Dr Yao Liu

Assistant Professor

Department: Geography and Environmental Sciences

The role of time is central for understanding climate change impacts on our ecosystems. A primary theme of my research is “ecological memory” – How do past environmental and biological conditions shape the current behaviour of an ecological system? To answer this, I study the temporal dynamics and memory effects in systems spanning a range of time scales:

Photosynthesis in fluctuating environments
Tree growth
Ecosystem carbon fluxes
Ecosystem (particularly forest) origination, transformation, and resilience

I specialise in Bayesian data analysis, and my research often combines observational, experimental, and modelling approaches. For example, I am using chlorophyll fluorescence monitoring, manipulative experiments on plant mutants, and data-driven dynamical system models to understand the memory of non-photochemical quenching and how its various components work together in fluctuating environments.

Email Yao

Key Publications

The importance of monsoon precipitation for foundation tree species across the semiarid Southwestern U.S, Samuels-Crow, K., Peltier, D., Liu, Y., Guo, J., Welker, J., Anderegg, W., Koch, G., Schwalm, C., Litvak, M., Shaw, J., Ogle, K. 30 Mar 2023, In: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
Estimation of pollen productivity and dispersal: How pollen assemblages in small lakes represent vegetation, Liu, Y., Ogle, K., Lichstein, J., Jackson, S. 1 Aug 2022, In: Ecological Monographs
Examining the role of environmental memory in the predictability of carbon and water fluxes across Australian ecosystems, Page, J., De Kauwe, M., Abramowitz, G., Cleverly, J., Hinko-Najera, N., Hovenden, M., Liu, Y., Pitman, A., Ogle, K. 5 Apr 2022, In: Biogeosciences
Temperature memory and non-structural carbohydrates mediate legacies of a hot drought in trees across the southwestern USA, Peltier, D., Guo, J., Nguyen, P., Bangs, M., Wilson, M., Samuels-Crow, K., Yocom, L., Liu, Y., Fell, M., Shaw, J., Auty, D., Schwalm, C., Anderegg, W., Koch, G., Litvak, M., Ogle, K. Jan 2022, In: Tree Physiology
Tree growth sensitivity to climate varies across a seasonal precipitation gradient, Yocom, L., Ogle, K., Peltier, D., Szejner, P., Liu, Y., Monson, R. Apr 2022, In: Oecologia
A hierarchical, multivariate meta-analysis approach to synthesising global change experiments, Ogle, K., Liu, Y., Vicca, S., Bahn, M. Sep 2021, In: New Phytologist
Temporal controls on crown nonstructural carbohydrates in southwestern US tree species, Peltier, D., Guo, J., Nguyen, P., Bangs, M., Gear, L., Wilson, M., Jefferys, S., Samuels-Crow, K., Yocom, L., Liu, Y., Fell, M., Auty, D., Schwalm, C., Anderegg, W., Koch, G., Litvak, M., Ogle, K. 4 Nov 2020, In: Tree Physiology

Further Information

TEACHING

SPRING 2023

Module Lead: Biodiversity and Climate Change (KE5031)

Instructor: Geography Fieldwork (KE4003), Our Living Planet (KE4011), Introduction to Physical Environments (KE4014), Research and Fieldwork in Physical Geography (KE5027), Dissertation (KE6000)

AUTUMN 2022

Instructor: Understanding and Communicating Environmental Issues (KE3005), Academic Skills and Personal Development (KE4010), Work Placement Year (KE5034)

SPRING 2022

Module Lead: Biodiversity and Climate Change (KE5031)

Instructor: Geography Fieldwork (KE4003), Research and Fieldwork in Physical Geography (KE5027), Dissertation (KE6000)

AUTUMN 2021

Module Lead: Understanding and Communicating Environmental Issues (KE3005)

Instructor: Academic Skills and Personal Development (KE4010)

SPRING 2021

Instructor: Biodiversity and Climate Change (KE5031), Our Living Planet (KE4011), Geography Fieldwork (KE4003), Dissertation (KE6000)

AUTUMN 2020

Instructor: Understanding and Communicating Environmental Issues (KE3005), Academic Skills and Personal Development (KE4010)