Jingjing Liang

Purdue University | Purdue · Department of Forestry and Natural Resources

Significance International society has made a commitment to mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into broader socioeconomic development, but an incomplete theoretical basis translates into a lack of practical applications, especially regarding how individual plant productivity changes in response to the overall species loss. In this study, we de...

Global biodiversity and productivity The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem productivity has been explored in detail in herbaceous vegetation, but patterns in forests are far less well understood. Liang et al. have amassed a global forest data set from >770,000 sample plots in 44 countries. A positive and consistent relationship can be...

A spatially explicit global map of tree symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi reveals that climate variables are the primary drivers of the distribution of different types of symbiosis.

Significance Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large geographic domains still rely heavily on published lists of species descriptions that are geographically uneven in coverage. These limitations have precluded efforts to generate a g...

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we...

Basal area is a key measure of forest stocking and an important proxy of forest productivity in the face of climate change. Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is one of the most valuable timber species in North America. However, little is known about how the stocking of black walnut would change with differed bioclimatic conditions under climate change....

Despite substantial progress in understanding global biodiversity loss, major taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps remain. Decision makers often rely on expert judgement to fill knowledge gaps, but are rarely able to engage with sufficiently large and diverse groups of specialists. To improve understanding of the perspectives of thousands of bio...

The backscattered power recorded by a spaceborne scatterometer operating at C-band is sensitive to land surface parameters and is operationally used by some global remote sensing services, e.g., to estimate soil moisture. The estimation of forest variables, in particular above-ground biomass (AGB), from scatterometer data instead was seldom explore...

Over the past decade, several global maps of above-ground biomass (AGB) have been produced, but they exhibit significant differences that reduce their value for climate and carbon cycle modelling, and also for national estimates of forest carbon stocks and their changes. The number of such maps is anticipated to increase because of new satellite mi...

Planting trillions of trees won’t replace the 10 million hectares of forest ecosystems lost each year, but documenting them could prevent further losses Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25333760-100-we-need-to-count-every-tree-on-the-planet-heres-why/#ixzz7XLUxMlu7

One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknow...

Quantifying fuel load over large areas is essential to support integrated fire management initiatives in fire-prone regions to preserve carbon stock, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. It also allows a better understanding of global climate regulation as a potential carbon sink or source. Large area assessments usually require data from spaceb...

When ordinating plots of tropical rain forests using stand-level structural attributes such as biomass, basal area and the number of trees in different size classes, two patterns often emerge: a gradient from poorly to highly stocked plots and high positive correlations between biomass, basal area and the number of large trees. These patterns are i...

Most tree species predominantly associate with a single type of mycorrhizal fungi, which can differentially affect plant nutrient acquisition and biogeochemical cycling. Uncertainties in mycorrhizal distributions are non-trivial and current estimates disagree in up to 50% over 40% of the land area, including tropical forests. Remote sensing capabil...

Mounting evidence suggests that geographic ranges of tree species worldwide are shifting under global environmental change, but little is known about forest migration—the shift in the geographic ranges of forest types—and how it differs from individual tree species migration. Here, based on in situ records of more than 9 million trees from 596,282...

Most tree species predominantly associate with a single type of mycorrhizal fungi, which can differentially affect plant nutrient acquisition and biogeochemical cycling. Here, we address for the first time the impact of mycorrhizal distributions on global carbon and nutrient cycling. Using the state-of-the-art carbon-nitrogen economics within the C...

Tropical savanna ecosystems play a major role in the seasonality of the global carbon cycle. However, their ability to store and sequester carbon is uncertain due to combined and intermingling effects of anthropogenic activities and climate change, which impact wildfire regimes and vegetation dynamics. Accurate measurements of tropical savanna vege...

Question Forest ecosystems are the most important global repositories of terrestrial biodiversity. The mixed temperate forests in northeastern China constitute one of the most biodiverse temperate regions globally and provide nearly one‐third of China’s wood supply. We ask what are spatial patterns and potential drivers of tree species diversity in...

Background: The prediction of biogeographical patterns from a large number of driving factors with complex interactions, correlations and non-linear dependences require advanced analytical methods and modeling tools. This study compares different statistical and machine learning-based models for predicting fungal productivity biogeographical patter...

Aims Traditional quantitative approaches to forest classification are based on differences in species abundance or incidence among communities. In these approaches, all species are regarded as biologically equidistant regardless of the biological heterogeneity. The objective of the study is to evaluate the potential of the “Discriminating Avalanche...

The terrestrial forest carbon pool is poorly quantified, in particular in regions with low forest inventory capacity. By combining multiple satellite observations of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter around the year 2010, we generated a global, spatially explicit dataset of above-ground live biomass (AGB; dry mass) stored in forests with a...

Background The prediction of biogeographical patterns from a large number of driving factors with complex interactions, correlations and non-linear dependences require advanced analytical methods and modelling tools. This study compares different statistical and machine learning models for predicting fungal productivity biogeographical patterns as...

Open access to global forest data, especially ground-measured (in situ) records, is critical for saving the world's forest systems. Integrated approaches to achieve sustainable data openness will involve legal assurances, shared ethics, innovative funding schemes and capacity development.

Tropical deforestation drivers are complex and can change rapidly in periods of profound societal transformation, such as those during a pandemic. Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred illegal, opportunistic forest clearing in tropical countries, threatening forest ecosystems and their resident human communities. A total of 9,583...

Forests play an important role in both regional and global C cycles. However, the spatial patterns of biomass C density and underlying factors in Northeast Asia remain unclear. Here, we characterized spatial patterns and important drivers of biomass C density for Northeast Asia, based on multisource data from in‐situ forest inventories, as well as...

The terrestrial forest carbon pool is poorly quantified, in particular in regions with low forest inventory capacity. By combining multiple satellite observations of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter around the year 2010, we generated a global, spatially explicit dataset of above-ground forest biomass (dry mass, AGB) with a spatial resolut...

Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world's temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resis...

Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world’s temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resis...

Soil autotrophic respiration (RA) is one of the key components of carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite conflicting findings on the dominant climatic, edaphic and vegetation controls of RA from localized studies, little is known about global RA patterns and their potential drivers. To fill the knowledge gap, we evaluated th...

Lianas are woody vines, rooted in the soil, and supported physically by trees. Lianas contribute to forest ecosystem functioning globally, but especially in the tropics and subtropics. However, prolific liana growth following heavy disturbance frequently affects subsequent recovery of forest tree diversity, biomass, structure, and function. Underst...

Estimation of forest population dynamics is important critical for forest management decisions making. In this study, we developed an innovative climate-sensitive matrix model using random forests algorithm (RF) to estimate diameter growth, mortality, and recruitment and consequently predict population dynamics of the central hardwood forests under...

In this Letter, a middle initial and additional affiliation have been added for author G. J. Nabuurs; two statements have been added to the Supplementary Acknowledgements; and a citation to the French National Institute has been added to the Methods; see accompanying Author Correction for further details.

Treeline shift and tree growth often respond to climatic changes and it is critical to identify and quantify their dynamics. Some regions are particularly sensitive to climate change and the Altai Mountains, located in Central and East Asia, are showing unequivocal signs. The mean annual temperature in the area has increased by 1.3–1.7 °C in the la...

2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. In this Letter, the middle initial of author G. J. Nabuurs was omitted, and he should have been associated with an additional affiliation: ‘Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands’ (now added as affiliation 18...

Vegetation carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a key measure of carbon (C) transfer from the atmosphere to terrestrial biomass, and indirectly reflects how much C is released through autotrophic respiration from the vegetation to the atmosphere. Diagnosing the variability of CUE with climate and other environmental factors is fundamental to understand i...

1.The biodiversity–productivity relationship (BPR) constitutes one of the most fundamental yet challenging topics in ecology. Most described BPRs so far are based on relatively small grain sizes (typically smaller than 1ha), and understanding how the BPRs scale up from individual trees to communities of different sizes, a mission critical for biodi...

Background: In recent studies, mixed forests were found to be more productive than monocultures with everything else remaining the same. Methods: To find out if this productivity is caused by tree species richness, by a more heterogeneous stand structure or both, we analyzed the effects of forest structure and tree species richness on stand product...

The globalization of the palm oil trade poses a menace to the ecosystem integrity of Southeast Asia. In this short communication, we briefly discuss why palm oil certifications may have failed as an effective means to halt forest degradation and biodiversity loss. From a comparison of multiple new datasets, we analysed recent tree loss in Indonesia...

TreeDivNet is the largest network of biodiversity experiments worldwide, but needs to expand. We encourage colleagues to establish new experiments on the relation between tree species diversity and forest ecosystem functioning, and to make use of the platform for collaborative research.

The Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI– http://www.gfbinitiative.org/)

Spatial cluster detection is an important problem in a variety of scientific disciplines such as environmental sciences, epidemiology and sociology. However, there appears to be very limited statistical methodology for quantifying the uncertainty of a detected cluster. In this paper, we develop a new method for the quantification and visualization...

Empirical analyses of forest dynamics are important for understanding various ecological processes underlying particular forest communities, among which tree mortality is considered a key process driven by many local factors. To evaluate the effects of tree size, as well as biotic and abiotic factors on tree mortality, we compared species-specific...

Key messageA climate-sensitive aboveground biomass (AGB) equation, in combination with nonlinear mixed-effects modeling and dummy variable approach, was developed to examine how climate change may affect the allometric relationships between tree diameter and biomass. We showed that such changes in allometry need to be taken into account for estimat...

This study evaluated the effects of forest attributes on the dynamics of aboveground coarse woody biomass (AWB) and belowground coarse root biomass (BRB) based on two large stem-mapped field plots: a secondary conifer and broadleaved mixed forest (near-mature forest) and an old-growth Korean pine and broadleaved mixed forest. In 2015, the kernel de...

Paul and Knoke address the commercial value and profitability of forest biodiversity, which differs fundamentally from the economic value that we outlined in our Research Article. To translate the biophysical productivity gains from increased forest value: One estimate calculated the economic value

Albedo and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) determine the shortwave radiation balance and productivity of forests. Currently, the physical link between forest albedo and productivity is poorly understood, yet it is crucial for designing optimal forest management strategies for mitigating climate change. We investigat...

Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI)- Dataset Global#1. Data underpinning the Research Article entitled Positive Biodiversity–Productivity Relationship Predominant in Global Forests Data Use Policy 1. GFBI reserves all the rights pertaining to these data; 2. Prior to any use of part of or the entire data set, one must fill out the accompan...

The Central Hardwood Region (CHR) of the United States constitutes one of the most diverse ecoregions in North America and the most extensive temperate deciduous forest in the world. Despite the economic and ecological significance of the CHR, the long-term effects of changes in climate and fire regime on forest structure remain largely unknown. In...

The Sahel region of Northern Africa is home to more than 50 million people for whom summer rainfall is a crucial water resource in terms of food security and societal stability. Using satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and gridded observational precipitation records during 1982–2012, we detected a significant increase (p-...