• Metagenomics, metabolomics, and high-resolution mass spectrometry
• Seasonal dynamics of soil water, carbon, and microbial processes

Current work

My PhD research explores how Amazonian soils function as dynamic interfaces between plants, microbes, minerals, and water. I am particularly interested in how seasonal changes in soil moisture influence microbial metabolism and the molecular composition of dissolved organic matter.

At the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO), I work with soil and porewater samples across contrasting Amazonian environments. These samples allow me to study how microbial communities and organic molecules vary through time, depth, and environmental gradients.

I am also involved in research connected to AmazonFACE, the Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment experiment in central Amazonia. This project provides a unique opportunity to investigate how elevated atmospheric CO₂ may alter belowground carbon cycling, soil water dynamics, nutrient availability, and microbial–molecular interactions in an intact tropical forest.

Together, my work at ATTO and AmazonFACE aims to better understand how Amazonian soils respond to climate variability, drought stress, and future atmospheric change.