Team Name: Forest Resources and Ecology
Main Research Areas: 1) Forest ecology and conservation; 2) Ecology of mixed species plantations; 3) physiological ecology.
Chief Scientists:
Prof. Weijun Shen: My current research focuses on the formation and stabilization mechanisms of productivity and ecological services in plantations forests of southern China. Past researches included how soil ecological processes and soil microbial communities respond to global environmental changes such as precipitation regime changes and elevated atmospheric nitrogen deposition. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms of how soil microbes adapt and feedback to climate changes, the interactions between microbial community structure and function under global environmental changes, the mechanisms of how soil microbes regulate soil C, N and P cycling, and the modeling of microbe-mediated soil processes such as greenhouse gas emission, soil organic matter decomposition, and nitrogen mineralization. I tend to focus on the subtropical regions of China, where the evergreen boradleaved forests and diverse plantation forests form the largest forest area of the country. Besides using experimental approaches, I also develope theoretical and process-based models to extrapolate site empirical knowledge to ecosystem, landscape and regional scales.
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
2020-now: Professor, College of Forestry, Guangxi University.
2004-2020: Research Professor, Research Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
2002-2004: Associate Research Professor, Ecological Research Center, South China Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
1997-2002: Assistant Research Professor, Ecological Research Center, South China Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
2005-2007: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Ecosystem Analysis and Modeling Lab, Nicholas School of Environmental and Earth Sciences, & Department of Biology, Duke University.
2002-2004: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Landscape Ecology and Modeling Lab, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University.
EDUCATION
1999-2002: Ph. D., Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science and South China Institute of Botany, CAS.
1994-1997: M.S., Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, China.
1990-1994: B.S., Department of Environmental Sciences, Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, China.
FUNDING
1) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-32271847), Heterospecific rhizosphere interactions in Pinus massoniana plantations mixed with broadleaved tree species. PI, 01/ 2023-12/2026.
2) The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (NSFC-31425005), Soil Ecology. PI , 01/2015-12/2019.
3) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-31290222), Regulatory mechanisms of soil microbes on the coupled cycling of carbon, water and nitrogen in forest ecosystems. PI, 01/2013-12/2017.
4) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-31130011) and jointly by Key Projects of Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (S2012020011084), Response of soil processes to precipitation seasonality changes in subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest. PI. 01/2012-12/2016.
FIVE REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
1) Jinhong He, Xiangping Tan, Yanxia Nie, Lei Ma, Weiping Zhou, Weijun Shen*, 2023. Enhancement of saturated fatty acid content in soil microbial membranes across natural and experimental warming gradients. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 176, 108866. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108866.
2) Xiangping Tan#, Megan B. Machmuller, Feng Huang; Jinhong He; Jie Chen, M. Francesca Cotrufo, Weijun Shen*, 2020. Temperature sensitivity of ecoenzyme kinetics driving litter decomposition: The effects of nitrogen enrichment, litter chemistry, and decomposer community. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107878.
3) Dan He#, Weijun Shen*, Jennifer Ebweine, Qian Zhao, Lijuan Ren, Qinglong L. Wu, 2017. Diversity and co-occurrence network of soil fungi are more responsive than those of bacteria to shifts in precipitation seasonality in a subtropical forest. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 115: 499-510.
4) Hui Wei#, Bertrand Guenet, Sara Vicca, Naoise Nunan, Han Asard, Hamada AbdElgawad, Weijun Shen* and Ivan A. Janssens. 2014. High clay content accelerates the decomposition of fresh organic matter in artificial soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 77: 100-108. 23
5) Weijun Shen*, James F. Reynolds, Dafeng Hui, 2009. Responses of dryland soil respiration and soil carbon pool size to abrupt versus gradual and individual versus combined changes in soil temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric [CO2]: a simulation analysis. Global Change Biology, 15：2274-2294.
Prof. Shidan Zhu: received his Bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Henan Agricultural University in 2005 and his doctorate in Ecology from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in 2010. Subsequently he joined South China Botanical Garden as Assistant professor. From 2016 to present, he worked in College of Forestry, Guangxi University.
He is an expert in plant ecophysiology of tropical-subtropical plant species. His researches have been primarily focused on 1) developing novel techniques to monitor hydraulic traits, 2) understanding the linkage between hydraulic traits and plant adaptive strategies to various environmental stressors (e.g. freezing and drought). He is the PI of five projects financed by National Natural Science Foundation of China, and three projects financed by Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He has published 70 papers in the peer review journals, including Ecology Letters, Plant Cell and Environment, Functional Ecology, and Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, etc. He a member of editorial board of Journal of Tropical Biology, a member of youth editorial board of Scientia Silvae Sinicae, and a member of review board of Tree Physiology.
EDUCATION
[1] 2005-2010 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Degree: Ph.D. of Science; Specialization: Plant Eco-physiology; Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Kunfang Cao.
[2] 2001-2005 Henan Agricultural University; Degree: Bachelor of Agriculture; Specialization: Agricultural Resource and Environment.
WORK EXPERIENCE
[1] 2023-present Professor, College of Forestry, Guangxi University.
[2] 2016-2022 Associated professor, College of Forestry, Guangxi University.
[3] 2010-2015 Assistant professor, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Hydraulic characteristics of tropical and subtropical forest woody species and hydraulic response to increasing extreme drought events
FUNDING
[1] Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Grant number: 2023GXNSFFA026008, 2023-2027.
[2] National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant number: 32171502, 2022～2025.
[3] National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant number: 32060330, 2021～2024.
[4] National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant number: 31981360421, 2019.
[5] National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant number: 31100293, 2012～2014.
FIVE REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
[1] Wang YQ, Song HQ, Chen YJ, Fu PL, Zhang JL, Cao KF, Zhu SD*. 2023. Hydraulic determinants of drought-induced tree mortality and changes in tree abundance between two tropical forests with different water availability. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 331:109329. (*Correspondence)
[2] Tan FS, Song HQ, Fu PL, Chen YJ, Siddiq Z, Cao KF, Zhu SD*. 2020. Hydraulic safety margins of co-occurring woody plants in a tropical karst forest experiencing frequent extreme droughts. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 292-293:108107. (*Correspondence)
[3] Zhu SD, Chen YJ, Ye Q, He PC, Liu H, Li RH, Fu PL, Jiang GF, Cao KF. 2018. Leaf turgor loss point is correlated with drought tolerance and leaf carbon economics traits. Tree Physiology, 38:658～663. (Highly Cited Paper)
[4] Zhu SD, Liu H, Xu QY, Cao KF, Ye Q. 2016. Are leaves more vulnerable to cavitation than branches? Functional Ecology, 30:1740～1744.
[5] Zhu SD, Song JJ, Li RH, Ye Q. 2013. Plant hydraulics and photosynthesis of 34 woody species from different successional stages of subtropical forests. Plant Cell and Environment, 36:879～891.
Team Members:
Dr. Cong Wang
I earned a doctorate in Ecology at the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, I am an Associate Professor at Guangxi University. My research focuses on the soil C and N cycle and its microbial mechanisms. Within this research theme, following studies have been conducted: 1. Effects of biochar amendment on soil C and N cycle and their mechanisms in paddy and sugarcane fields, and Eucalyptus plantations; 2. Effects of Castanopsis hystrix introduced into pure Pinus massoniana plantation on soil C and N cycle; 3. Effects of land-use conversion from Masson pine forests to tea plantations on greenhouse gas emissions and its mechanisms; 4. Effects of organic amendment on soil nutrient cycle and its mechanisms in paddy, tobacco, and sugarcane fields; 5. Soil microbial communities in response to sugarcane/soybean intercropping with reduced nitrogen fertilizer application; I have been funded by NSFC, and have published more than 50 scientific journal articles (e.g. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Biology and Fertility of Soils, Environmental Pollution, and Science of the Total Environment).
Dr. Xiali Guo
PhD, Assistant Professor, Master Supervisor. In 2021, she graduated from South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She has been working in the Forestry College of Guangxi University since 2021. The main research field are xylem development, phenology and plant physiology. At present, she hosted the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund Project and Guangxi Science and Technology Base Talent Project. She has published more than 20 articles in Journal of Ecology, Tree Physiology, Annals of Forest Science and so on. She also served as the first young editorial board member of Journal of Plant Ecology and Journal of Plant Medicine and the review editor of Functional Plant Ecology in Frontiers in Plant Science.
