Dr. Xiao's Global Ecology Group

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Principal investigator
	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, 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, 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.
	Erin Crockett, Postdoctoral Research Associate 09/2021- present (hired by USDA Forest Service via the ORISE program and hosted at UNH) 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.
Past members
	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, 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, 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.
	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, 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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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 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.
	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.
	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 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.
	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.
	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.