Global Ecology Group
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Principal investigator
Jingfeng Xiao

Dr. Jingfeng Xiao, Research Professor

Tel: (603) 862-1873; CURRICULUM VITAE (PDF)

Email: j.xiao at unh dot edu

Dr. Xiao earned his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include sustainability, global ecology, remote sensing, terrestrial carbon cycle, Earth system modeling, machine learning/artificial intelligence, and human-environment interactions. He is particularly interested in understanding how climate change impacts ecosystems and society, how human activities alter ecosystems and regulate the climate, how to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and thereby how to achieve sustainability.

Postdocs/Research Scientists
Henrique Duarte

Henrique Duarte, Postdoctoral Research Associate

11/2022-present

Email: h dot duarte at unh dot edu

Henrique joined the University of New Hampshire/Earth Systems Research Center and the USFS Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. His research focuses on land-atmosphere interactions, terrestrial biosphere modeling, micrometeorology, and boundary-layer meteorology. Duarte's research investigates the impact of ongoing and projected climate change on eastern US forest ecosystem's structure and functions with a dynamic global vegetation model (MC2) and an ecohydrological model (WaSSI). Duarte holds a PhD degree in Crop and Soil Sciences (emphasis in micrometeorology) from the University of Georgia.

Jingyi Bu

Jingyi Bu, Postdoctoral Research Associate

10/2022-present

Email: Jingyi dot bu at unh dot edu

Jingyi's research interests include evapotranspiration modeling, carbon-water coupling, canopy conductance, and climate change. She received her Ph.D. degree in Physical Geography from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) in 2022. Her research at UNH seeks to understand the diurnal cycling of ecosystem functioningusing observations from new generation satellites, in-situ measurements, and machine learning/modeling, and explore the physiological responses to the diurnal abiotic stresses for various ecosystem types over broad regions.

Past members
Erin Crockett

Erin Crockett, Postdoctoral Research Associate

09/2021- 09/2023

Email: Erin dot Crockett at unh dot edu

Erin is a quantitative spatial ecologist interested in how biodiversity and ecosystem services are changing over time, the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and spatial planning techniques to create landscapes where both people and nature thrive. His postdoctoral work embraces satellite and field-based data to assess the roles of structural and biological diversity for forest productivity and resilience. Erin completed his PhD at McGill University in Canada.

Xing Li

Xing Li, Postdoctoral Research Associate

06/2018-present

Ph.D. (Advising from 02/2016 to 06/2018; University of Electronic Science and Technology of China)

Xing is currently a postdoctoral research associate in the group. He is interested in understanding the impacts of climate change on vegetation growth and terrestrial carbon cycling using remotely sensed data, field measurements, and statistical approaches.

Xuan Hu's Photo

Xuan Hu, Ph.D. student

Co-advising (11/2019 to present; International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan / Chinese Academy of Forestry)

Xuan is interested in the structure and function of forest ecosystems and microbial communities, the restoration of forest ecosystems, and ecological modeling.

Yue Chang

Yue Chang, Ph.D. student

Co-advising (09/2019-present; Xi'an Jiaotong University)

Yue is interested in ecological modeling, land use and land cover change, human-environment interactions and understanding the impacts of climate change on ecosystems.

Photo

Hang Xu, Ph.D. student

Co-advising (10/2018 to present; Beijing Forestry University)

Hang is interested in the impacts of climate change on the carbon, water and energy exchanges between ecosystems and the atmosphere, field measurements and ecosystem modeling.

Xiaojuan Huang

Xiaojuan Huang, Ph.D. student

Co-advising (09/2017-present; Southwest University of China)

Xiaojuan is interested in quantifying ecosystem carbon uptake and assessing flux uncertainty using remotely sensed data, ecosystem models, and in-situ measurements.

Jia

Dr. Jia Deng, Postdocoral Research Asscoiate/Research Scientist

06/2014-05/2019

Jia ​earned his Ph.D. at Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is interested in (1) biosphere - atmosphere exchange of C, N gases (NH3, N2O, NOx, CH4, CO2) in terrestrial ecosystems and (2) process based modeling of carbon/nitrogen turnover in terrestrial ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales.

Photo

Di Chen, PhD student

Co-advising (05/2018 to present; Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

Di is interested in land cover data reconstruction based on fusion of multi-source remote sensing data and spatial-temporal pattern changes of cultivated land.

Weizhi Lu

Dr. Weizhi Lu, visiting scholar

09/2017-09/2018

Weizhi earned his Ph. D. in Ecology from Xiamen University in 2013, and is currently an associate researcher in National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration of China. His research interests are focused on the impacts of climate change on the carbon cycle and ecosystem restoration of coastal wetlands.

Haibo

Dr. Haibo Wang, visiting scholar

10/2015-01/2016 and 9/2017-9/2018

Haibo earned his Ph.D. from the Cold and Arid Region Environment and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. He is interested in the impacts of climate change on terrestrial carbon cycling, and interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and climate.

Xufeng Wang

Dr. Xufeng Wang, visiting scholar

11/2015-11/2016

Xufeng earned his Ph.D. from the Cold and Arid Region Environment and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. He is interested in terrestrial ecosystem modelling, carbon cycle, and data assimilation.

 

Ming

Ming Yan, Master student

09/2013-06/2016 (NUIST), now working in the industry

Ming earned her B.S. in Information and Computational Science from Nanjing University of Information and Science Technology in July 2013. She was interested in applied meteorology and global ecology. Ming earned her M.S. in June 2016.

 

Yibo

Dr. Yibo Liu, visiting scholar, 03/2015-03/2016

Faculty member at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Yibo earned his Ph. D. in geography from Nanjing University in 2013, and then worked as a lecturer in Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. His research is focus on the impacts of climate change on terrestrial carbon and water cycle in China. Specifically, he is using observation, remote sensing, and process-based modeling approaches to address how drought and heat affects terrestrial ecosystems productivity in Southern China and to assess possible adaptation pathways. 

Peng

Dr. Hongchun Peng, visiting scholar

09/2013-09/2014

Hongchun earned his PhD from the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China in 2007 and is now an Associate Professor at the School of Geomatics Engineering, Huaihai Institute of Technology, China. His expertise is in remote sensing and ecosystem modeling.

Feng's photo

Feng Li, visiting student (PhD candidate at Sichuan University)

11/2010 – 04/2014

Feng earned her Master's degree in Ecology at Sichuan University in 2007. Her interests include ecotourism planning/management and using computer-based biogeochemistry models to understand the terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycles in national parks and corp fields and their contribution to global climate change.

Wang

Dr. Weifeng Wang, Post-doc, 2012-2013

Now Professor at Nanjing Forestry University

Weifeng earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Science at Université du Québecà Montréal. He is interested in ecosystem ecology and global change. Specifically, his research is to better understand impacts of natural and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., climate change, forest management, nitrogen deposition, and land use change) on terrestrial carbon, nitrogen, and water dynamics. Current research is focused on the development and application of a process-based ecosystem model (PnET-CN) in continental-scale combing eddy covariance measurements and remote-sensing data.

Alexandra

Dr. Alexandra Thorn, Post-Doc, 2012-2013

Now postdoc at Tufts University

Alexandra earned her PhD in Biology from Tufts University, and a Masters in Horticulture and Agronomy from UC Davis. For her dissertation she examined the interplay between plant vascular anatomy and plant responses to environmental heterogeneity using modeling, greenhouse, and field studies. Models are integral to her research. She is currently using and developing biogeochemistry models to forecast carbon exchange and consequences of alternative scenarios for future land use change. Her long term research interests include sustainability, resilience, land management, urban planning, and stakeholder engagement.