Research Area

Plant Ecophysiology, Hyperspectral remote sensing, Biogeochemistry, Ecological Stoichiometry

Introduction

I am a broadly trained ecology scientist studying eco-physiological processes of plant-environment interactions from leaf to global scales. My background includes plant physiological ecology, biogeochemical cycles, ecological stoichiometry, global change ecology and hyperspectral remote sensing. I am especially keen to understand the responses and adaptations of land plants to global changes, and to advance the process understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that regulate the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by using interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. experiments, field observations, cutting-edge remote sensing and meta-analysis). My current and future research is focused on novel multi-scale remote sensing techniques (e.g. vegetation spectroscopy, Lidar, thermal remote sensing) for plant traits monitoring, ecological mechanisms of plant traits dynamics, and statistical and ecological models of plant traits impacts on important ecosystem functions and processes.

Publications

[1] Yang N, Zohner CM, Crowther TW, Feng JG, Wu J, Chen XL, Han WX, Stocker BD, Hui DF, Augusto L, Yue K, Hou EQ, Jiang MK, Feng HL, Chen ZX, Wu WJ, Xing AJ, Chen CR, Sardans J, Luo YQ, Peñuelas J, Lambers H, Fang JY, Yan ZB*. 2025. Leaf economic strategies drive global variation in phosphorus stimulation of terrestrial plant production. Nature Communications, 16: 5562.

[2] Yan ZB, Han WX*, Peñuelas J, Sardans J, Elser JJ, Du EZ, Reich PB, Fang JY. 2016. Phosphorus accumulates faster than nitrogen globally in freshwater ecosystems under anthropogenic impacts. Ecology Letters, 19: 1237-1246.

[3] Dong TT, Wu FQ, Tsujii Y, Townsend PA, Yang N, Xu WY, Liu SW, Swenson NG, Lamour J, Han WX, Smith NG, Shi Y, Yan L, Tian D, Jiang MK, Wang ZH, Liu XJ, Dai GH, Dong JL, Sardans J, Reich PB, Lambers H, Serbin SP, Peñuelas J, Wu J, Yan ZB*. 2025. Deciphering the variability of leaf phosphorus-allocation strategies using leaf economic traits and reflectance spectroscopy across diverse forest types. New Phytologist, 247: 1129-1144.

[4] Wu FQ, Liu SW, Lamour J, Atkin OK, Yang N, Dong TT, Xu WY, Smith NG, Wang ZH, Wang H, Su YJ, Liu XJ, Shi Y, Xing AJ, Dai GH, Dong JL, Swenson NG, Kattge J, Reich PB, Serbin SP, Rogers A, Wu J, Yan ZB*. 2025. Linking leaf dark respiration to leaf traits and reflectance spectroscopy across diverse forest types. New Phytologist, 246: 481-497.

[5] Yan ZB, Guo ZF, Serbin SP, Song GQ, Zhao YY, Chen Y, Wu SB, Wang J, Wang X, Li J, Wang B, Wu YT, Su YJ, Wang H, Rogers A, Liu LL, Wu J*. 2021. Spectroscopy outperforms leaf trait relationships for predicting photosynthetic capacity across different forest types. New Phytologist, 232: 134-147.

[6] Liu SW, Yan ZB*, Wang ZH, Serbin S, Visser M, Zeng Y, Ryu Y, Su YJ, Guo ZF, Song GQ, Wu QH, Zhang H, Cheng KH, Dong JL, Hau BCH, Zhao P, Yang X, Liu LL, Rogers A, Wu J*. 2023. Mapping foliar photosynthetic capacity in sub-tropical and tropical forests with UAS-based imaging spectroscopy: scaling from leaf to canopy. Remote Sensing of Environment, 293: 113612.

[7] Yan ZB, Sardans J, Peñuelas J, Detto M, Smith NG, Wang H, Guo LL, Hughes AC, Guo ZF, Lee CKF, Liu LL, Jin Wu*. 2023. Global patterns and drivers of leaf photosynthetic capacity: the relative importance of environmental factors and evolutionary history. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32: 668-682.

[8] Yang N, Wu FQ, Sack L, Querejeta JI, Cernusak LA, Dong TT, Xu WY, Townsend PA, Detto M, Peñuelas J, Song X, Wang X, Crous KY, Gong XY, Lamour J, Guerrieri R, Smith NG, Liu LL, Wu J, Yan ZB*. 2025. Leaf elementomes reveal close links with leaf water-use strategies across diverse forest ecosystems: insights from trait coordination and reflectance spectroscopy. Plant, Cell & Environment, Doi: 10.1111/pce.70323.

[9] Yan ZB, Li XY, Tian D, Han WX, Hou XH, Shen HH, Guo YL, Fang JY*. 2018. Nutrient addition affects scaling relationship of leaf nitrogen to phosphorus in Arabidopsis thaliana. Functional Ecology, 32: 2689-2698.

[10] Yan ZB, Detto M, Guo ZF, Smith NG, Wang H, Albert LP, Xu XT, Lin ZY, Liu SW, Zhao YY, Chen SL, Bonebrake TC, Wu J*. 2024. Global photosynthetic capacity jointly determined by enzyme kinetics and eco-evo-environmental drivers. Fundamental Research, Doi: 10.1016/j.fmre.2023.12.011.