Henan University | China
Zhongling Yang is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Henan University, whose research centers on how global change influences biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and on ecological restoration of sandy soils in farmland ecosystems. He earned his PhD in Ecology from Lanzhou University (2006-2011) and his Bachelor of Science from Xinyang Normal University (2002-2006). He has served as a visiting scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology (2014-2015) and University of New Mexico (2017-2018), and progressed through lecturer to associate professor to full professor at Henan University since 2013. He has established a strong research profile. His work has led to major funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China—notably on seed and seedling limitation in community assembly, impacts of altered rainfall on semi-arid grassland structure and function, and plant–soil feedbacks under disturbance on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. He has been recognized with the Natural Science Award of Gansu Province for his work on alpine meadow plant communities and aboveground/belowground feedback mechanisms. Through his sustained experimental studies and interdisciplinary collaborations, he contributes to understanding how climate and land-use changes reshape ecosystems and how restoration efforts can mitigate degradation.
Featured Publications
Wang, G., Lu, C., Cheng, G., Xiao, R., Yang, Z., & Zhang, X. (2025). Effects of changed precipitation amount and timing on soil seed bank dynamics in a semi-arid grassland. Plant and Soil.
Zhu, H., Fan, C., Jin, H., Zhang, Y., Wang, H., Li, G., Xiao, R., & Yang, Z. (2025). Dominant species drive ecosystem multifunctionality under changed precipitation timing in a semiarid steppe. Ecological Applications.
Jin, H., Fan, C., Zhu, H., Zhang, Y., Xiao, R., & Yang, Z. (2025). Responses of plant biomass allocation to changed precipitation timing in a semi-arid steppe. Plant and Soil.
Yang, Z., Li, J., Xiao, R., Zhang, C., Ma, X., Du, G., Li, G., & Jiang, L. (2024). Losses of low-germinating, slow-growing species prevent grassland composition recovery from nutrient amendment. Global Change Biology, 30(4), e17264.
He, Y., Wang, H., Xiao, R., & Yang, Z. (2024, April 26). Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus addition on plant diversity and primary productivity in a semiarid grassland [Preprint]. Research Square.