Yong Zhou
Ph.D. Student
Office/Lab: 210 Kleberg Center
Woody plant encroachment into grasslands: Impacts on the 3-dimensional spatial patterns of soil biogeochemical processes
My research is aimed at understanding how woody plant invasion into grasslands alters the 3-dimensional spatial patterns of soil biogeochemical properties and processes. To accomplish this, I am taking spatially-specific soil samples to a depth of 1.2 meters across a landscape in southern Texas where woody plants have been encroaching into grasslands for the past century. My research objectives are to: (1) quantify changes in spatial patterns of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus storage with increasing soil depth; (2) investigate spatial patterns of δ15N with soil depth to understand how nitrogen cycling processes are altered by woody invasion; (3) reconstruct vegetation dynamics by linking spatial patterns of δ13C across soil depths with sequential aerial photographs; (4) examine the flexibility of soil stoichiometry in response to grassland-to-woodland conversion at the landscape scale.
Education
Ph.D., Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, 2018
M.S., Ecology, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2013
B.S., Ecology, Northeast Normal University, 2010
Recent Honors and Awards
2018 Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Graduate Research, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Texas A&M University
2018 Distinguished Achievement Award for Graduate Student Research, Texas A&M University Association of Former Students
2017 Tom Slick Fellowship, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Texas A&M University
2017 Outstanding Ph.D. Student of the Year, Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University
2016 Kirkham Conference Travel Grant, Soil Science Society of America
2015 George Bush Presidential Library Foundation Graduate Student Travel Grant
2013 Excellence Fellowship, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Texas A&M
2013 Sid Kyle Graduate Merit Assistantship, Texas A&M
2010 Outstanding Graduate, Northeast Normal University
Research Grants
Zhou, Y, Boutton TW. 2016-2018. Woody plant encroachment into grasslands: Impacts on landscape-scale 3-dimensional spatial patterns of soil C, N, and P storage and dynamics. NSF Ecosystem Studies Program (DEB/DDIG-1600790) ($19,305).
Zhou, Y. 2015. Woody plant encroachment into grasslands: Impact on the landscape-scale 3-dimensional pattern of soil carbon storage. Exploration Fund Grant, The Explorers Club ($1,600).
Zhou, Y. 2015. Woody encroachment of Prosopis glandulosa into the Rio Grande Plains: Reconstruction of vegetation dynamics from a landscape-scale 3-dimensional pattern of soil δ13C. Howard McCarley Student Research Award, Southwestern Association of Naturalists ($1,000).
Publications
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2019. A three-dimensional assessment of soil δ13C in a subtropical savanna: Implications for vegetation change and soil carbon dynamics. Soil Systems 3: 73; doi: 10.3390/soilsystems3040073.
Zhou Y, Watts SE, Boutton TW, Archer SR. 2019. Root density distribution and biomass allocation of co-occurring woody plants on contrasting soils in a subtropical savanna parkland. Plant and Soil 438: 263-279.
Hyodo A, Malghani S, Zhou Y, Mushinski RM, Toyoda S, Yoshida N, Boutton TW, West JB. 2018. Biochar amendment suppresses N2O emissions but has no impact on 15N site preference in an anaerobi soil. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 33: 165–175.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2018. Soil C:N:P stoichiometry response to vegetation change from grassland to woodland. Biogeochemistry 140: 341–357.
Zhou Y, Mushinski RM, Hyodo A, Wu XB, Boutton TW. 2018. Vegetation change alters soil profile δ15N values at the landscape scale. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 119: 110-120.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB, Wright C, Dion A. 2018. Rooting strategies in a subtropical savanna: a landscape-scale three-dimensional assessment. Oecologia 186: 1127-1135.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2018. Soil phosphorus does not keep pace with soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation following woody encroachment. Global Change Biology 24: 1992-2007.
Mushinski RM, Gentry T, Zhou Y, Boutton TW. 2018. Bacterial metataxonomic profile and putative functional behavior associated with C and N cycle processes remain altered for decades after forest harvest. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 119: 184-193.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2018. Woody plant encroachment amplifies spatial heterogeneity of soil phosphorus to considerable depth. Ecology 99: 136-147.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2017. Soil carbon response to woody plant encroachment: Importance of spatial heterogeneity and deep soil storage. Journal of Ecology 105: 1738–1749.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB, Yang C. 2017. Spatial heterogeneity of subsurface soil texture drives landscape-scale patterns of woody patches in a subtropical savanna. Landscape Ecology 32: 915-929.
Xiao C, Zhou Y, Su J and Yang F. 2017. Effects of plant functional group loss on soil microbial community and litter decomposition in a steppe vegetation. Frontiers in Plant Science 8: 2040. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.02040.
Xiao C, Guenet B, Zhou Y, Su J, Janssens IA. 2015. Priming of soil organic matter decomposition scales linearly with microbial biomass response to litter input in steppe vegetation. Oikos 124: 649–657.
Zhou Y, Clark M, Su J, Xiao C. 2015. Litter decomposition and soil microbial community composition in three Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forests along an altitudinal gradient. Plant and Soil 386: 171–183.
Xiao C, Janssens IA, Zhou Y, Su J, Liang Y, Guenet B. 2015. Strong stoichiometric resilience after litter manipulation experiments: A case study in a Chinese grassland. Biogeosciences 12 (3): 757-767.
Zhang J, Zhou Y, Zhou G, Xiao C. 2014. Structure and composition of natural Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forests in response to climatic changes. PLoS ONE 9(5): e97192. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097192.
Zhou Y, Su J, Janssens IA, Zhou G, Xiao C. 2013. Fine root and litterfall dynamics of three Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forests along an altitudinal gradient. Plant and Soil 374: 19-32.
Zhang J, Zhou Y, Zhou G, Xiao C. 2013. Structure and composition of natural gmelin larch (Larix gmelinii var.gmelinii) forests in response to spatial climatic changes. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66668. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066668
Zhou Y, Pei ZQ, Su JQ, Zhang JL, Zheng YR, Ni J, Xiao CW. 2012. Comparing soil organic carbon dynamics in perennial grasses and shrubs in a saline-alkaline arid region, northwestern China. PLoS ONE 7: e42927. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042927.
Pei Z, Zhou Y, Zheng Y, Xiao C. 2011. Contribution of fine root turnover to the soil organic carbon cycling in a Reaumuria soongorica community in an arid ecosystem of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 35: 1182-1191. (In Chinese)
Presentations
Hyodo A, Malghani S, Zhou Y, Mushinski R, Toyoda S, Yoshida N, Boutton TW, West JB. 2018. Does biochar amendment reduce N2O emissions by stimulating the last step of denitrification? A study using position-specific N isotopic composition. 11th International Conference on the Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to Ecological Studies (IsoEcol) 2018: 70, CR667HQ.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2018. Soil δ15N values indicate changes in the N cycle of a subtropical savanna. Abstracts, 19th Annual Ecological Integration Symposium 2018: P1.
Boutton TW, Zhou Y, Wu XB, Hyodo A. 2017. Savanna vegetation dynamics and their influence on landscape-scale C, N, and P biogeochemistry. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union 2017: B41L-06.
Zhou Y, Mushinski RM, Hyodo A, Wu XB, Boutton TW. 2017. Vegetation change alters soil profile δ15N values at the landscape scale in a subtropical savanna. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union 2017: B51G-1890.
Mushinski RM, Zhou Y, Gentry TJ, Boutton TW. The relative abundance of predicted genes associated with ammonia-oxidation, nitrate reduction, and biomass decomposition in mineral soil are altered by intensive timber harvest. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union 2017: B14B-03.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. Soil phosphorus does not keep pace with soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation following woody encroachment. Abstracts, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting 2017: COS 99-2.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. Vegetation and soil organic carbon dynamics in a subtropical savanna: Evidence from landscape-scale spatial patterns of δ13C along a soil profile. Abstracts, 18th Ecological Integration Symposium 2017: T27.
Tolleson DR, Boutton TW, Walker J, Mushinski R, Zhou Y, Casola C. 2017. Near infrared spectroscopy for the prediction of rangeland soil characteristics. Abstracts, Society for Range Management Annual Meeting 2017.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2016. Three-dimensional spatial patterns of soil carbon storage are altered by woody encroachment into grasslands. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union 2016: B21I-0530.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2016. Landscape-scale spatial patterns of root distribution along the soil profile: Linking aboveground plant communities to belowground biogeochemical cycling. Kirkham Conference – The Root Zone: Soil Physics and Beyond 2016: Abstracts, pp. 34-35.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2016. Spatial heterogeneity of fine root biomass in a subtropical savanna: Responses to woody plant invasion. Abstracts, 17th Annual Ecological Integration Symposium 2016: T27.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB. 2016. Subsurface soil horizons drive landscape patterns of woody patches in a subtropical savanna. Society for Range Management Annual Meeting 2016: 42.
Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB, Wright C, Dion A. 2015. Three-dimensional spatial patterns of fine roots at the landscape-scale in a subtropical savanna. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting 2015: 92474.
Zhou Y. 2014. Fine root and litterfall dynamics in three Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forests along an altitudinal gradient in the Changbai Mountains, NE China. Seminar, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, April 2014.