About
326
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Introduction
Dr. Hui was trained as a plant ecologist. His research interests are in the area of plant ecology, ecophysiology, global change ecology, ecosystem ecology and ecological modeling. He is particularly interested in the effects of climate change on the carbon, nitrogen and water cycling in terrestrial ecosystems such as grasslands, forests and croplands using experimental, data synthesis, and modeling approaches.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2007 - August 2007
November 2004 - December 2006
January 2002 - November 2004
Education
January 1999 - August 2002
September 1991 - July 1994
Publications
Publications (326)
Frosts, increasingly prevalent due to climate warming, can offset the carbon storage benefits of an extended growing season, potentially exacerbating climate warming. However, existing research primarily focus on species, with limited evidence on carbon fluxes at the ecosystem scale. Using a manipulative experiment simulating 7-day frosts in a temp...
Background and aims
Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), is a metabolite exuded by the extraradical hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which enhances soil structure and consequently is often associated with improved fertility in forest soils. This study investigates how topography and local environmental conditions influence GRSP and it...
Soil erosion is a serious environmental problem in subtropical China’s tea plantations. To control soil erosion, diverse plant species are intercropped among tea plant rows to enhance water and soil conservation efforts. However, the specific influence of these species on eco-hydrological and erosional processes remains insufficiently documented. W...
Due to the increases of greenhouse gas concentrations and excessive destruction of forests, climate change will continue with elevated temperature and more severe and frequent drought. Drought will have direct negative impacts on the agricultural economy and food production in the world. Considering the increasing population and demand for drinking...
Quantifying terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration potential is crucial for climate change mitigation and achieving C neutrality. Ecosystem manipulative experiments (EMEs) provide valuable in situ assessments of terrestrial C dynamics under global change. Although EMEs have expanded rapidly in China, their current state and role in elucidating spatia...
Introduction
Constructed wetlands have become crucial ecosystems for the purification of industrial and agricultural water. The health of wetland plants and the efficacy of water purification are strongly influenced by root-associated bacteria. However, our understanding of the functions of bacterial communities in the plant different root componen...
Rice root aerenchyma (RA) and irrigation practices influence key physiological processes in rice paddies, affecting both yield and methane (CH4) emissions. However, the interaction between RA and irrigation practices, and its implications for CH4 mitigation, remains unclear, making it difficult to identify rice cultivars for CH4
mitigation purposes...
Background
The extensive use of antibiotics in the global livestock industry in recent decades has accelerated the accumulation and dissemination of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) within terrestrial ecosystems. This occurs due to the limited absorption of most antibiotics, leading to their release into the environment through feces and urine. T...
Enhancing terrestrial carbon (C) stock through ecological restoration, one of the prominent approaches for natural climate solutions, is conventionally considered to be achieved through an ecological pathway, i.e., increased plant C uptake. By conducting a comprehensive regional survey of 4279 1 × 1 m ² plots at 517 sites across China’s drylands an...
The Anthropocene exerts various pressures and influences on the stability and function of the Earth's ecosystems. However, our understanding of how the microbiome responds in form and function to these disturbances is still limited, particularly when considering the phyllosphere, which represents one of the largest microbial reservoirs in the terre...
Mixed plantations of Eucalyptus with native tree species can effectively improve forest ecosystem services. However, the long-term effects and ratios of Eucalyptus-native tree species mixture on plant diversity in different plant layer, multiple ecosystem services, multiservice and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To fill these gaps, a fou...
Redistribution of precipitation across seasons is a widespread phenomenon affecting dryland ecosystems globally. However, the impacts of shifting seasonal precipitation patterns on carbon (C) cycling and sequestration in dryland ecosystems remain poorly understood.
In this study, we conducted a 10‐yr (2013–2022) field manipulative experiment that a...
Conservation tillage has been promoted as an effective practice to preserve soil health and enhance agroecosystem services. Changes in tillage intensity have a profound impact on soil nitrogen cycling, yet their influence on nitrate losses at large spatiotemporal scales remains uncertain. This study examined the effects of tillage intensity on soil...
Background: Ecological stoichiometric characteristics of carbon (C), nitrogen
(N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) serve as crucial indicators of nutrient
cycling and limitation in terrestrial ecosystems. However, our current
understanding of stoichiometric characteristics in subtropical forests and their
response to different climate conditions...
Tropical forests are sensitive to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability, and under nutrient application the variation of soil organic carbon (SOC) preserving mechanism remains to be explored. To reveal the forest-specific SOC preservation via biochemical selection in response to nutrient application, we investigated a monoculture (Acacia pla...
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a prominent bioenergy crop with robust resilience to environmental stresses. However, our knowledge regarding how precipitation changes affect switchgrass photosynthesis and its responses to light and CO2 remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a field precipitation experiment with five diff...
Purpose
Subtropical lake riparian ecosystems experience seasonal water table fluctuations and increased nitrogen (N) deposition with changing N composition. However, the interplay of soil water content (SWC), N deposition chemical composition, and their interaction on plant growth through regulating N acquisition remains poorly understood.
Methods...
Background and aims
Understanding how altered precipitation patterns affect the dynamics of phosphorus (P) fractions in both soil and foliage is crucial for predicting climate-induced changes in plant growth and community structure, especially within tropical forests with P-impoverished soils.
Methods
We conducted a nine-year precipitation experim...
The phyllosphere, particularly the leaf surface of plants, harbors a diverse range of microbiomes that play a vital role in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. However, our understanding of microbial successions and their impact on functional genes during plant community development is limited. In this study, considering core and satellite m...
Aims
Soil comprises diverse carbon (C) pools undergoing various decomposition stages, each characterized by distinct stability and turnover rates. The response of these C pools to warming with the input of plant residues remains unclear.
Methods
We conducted a 90-day incubation study at 15 °C and 25 °C, introducing ¹³C-labeled cellulose into soils...
The nutrient limitation hypothesis has often been used to explain the late stage decline in productivity of tree plantations. However, few studies have considered the role of fine roots (≤ 2 mm) may play in the process, and even fewer have considered the impact of understory vegetation. Here we assessed how fine root morphological traits, such as s...
As the carbon (C) credit market evolves, incorporating organic matter into soils has emerged as a key strategy in C farming. Soil heterotrophic respiration (RH) plays a pivotal role in maintaining the C balance in terrestrial ecosystems, yet the contrasting impacts of fresh and pyrogenic organic matter applications on soil RH, and associated underl...
Obtaining a holistic understanding of the impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on multiple ecosystem services of forest is essential for developing comprehensive and sustainable strategies, particularly in heavy N deposition regions such as subtropical China. However, such impacts remain incompletely understood, with most previous studies foc...
Soil microbial necromass carbon is an important component of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool which helps to improve soil fertility and texture. However, the spatial pattern and variation mechanisms of fungal- and bacterial-derived necromass carbon at local scales in tropical rainforests are uncertain. This study showed that microbial necromass c...
The spatial distribution of plant, soil, and microbial carbon pools, along with their intricate interactions, presents a great challenge for the current carbon cycle research. However, it is not clear what are the characteristics of the spatial variability of these carbon pools, particularly their cross-scale relationships. We investigated the cros...
Microbial-driven processes, including nitrification and denitrification closely related to soil nitrous oxide (N2O) production, are orchestrated by a network of enzymes and genes such as amoA genes from ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA), narG (nitrate reductase), nirS and nirK (nitrite reductase), and nosZ (N2O reductase). However,...
Dynamics of plant communities during forest succession have been received great attention in the past decades, yet information about soil microbial communities that are involved in carbon cycling remains limited. Here we investigated soil microbial community composition and carbohydrate degradation potential using metagenomic analysis and examined...
Agricultural soils play a dual role in regulating the Earth's climate by releasing or sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) in soil organic carbon (SOC) and emitting non‐CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). To understand how agricultural soils can play a role in climate solutions requires a comprehensive assessment...
Plain Language Summary
Biogeochemical models calculate the entire N balance to describe soil N turnover. However, when findings are published, they often focus solely on environmentally harmful N losses like N2O fluxes and NO3− ${{\text{NO}}_{3}}^{-}$ leaching. We argue that it is crucial to publish and communicate the complete N cycle as calculate...
The persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC) is primarily driven by microbial metabolic activities; however, how microbial effects on SOC sequestration are affected by soil nutrient status remains unclear. Here, we conducted a one-year-long in situ soil incubation experiment using mesh bags (with a mesh size of 38 µm, allowing bacterial colonizatio...
The soil priming effect (PE), defined as the modification of soil organic matter decomposition by labile carbon (C) inputs, is known to influence C storage in terrestrial ecosystems. However, how chronic nutrient addition, particularly in leguminous and non-leguminous forests, will affect PE through interaction with nutrient (e.g., nitrogen) availa...
Mangrove afforestation is considered an important measure in the “natural-based solution” for mitigating climate warming through sequestering massive carbon (C) into vegetation biomass, yet how the planted mangrove species facilitate soil C sequestration remains unclear. Here, we investigated the stock, source, and fraction of soil organic carbon (...
Biostimulants are biological additives that are used in crop production to improve plant growth, productivity, and health. This research aimed to study the effects of cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L.) production in organic management systems influenced by humic substances and biochar. The study was conducted in replicated research trials conducted durin...
Poor regeneration of natural vegetation is a major factor contributing to the degradation of tropical coral islands. Soil seed banks (SSB) are important for maintaining the resilience of plant communities. However, the community characteristics and spatial distribution of SSBs and the controlling factors along human disturbance on coral islands are...
The current study has investigated the application of water-soluble yellow mustard mucilage (WSM) as a novel wall material in microencapsulation of essential oils (EO), thymol and carvacrol, and polyphenols (PP). Thymol (25%, w/w), carvacrol (25%, w/w) and PP (50%, w/w) were encapsulated in WSM, maltodextrin (MD) and gum Arabic (GA) at various mass...
Biogeochemical models simulate soil nitrogen (N) turnover and are often used to assess N losses through denitrification. Though models simulate a complete N budget, only specific N pools/fluxes (i.e. N2O, NO3-, NH3, NOx) are usually published, because the full budget cannot be validated with measured data. Field studies rarely include full N balanc...
Canopies play an important role in nitrogen (N) redistribution in forest ecosystems, and ignoring the canopy’s role might bias estimates of the ecological consequences of anthropogenic atmospheric N deposition. We investigated the effects of the approach of N addition (Canopy addition vs. Understory addition) and level of N addition (25 kg N ha-1yr...
Switchgrass (SG) is considered a model bioenergy crop and a warm‐season perennial grass (WSPG) that traditionally served as forage feedstock in the United States. To avoid the sole dependence on SG for bioenergy production, evaluation of other crops to diversify the pool of feedstock is needed. We conducted a 3‐year field experiment evaluating east...
Background
Precipitation plays an important role in crop production and soil greenhouse gas emissions. However, how crop yield and soil nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission respond to precipitation change, particularly with different background precipitations (dry, normal, and wet years), has not been well investigated. In this study, we examined the imp...
Tropical primary forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate and converted for other land uses which is expected to greatly influence soil carbon (C) cycling. However, our understanding of how tropical forest conversions affect the accumulation of compounds in soil functional C pools remains unclear. Here, we collected soils from primary forest...
Nutrient resorption is an important strategy for plants to retain critical nutrients from senesced leaves and plays important roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem productivity. As a main economic crop and soil and water conservation species, Wuyi Rock tea has been widely planted in Fujian Province, China. However, foliar nutrient resorptions of...
Drought events are projected to be more extreme and frequent in the future and have profound influences on the structure and functions of terrestrial ecosystems. Thus, better understanding the mechanisms of recovery is critical for predicting the future dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. We performed a 7‐year field precipitation experiment to exam...
Understanding community assembly process could enhance forest conservation and restoration, while which dominant ecological process drives the community assembly during forest succession is still controversial. In this study, the phylogeny-based and functional trait-based indicators were used to investigate the community assembly processes during f...
Introducing N2‐fixing tree species into Eucalyptus plantations could replace nitrogen (N) fertilization to maintain high levels of N consumption and productivity. However, N enrichment may exacerbate phosphorus (P) limitation as Eucalyptus robusta Smith is extensively planted in P‐poor tropical and subtropical soils.
We conducted a field experiment...
Slow cycling organic matter such as plant lignin components or microbial necromass play important roles in soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation, but their relatively importance are rarely quantified or have been under debate in forest ecosystems. While the traditional hypothesis holds that low-quality litter inputs generally favor more SOC accumu...
Global warming intensifies the hydrological cycle, which results in changes in precipitation regime (frequency and amount), and will likely have significant impacts on soil respiration (Rs). Although the responses of Rs to changes in precipitation amount have been extensively studied, there is little consensus on how Rs will be affected by changes...
Increasing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects soil carbon (C) dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems. Recent evidence suggests that changes in C-degrading extracellular enzyme activities (C-EEAs) largely explain the responses of soil C dynamics to N deposition. However, the factors that control C-EEA variations under N addition remain unclear,...
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third important long‐lived greenhouse gas next to carbon dioxide and methane and croplands are considered biogeochemical hotspots of soil N2O emissions. To reduce soil N2O and other greenhouse emissions, climate‐smart agricultural practices including biochar application have been applied. Many studies have been conducted...
Nutrient resorption is an important strategy for obtaining nutrition, it determines the ecosystems productivity and nutrient cycling. The Wuyi rock tea cultivars are used as important species for controlling soil erosion in hilly mountainous areas, but the mechanism of nutrient resorption is still unclear. The Wuyi Rock tea ( Camellia sinensis ) pl...
The phenological sensitivity of terrestrial plants to precipitation change (precipitation sensitivity, Sp) and whether Sp is affected by climatic warming remain largely unknown. A four-year (2015–2018) field experiment with warming and increased/decreased precipitation was conducted to investigate the impacts of climate change on Sp in three domina...
Although tropical and subtropical regions have replaced temperate regions as the global-change hotspots for increased atmosphere nitrogen (N) deposition, whether the regional forests reach N saturation is still unclear. Understory or floor N addition has been commonly used in N-deposition studies, but the results of such studies have recently been...
With the development of the economy and society, more attention is being paid to energy costs and the potential environmental pollution caused by vegetable cultivation. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of zero discharge of nutrient solutions on cucumber growth, leaf photosynthesis, and the yield and quality of cucumber under gre...
Aims Soil warming significantly influences soil organic carbon (SOC) pools in terrestrial ecosystems through its impact on the processes of carbon (C) input and decomposition as well as the stabilization of SOC pools. Most studies demonstrated that soil warming reduces SOC pools, but the magnitude is highly variable, and the underlying mechanisms a...
The stabilization of soil organic carbon (SOC) relies heavily on both the production of microbial necromass carbon (MNC) and its protection by clay minerals. Above- and below-ground carbon (C) sources differ not only in the C quality and quantity that drive MNC production but also in MNC-mineral interactions. Here we test the hypothesis that root l...
In subtropical wetland ecosystems, climate change can alter both the composition of nitrogen (N) deposition and the levels of soil water, affecting nutrient acquisition. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can regulate the effects of soil water availability and the NH4⁺: NO3⁻ ratio on plant N acquisition. However, exactly how N acquisition is affect...
Nutrient resorption plays an important role in the nutrient conservation of plants and ecosystem nutrient cycling. Although community succession and nutrient addition could regulate plant nutrient resorption, how resorptions of foliar nutrients vary with human disturbances remains unclear. With the economic development, Phoebe bournei forests (PF)...
Tillage is a common agricultural practice that helps prepare the soil and remove weeds. However, it remains unknown how tillage intensity has evolved and its effect on net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, using a process-based modelling approach with a multi-source database, we examined the change in tillage intensity across the US corn–soybea...
Although plants are known to conserve nutrients by resorbing them from senescing leaves, how resorption of foliar macro‐ and micronutrients is affected by plant growth form (e.g., trees, shrubs, and ferns) and forest age are not well understood. The current study was conducted in four subtropical monoculture plantations: Eucalyptus and Acacia plant...
Ecological succession after disturbance plays a vital role in influencing ecosystem structure and functioning. However, how global change factors regulate ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in successional plant communities remains largely elusive. As part of an 8‐year (2012–2019) manipulative experiment, this study was designed to examine the responses...
South China has been experiencing very high rate of acid deposition and severe soil acidification in recent decades, which has been proposed to exacerbate the regional ecosystem phosphorus (P) limitation. We conducted a 10‐year field experiment of simulated acid deposition to examine how acidification impacts seasonal changes of different soil P fr...
Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp) has been commonly consumed in human diet, and it is also a promising source of protein and dietary fibers. In this study, pigeon pea protein and non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) were sequentially extracted and fractionated. The amino acid profile of protein was characterized, and total sugars and uronic acid of...
Atmospheric acid deposition remains a widespread problem that may influence the protection of carbon (C) in soil by altering organo-mineral interactions. However, the impacts of additional acidity on organo-mineral interactions and soil C sequestration in naturally acidic tropical soils with a high content of reactive iron (Fe) phases have not been...
The amplifying interannual precipitation variability has been observed globally and is projected to intensify under climate change scenarios. However, its impacts on terrestrial vegetation and carbon (C) sink have not been well investigated.
As part of a field manipulative experiment with three precipitation variabilities (20%, 40% and 60%) in a se...
Aluminum (Al) toxicity primarily targets the root tips, inhibiting root growth and function and leading to crop yield losses on acidic soils. Previously we reported using laser capture microdissection (LCM) proteomics to identify Al-induced proteins in the outer layer cells in the transitional zone of tomato root-tips. This study aims to further ch...
Unprecedented nitrogen (N) inputs into terrestrial ecosystems have profoundly altered soil N cycling. Ammonia oxidizers and denitrifiers are the main producers of nitrous oxide (N2O), but it remains unclear how ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances will respond to N loading and whether their responses can predict N‐induced changes in soil N2O...
