Profile

Dr. Fernando De León González holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering with a focus on production from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (1976). He earned his master's degree in botany, specializing in plant physiology, at the Colegio de Postgraduados (1977-1979) under the guidance of Dr. Alfonso Larqué Saavedra, focusing on stomatal physiology and the potential antitranspirant uses of acetylsalicylic acid. Subsequently, between 1986 and 1991, he completed his Ph.D. at the National Institute of Agronomy (now AgroTech, France), where he dedicated himself to studying the physical conditions that foster the formation of structural elements in compacted soils. His research in this area was conducted in the soil physics laboratory at the INRA experimental station in Avignon, France.

As a professor-researcher in the Department of Agricultural and Animal Production at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco campus, his work focused on investigating soil physical conditions and their impact on root growth. Throughout his career, Dr. De León González expanded his research interests to include topics related to soil biology, such as the study of macrofauna (particularly earthworms) and microbiota, including saprophytic fungi, mycorrhizae, and bacteria. More recently, his work has focused on the effect of management systems on the storage of organic carbon in soil.

He has worked in various regions and with a variety of crops, including amaranth, sunflower, beans, maize, nopal, and pine-oak forests in Mexico City; maize in the State of Mexico; agave in Oaxaca; and maize, temperate fruit trees, and juniper forests in Tlaxcala.

Dr. De León González possesses in-depth knowledge of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, based on his management experience as Rector of the Xochimilco campus (2017-2021), Director of the Biological and Health Sciences Division (2010-2014), Head of the Department of Agricultural and Animal Production (2007-2010), Coordinator of the Agronomy degree program (1999-2000), and Head of the Agricultural Systems Area (1991-1994).

He has supervised numerous master's and doctoral theses in collaboration with academic colleagues, and his research has been published in international journals such as Soil & Tillage Research, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Land Degradation and Development, Agronomy for Sustainable Development, European Soil Science, and Plant and Soil. He has also published in national journals such as Agrociencia and Terra Latinoamericana.

In 2019, he was awarded the Annual UAM Research Award in the Biological Sciences area, along with colleagues from UAM and IPN, for their work titled Cactus crop as an option to reduce C–CO2 soil emissions in soils with declining fertility (Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2017). He is also a member of the Mexican Academy of Engineering, the National System of Researchers, and the Mexican, Latin American, and International Soil Science Societies.