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
	Dr. Jinbang Peng, Postdoctoral Research Associate 03/2025-present Email: Jinbang dot Peng at unh dot edu Dr. Peng obtained his Ph.D. in Ecology from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) in 2023. His interdisciplinary research integrates field ecology with advanced computational approaches, focusing on three primary domains: (1) grassland ecosystem dynamics and global change ecology; (2) machine learning applications in ecological pattern recognition and predictive modeling; and (3) multi-scale remote sensing technologies utilizing both satellite platforms and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His work emphasizes developing AI-driven solutions for environmental monitoring and sustainable ecosystem management.
	Dr. Henrique Duarte, Research Scientist (07/2025-present); Postdoctoral Research Associate (11/2022-7/2025) 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, and has been a Research Scientist since July 2025. 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), and the projections of annual net primary productivity of Alaska's ecosystems with FATES. Duarte holds a PhD degree in Crop and Soil Sciences (emphasis in micrometeorology) from the University of Georgia.
	Dr. 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.
PhD students
	Lulu Wang, Ph.D. student 07/2025-present (Co-advising) Email: Lulu dot Wang at unh dot edu Lulu is interested in grassland family ranches greenhouse gas emissions based on methods such as life cycle assessment, structural equation modelling and scenario simulation. Her research at UNH aims to understand the feedback mechanisms between economic, natural, and social ecosystems in family ranches, and to analyze the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from family ranches and how greenhouse gas emissions will develop in the future.
Past members
	Erin Crockett, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Now Assistant Professor at University of Northern British Columbia) 09/2021- 09/2023 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, Postdoctoral Research Associate, 06/2018-present Ph.D. (Advising from 02/2016 to 06/2018; University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) (Now Associate Professor at Sun Yat-sen University) 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 (Now Assistant Professor at Hubei Province Academy of Agricultural Sciences) 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 (Now Associate Professor at Moganshan Geospatial Information Laboratory) 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 (Now Associate Professor at Beijing Forestry University) 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 (Now Associate Professor at Chengdu University of Technology) 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 (Now in the industry) 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 (Now Assistant Professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences) 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 (Now Professor at Central South university of Forestry and Technology) 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 (Now Associate Professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences) 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 (Now Professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences) 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 (Now in the industry) 09/2013-06/2016 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 (Now Associate Professor at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology) 03/2015-03/2016 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 (Now Associate Professor at Jiangsu Ocean University) 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 (Now Professor at Nanjing Forestry University) 2012-2013 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 (Now Lecturer at Tufts University) 2012-2013 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.