About the Global Ecology Group

A global map of carbon uptake

About Us

Our research is motivated by the compelling need to understand the impacts of climate change and human activities on the Earth’s biosphere and the feedbacks to the climate. We strive to answer major science questions on global carbon/water cycles, climate-vegetation interactions, ecosystem dynamics, and coupled natural and human systems. We combine terrestrial biosphere modeling, remote sensing, field measurements, upscaling, model-data fusion, and statistical analysis to answer these science questions.

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Principal Investigator:

Jingfeng Xiao

Research Staff:

Jia Deng
Weizhi Lu
Haibo Huang

Graduate Students: 

Xing Li 
Xiaojuan Huang

Alumni:

Alexandra Thorn 
Weifeng Wang 
Feng Li 
Hongchun Peng 
Yibo Liu 
Ming Yan 
Xufeng Wang

  • 2016-2021; NSF: MacroSystems Biology. “The influence of biological diversity on land-atmosphere exchange in forests: confronting theory with data” (Co-PI, PI Scott V. Ollinger, with Co-PIs Michael Palace and Bobby Braswell) Award Abstract
  • 2016-2019; NASA: Climate Indicators and Data Products for Future National Climate Assessments. “Ecosystem carbon indicators for the U.S. National Climate Assessment” (Principal Investigator, Co-I Alexander Prusevich)  Award Abstract 
  • 2014-2017; NASA: The Science of Terra and Aqua. “Incorporating a new urban dataset from SeaWinds into a multi-sensor analysis of global daytime and nighttime urban heat islands” (PI Steve Frolking, Co-Is Jingfeng Xiao, Annemarie Schneider, Mark Friedl) Award Abstract
  • 2014 – 2017; NASA: Carbon Cycle Science. “Exploring the interactions between carbon cycling, land use and climate change within mixed agricultural, forested, suburban, and urban landscapes” (Principal Investigator, Co-Is Changsheng Li, Alexandra R. Contosta, Ruth K. Varner, Junmei Tang)  Award Abstract

  • 2012 - 2015; NASA: Terrestrial Ecology. “Exploring relationships among water use efficiency, canopy nitrogen and carbon cycling across North American ecosystems to improve land surface models” (PI Scott Ollinger, Co-Is Heidi Asbjornsen and Jingfeng Xiao) Award Abstract.
  • 2010 - 2013; NASA: Terrestrial Ecology. "Using NASA Remote Sensing and Models to Advance Integrated Assessments of Coupled Human-Forest Dynamics for North America" (Subcontract from University of Maryland (PI George Hurtt), with Steve Frolking) Award Abstract.
  • 2011 – 2014; NSF: MacroSystems Biology. "Assessing Ecosystem Carbon Dynamics over North America by Integrating Eddy Covariance, MODIS, and New Ecological Data through Upscaling and Model-data Synthesis" (Principal Investigator, Co-PI: Scott Ollinger) Award Abstract.
  • 2011 – 2013;  NASA: Carbon Monitoring System (CMS). "Providing Scientific and Technical Guidance to the Development and Evaluation of the Integrated Flux Pilot Product: Forcing Evaluation, Parameter Optimization, Uncertainty Assessment and Product Validation” (Principal Investigator) Award Abstract.
  • 2009 – 2011;  Department of Energy (DOE), National Institute for Climatic Change Research (NICCR). "Coupling carbon, water and nutrient cycles with data assimilation and multiple constraints" (Principal Investigator, Co-Is: Scott V. Ollinger, Andrew Richardson) Award Abstract.

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