Professor in the Institute of Grassland Ecology

Office F303

Email: fengyh@lzu.edu.cn

Education & Work Experience

Nov 2018 – now: Professor at the Lanzhou University, China

Aug 2016 – Sep 2018: Postdoc at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) & Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany

Sep 2011 – Nov 2015: PhD in Ecology at the University of Konstanz, Germany

Sep 2008 – July 2011: Master and PhD student in Ecology at the Lanzhou University, China

Sep 2004 – July 2008: B.A. in Life Science and Biotechnology at the Lanzhou University, China

Research Interests

I do research mainly in community ecology, theoretical ecology and biological invasions.

My specific research interests, with the focus on biodiversity, mainly include 1) the causes, maintenance and distribution of biodiversity in space and time; 2) the effects of global change factors (e.g. climate change, nutrient deposition, biological invasions) on biodiversity; 3) the biodiversity – ecosystem functioning or stability relationships; 4) biological invasions; 5) eco-evolutionary dynamics. To explore these problems, I use a combination of theoretical models, observations, field and greenhouse experiments, and synthesis analysis of large dataset, aiming to seek for the general principles across scales and trophic levels. Currently, my research is mainly focusing on ecosystems in the western China (especially alpine grassland ecosystems on the Tibetan plateau), also combined with other various research toolboxes (e.g. microbial experiments, theoretical models and synthesis analysis) to explore the generalized laws across different natural ecosystems.

Research Grants

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31971433), Jan 2020 – Dec 2023, 580,000 RMB, PI.

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. lzujbky-2019-32), Jan 2019 – Dec 2020, 200,000 RMB, PI.

"Double First-Class" Start Research Funding (No. 561119205), Jan 2019 – Dec 2023, 1,000,000 RMB, PI.

Publications

Feng Y., Soliveres S., Allan E., Rosenbaum B., Wagg C., Tabi A., De Luca E., Eisenhauer N., Schmid B., Weigelt A., Weisser W., Roscher C. & Fischer M. (2019) Inferring competitive outcomes, ranks and intransitivity from empirical data: a comparison of different methods. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2019, doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13326.

Clark A., Turnbull L., Tredennick A., Allan E., Harpole S., Mayfield M., Soliveres S., Barry K., Eisenhauer N., de Kroon H., Rosenbaum B., Wagg C., Weigelt A., Feng Y., Roscher C. & Schmid B. Predicting species abundances in a grassland biodiversity experiment: Trade‐offs between model complexity and generality. Journal of Ecology, 2019, doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13316.

Feng Y, Fouqueray T & van Kleunen M. Linking Darwin's naturalisation hypothesis and Elton's diversity‐invasibility hypothesis in experimental grassland communities. Journal of Ecology, 2018, 107, 794-805.

Liu, Y., Dawson, W., Prati, D., Haeuser, E., Feng, Y. & van Kleunen, M. (2016). Does greater specific leaf area plasticity help plants to maintain a high performance when shaded? Annals of Botany, 118, 1329-1336.

Feng Y, Maurel N, Wang Z, Ning L, Yu F & van Kleunen M (2016) Introduction history, climatic suitability, native range size, species traits and their interactions explain establishment of Chinese woody species in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25, 1356-1366.

Feng Y & van Kleunen M (2016) Phylogenetic and functional mechanisms of direct and indirect interactions among alien and native plants. Journal of Ecology, 104, 1136-1148.

Song Y, Liu L, Feng Y, Wei Y, Yue X, He W, Zhang H & An L (2015) Chilling- and freezing- induced alterations in cytosine methylation and its association with the cold tolerance of an alpine subnival plant, Chorispora bungeana. PLoS ONE 10, e0135485.

Feng Y & van Kleunen M (2014) Responses to shading of naturalized and non-naturalized exotic woody species. Annals of Botany 114:981-989.

For Postdocs and Students

The motivated postdocs and students with relevant backgrounds (e.g. ecology, grassland science, biology) are always welcome to join my lab! I also always encourage those with the background of mathematics, computer science, physics, etc., to join the lab to do ecology!