Lin Jiang (PI)
Professor
School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Office: Cherry Emerson A112
Laboratory: Cherry Emerson C113
Email: lin.jiang at biology.gatech.edu
Phone: 404-385-2514
Members
Pu Yan
Postdoc Google Scholar
Cherry Emerson A102
pyan40@gatech.edu
I am a postdoctoral researcher specializing in the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning & stability (BEF&S). My research spans multiple ecological levels, from individuals and populations to communities and ecosystems, with the goal of understanding how global changes impact biodiversity and drive ecosystem processes. A core focus is exploring ecosystem stability through functional traits, particularly the role of fast-slow strategies in shaping temporal stability, resistance, and recovery. I also investigate the contextual dependencies of these relationships, examining how environmental factors influence trait-stability dynamics. Furthermore, I leverage the concept of elementomes to study the relationship between elemental diversity and ecosystem functioning. Unlike conventional traits, elementomes offer a unified framework for capturing the diversity of plants and ecosystems, revealing how this diversity promotes ecosystem functioning.
Yiping Zuo
Ph.D. student
Cherry Emerson A102
yzuo38@gatech.edu
I am interested in exploring the influences of environmental change on microbial taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity with the aim of testing ecological theories and making appropriate predictions.
Emily Skibinski
Master student
Cherry Emerson
eskibinski3@gatech.edu
I am broadly interested in the forces that drive community assembly in the phyllosphere. Specifically, my research involves how the order of duckweed leaf microbiome bacteria arrival affects competition and fitness.
Alexandra Newberg
Undergraduate student
anewberg6@gatech.edu
Alexandra is investigating the responses of protist species to different types of environmental disturbance using microcosm experiments.
Muhan Zhao
Undergraduate student
mzhao329@gatech.edu
Muhan is a student at Georgia Tech pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology. She is interested in exploring community level responses of biodiversity to environmental disturbances.
Former Members
Emily Skibinski, M.S. completed in 2024 (Thesis title: Testing Darwin’s Naturalization Hypothesis and Elton’s Bio-Resistance Hypothesis in North American Breeding Birds)
Qianna Xu, Ph.D. completed in 2022 (Dissertation title: Ecological determinants of ecosystem stability); now postdoc at the University of Minnesota. Google Scholar
Moria Robinson, postdoctoral fellow, 2021-2022; now Assistant Professor at Utah State University (Robinson Lab website: https://robinson-lab.com/)
Michael Kelton Southard, M.S. completed in 2022 (Thesis title: Nitrate and phosphate loads, but not light availability, impact freshwater phytoplankton diversity via tradeoffs between dominant species).
Jiong Wang, M.S. completed in 2021 (Thesis title: The impact of copper oxide nanoparticles on bacterial community assembly).
Xian Yang, Ph.D. completed in 2019 (Dissertation title: Ecological community assembly in the face of anthropogenic environmental changes); now Assistant Professor at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yunhai Zhang, postdoc, 2017-2019, State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Shaopeng Li, Research Scientist I, 2014-2018; now Professor at East China Normal University (Li Lab website: https://liecology.com/)
Zhichao Pu, Ph.D. completed in 2015 (Dissertation title: The assembly of protist communities: understanding drivers of historical contingency and causes and consequences of biodiversity)
Jiaqi Tan, Ph.D. completed in 2014 (Dissertation title: Experimental studies of the causes and consequences of biodiversity over ecological and evolutionary timescales); Research scientist I 2014-2018, now Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University (website: https://jiaqitan.wixsite.com/mysite)
Miriam Ojima, M.S. completed in 2015 (Thesis title: Interactive effects of disturbance and dispersal on community assembly); now Ph.D. student at Kyoto University
Yi Yin, M.S. completed in 2016 (Thesis title: Effects of disturbance, competition and productivity on the dynamics of the inducible trophic polymorphism of Tetrahymena vorax); now field research assistant with Tarsius Project, the Amphibian Foundation, Inc., Bohol, Philippine
Meng-Hsiu Tsai, M.S. completed in 2016 (Thesis title: The interactive effects of environmental warming and habitat fragmentation on the structure of experimental protist communities)
Cyrille Violle, postdoc, Researcher at French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Wade A. Ryberg, postdoc, now research scientist at Texas A&M University
Songyan Du, postdoc, now research scientist at New Jersey Department of Health
Undergraduates
Elizabeth Sigman, Alexandra Newberg, Nithyasree Jameshenry, Sihui Vanessa Leung, Matthew Harris, Katherine Berg, Jessica Winkler, Jessica Vorse, Ross Dixon, Jessica Pfliger, Sara Locklear, Esther Woo, Nia Momon, Emma Stevens, Aditya Devarakonda, Lindsey Bush, Biology, Holden Lee, Biology, Vigelo Servera, Kyle Domzalski, Steven Morrison, Lee Hendrix, Colin Robertson, Jayme Holmes, Jingyi Gao, Jennifer Rattray, Zoraida Delgado, Olivia Myers, Skylar Brown, Jo Pak, Matt Slattery, Poonim Daya, Lai-Ling Bernstein, Nicole Johnston, Erin Park, Ashley Burger, Azam Siddiqui, Ting Chen, Jessica Pringle, Lauren Fuess, Grace Bayona, Diana Huynh, David Chang, Sung-chang Lee, Qiuhong Gu, Bora Kim, Lauren Brady, Janet Lee, Harsh Patel, Carrie Stallings, Yeonjin Jung, Hena Joshi, Sooyung Flakes, Shivani Patel, Chathruckan Rajendra, Usman Choudhry, Jacinta Nguyen, Elizabeth Gass.
Visiting Scholars Hosted
Youbing Zhou, Professor, China Three Gorges University, China (2023)
Zhengkun Hu, Ph.D. student, Nanjing Agricultural University, China (2018 – 2020)
Haiyan Ren, Associate professor, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, China (2019 – 2020)
Wenjin Li, Associate professor, Lanzhou University, China (2019 – 2020)
Weixing Liu, Associate professor, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2019)
Shiping Chen, Professor, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2018 – 2019)
Pandeng Wang, Ph.D student, Sun Yat-sen University, China (2018-2019)
Juntao Zhu, Associate professor, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2017, 2018)
Shengchun Li, Ph.D student, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2017-2018)
Jianbo Lu, Professor, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, China (2018)
Nianxi Zhao, Associate Professor, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, China (2016-2017)
Yonggang Chi, Assistant Professor, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2017)
Haiyun Li, M.S. student, College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, China (2016)
Xiaoyu Guo, Associate Professor, College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, China (2015-2016)
Zhongling Yang, Associate Professor, College of Life Sciences, Henan University, China (2014-2015)
Ximei Zhang, Associate Professor, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2014-2016)
Cheng Peng, Ph. D. student, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, China (2014-2015)
Xiaodong Ma, Associate Professor, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, China (2014-2015)
Chao Ma, Ph.D. student, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, China (2014-2015)
Zhuwen Xu, Associate Professor, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2013, 2017, 2019)
Ying Chen, Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, China (2011-2012)
Guohua Chen, Associate Professor, College of Chemistry and Life Science, China Three Gorges University, China (2011)
Yudi Liu, Associate Professor, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China (2011-2012)
