NEWS 2026
Grants
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Lab received a new NSF grant ($550k in total) to support our work on "Quantifying Fragmentation Impacts on Ecological Dynamics: A Trait-Based Framework". We will collaborate with Dr. Zhisheng Shuai and Dr. King-Yeung (Adrian) Lam.
We will recruite a new graduate student, hopefully to start in Spring 2027. |
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Awards
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Celebrating a Productive and Rewarding Year (2025–2026)!
Ashley awarded Distinguished Graduate Fellowships ($2,500) (1 awardee per department per year), and Ben LaFond Graduate Student Research Award. Gabriel awarded Walter Kolb Graduate Studies Scholarship (1,350). Kristine awarded William R. Heard Graduate Fellowship ($1,400), and received an Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year so successful—your efforts are truly appreciated! |
Publications
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Another study on the crawfish frog project was published in Journal of Animal Ecology! Owen's field picture also made to the cover AGAIN. Congratulations to Kaleb and Owen for leading this cool project. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.70248
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NEWS 2025
New lab member
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Lab is excited to welcome a new MS student, Kristine Branch, who will start in the Spring 2026.
Kristine got her BS in Biology from Oklahoma State Univ. Her research interests include wildlife ecology and conservation. Her previous work was on a more physiological aspect, focusing on the heat shock expression in juvenile sea lampreys. Her career goal is to work in wildlife conservation, studying how ecological impacts play a role in the conservation of animals. Welcome~~~ |
Awards
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Celebrating a Productive and Rewarding Year (2024–2025)!
Gabriel received an Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and was awarded the Wilhm Teaching Assistant Award! Ashley awarded William R. Heard Graduate Fellowship. Bo received Margaret S. Ewing Outstanding Mentor Award. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year so successful—your efforts are truly appreciated! |
Publications
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3. 5th lab publication led by graduate student, Owen, on "Genomic and morphological evidence support contemporary three-way interspecific hybridization in ranid frogs" got accepted in Ecology and Evolution.
This study provides the first documentation of naturally occurring hybridization in R. areolata, a species of conservation concern. |
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2. 4th lab publication led by graduate student, Owen, on "Population Dynamics and Environmental Drivers of Crawfish Frog (Rana areolata) Migration in Southeastern Oklahoma, USA" got accepted in Herpetological Conservation and Biology. Thanks for all the hard work of Owen and Kaleb for installing drift fences paired with pitfall traps to monitor R. areolata immigration and emigration at the pond in both 2023 and 2024.
A male Crawfish Frog (Rana areolata) photographed by Owen in the field. |
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1. Third lab publication led by graduate student, Ashley, on "Determining the optimal movement strategies in environments with heterogeneously distributed resources and toxicants" got accepted in OIKOS. Click here to read.
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Owen's field picture also made to the cover in the new issue of Journal of Animal Ecology, congratulations! You can also find a nice highlighted article with accompanying commentary on "Range shifts as drivers of niche breadth and dispersal ability in wild populations".
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Presentations
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Augest 2025, Gabriel gave a wonderful talk on his first chapter work in the ESA annual meeting, he received broad interests and feedback. Good job!
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July 2025 - Bo was invited to present in the Mathematical Congress of the Americas 2025, which hosted over 900 attendees. She gave a talk on “Raising Exposure Risk of Poultry Farms to HPAI-Carrying Wild Birds Under Future Environmental Change in the contiguous United States”.
In the talk, she shared her new results both on the prediction of the redistribution of migratory waterfowl under the scenarios with different levels of CO2 emission and land-use change, and how the long-distance migratory birds can play a major role in the continental spread of avian influenza viruses. |
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Apr 2025 - Bo was invited by the graduate students (what a big surprise and honor) to present in the Biology Department Seminar at The Pennsylvania State University.
She introduced her lab work on "Movement Dynamics: Responses and Consequences in Changing Environments". |
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Jan 2025 - Happy New Year. Leah and Bo presented in SICB 2025 in Atlanta. Fantastic conference and we received great feedback, espeically to Leah's project. We are excited to make new progress to her project in 2025.
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NEWS 2024
Presentations
Bo recently gave an online seminar to the society of "International Initiative for Theoretical Ecology", summarizing her work during graduate school, postdoc and current projects in the Zhang lab. If you are interested in our research interests, please watch this video.
Publications
2. Second lab publication led by graduate student, Owen, on "Physiological and morphological traits affect contemporary range expansion and implications for species distribution modeling in an amphibian species" got published in Journal of Animal Ecology. Click here to read.
1. First lab publication from graduate student, Jamaal Jacobs, whose first chapter on "Fundamental principles on the effect of habitat fragmentation on species with different movement rates" got published in Conservation Biology! Click here to read.
Thesis Defense
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Nov. 2024. Big congratulations to Jamaal, who successfully defended his thesis! He has one publication in Conservation Biology and another under review, and probably even a third manuscript on the way. I could not be more proud.
Many thanks to collaborators and committees.
SECOND graduation in the lab!!
Many thanks to collaborators and committees.
SECOND graduation in the lab!!
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Mar. 2024. Owen defended his MS thesis SUCCESSFULLY! We feel extremely proud of him and all his achievements during graduate school!
FIRST graduation in the lab!! |
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Congratulations to Owen, again, for winning the prestigious Honorary Graduate Commencement Marshals.
Grants & Awards
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MS student, Owen, received the Honorary Graduate Commencement Marshals, which is the highest honor bestowed on doctoral and master’s degree graduates at each commencement. Well deserved!
Ph.D. student, Ashley, received the NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Award, to support her attending the 2024 IALE-North America Annual Meeting. MS student, Jamaal, received the department Wilhm Zoology Teaching Assistantship Award to recognize his contribution to undergraduate teaching and mentorship. |
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New lab members
Lab is excited to welcome our second post-baccalaureate student, Leah Vitale, who will join the lab for one year, starting in June 2024. Leah is supported by the NSF ON-RaMP post-baccalaureate program, which offers mentored research experiences for postbaccalaureate graduates in the biological sciences. Welcome!
Leah received her BA in Biology from MSU Denver, where she focused on zoology, ecology, and wildlife management. Her career goal is to one day be a wildlife biologist for a national park, and she is excited to work her way up to that by doing various field research jobs across the country. She am mainly interested in studying anthropogenic effects on different species of vertebrates. She hopes to bring hrt GIS skills and conservationist approach to this lab.
Leah received her BA in Biology from MSU Denver, where she focused on zoology, ecology, and wildlife management. Her career goal is to one day be a wildlife biologist for a national park, and she is excited to work her way up to that by doing various field research jobs across the country. She am mainly interested in studying anthropogenic effects on different species of vertebrates. She hopes to bring hrt GIS skills and conservationist approach to this lab.
Lab welcomed our first postdoc scholar, Dr. Shilin Ma, who will join officially in the Fall 2024 for two years. Shilin received his Ph.D. from Nanjing Forestry University. He is currently visiting the lab and helping graduate students with their project design, data analysis. We are so glad to have you with us longer.
He will lead the recent NSF funded project on bird migration. More to come!
He will lead the recent NSF funded project on bird migration. More to come!
NEWS 2023
Grants & Awards
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We are thrilled to share the exciting news of our FIRST NSF grant!
We will develop mechanistic models for seasonal avian migration to understand if migrating animals can adjust their migration routes and schedules to track key resources even as the phenology of these resources shifts with climate change. This is a collaboration with Drs. Lam, Zhai and Loss. We will hire a two-years postdoc for this project! Come join us. |
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Presentations
Lab attended Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Portland
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We had a great time in ESA and we learnt a lot. Three graduate students presented their work and received very positive feedback!
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Owen gave a talk on "Impacts of Climate Change on the Range Expansion Potential of the Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea): Implications of Native Species Redistributions."
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Jamaal gave a poster on "How do species with different locomotion strategies respond to fragmentation?"
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Ashely gave a poster on "Consequences of movement strategies in environments with heterogeneously distributed resource and toxicant".
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Rabeca won first place at the Research Day at the Capitol
Lab undergraduate student, Rabeca, won first place in the research-intensive institution category at the Research Day at the Capitol event in Oklahoma City. It has been an amazing two years working with her and Ally (the graduate mentee) on the project of understandting efficacy of physical removal management on invasive grass under drought. Rabeca is currently working on two manuscripts that will be accomplished from this project.
See the link for a nice write up. https://news.okstate.edu/articles/communications/2023/osu_student_wins_2023_research_day_at_the_capitol_award.html
See the link for a nice write up. https://news.okstate.edu/articles/communications/2023/osu_student_wins_2023_research_day_at_the_capitol_award.html
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Lab undergraduate student, Addie, presented a poster on "Efficacy of Physical Removal Management and Drought on Plant Biomass" in the 2023 Freshman Research Scholars Symposium, wonderful job!
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Lab MS student, Jamaal, presented a poster on "How do species with different locomotion strategies respond to fragmentation?" in the 2023 Central Ecology & Evolution Conference, Congratulations!
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New lab members
Lab is excited to welcome a new PhD student, Gabriel Hessler, who will start in the Fall 2023. Gabriel is interested in how the living things around us respond to environmental changes or stressors inflicted either directly or indirectly by humans and looking at how we can model some of these changes in a lab setting. Welcome!
Lab is excited to welcome our first post-baccalaureate student, Carson D. Turner, who will join the lab for one year, starting in June 2023. Carson is supported by the NSF ON-RaMP post-baccalaureate program, which offers mentored research experiences for postbaccalaureate graduates in the biological sciences. Welcome!
Publications
1. First author paper on "Effective and timely use of models to inform on-the-ground management of invasive plants" is accepted in Biological Invasions
2. First author paper on "A global comparison of dispersal rate between invasive and native plants" is accepted in Movement Ecology
2. First author paper on "A global comparison of dispersal rate between invasive and native plants" is accepted in Movement Ecology
NEWS 2022
New lab members
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Lab welcomed another new MS student, Ashley Baragary, who received her BS in Marine Biology from Northwest Missouri State University. Ashley is interested in aquatic ecology and conservation. In the future, she plans to study aquatic ecosystems, modeling how they are affected by external factors such as climate change and human behavior, and helping develop effective conservation and management plans. Welcome Ashley!
*Ashley decided to stay longer and switch to a Ph.D program! |
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Lab welcomed another new MS student, Jamaal Jacobs, who received his BS from University of South Carolina. Jamaal is interested in conservation ecology and evolution. He wants to study how climate change and human development are impacting various populations. Additionally, he wants to study ways that the impacts on endangered species can be managed.
Welcome Jamaal!~ |
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Undergraduate student, Rabeca, is selected as one of the four undergraduate students from OSU to present her research at Research Day at the Capitol in Spring! We are super excited about this opportunity!
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Grants & Awards
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Together with Dr. Michael Reichert, we received new funding from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to support a two-year study on "Estimating Crawfish Frog Abundance and Habitat Suitability Using Ecological and Bioacoustic Techniques".
Thanks Owen for his contributions to the proposal! We are looking forward to starting this new project/collaboration SOON!!! |
To celebrate, here is a cute field picture of a bull frog taken by Owen Edwards
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Owen received the CEEC Presentation Travel Award to support his presentation in the Central Ecology and Evolution Conference, congratulations!
Lab received the Academic Summer Research Award from College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University, to support our project of "Advancing projections of grass invasion and its impact on endangered-species habitats."
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Feel super proud to share that Rabeca, freshman research scholar in our lab has been selected as a 2022-2023 Niblack Research Scholar ($8,000 stipend) to support her study on effects of drought and clipping on mycorrhizal symbiosis of Johnsongrass, an invasive grass in Oklahoma.
We are looking forward to seeing what she will find out! |
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NEWS 2021
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Lab welcomed a new MS student, Owen Edwards, whose research interests are focused primarily on the ecology and evolution of vertebrates, using reptiles and amphibians as experimental models. He has recently been interested in understanding how climate changes are altering species’ range shifts.
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The first lab picture was taken in Fall 2021, right before the end of our first growing season of the Johnson grass project. Thanks for all the hard work of our team, especially Ally and all her wonderful undergraduate assistants from the Department of Integrative Biology here at OSU. Stay tuned for what we find.
P.S. Q is very excited to be the official lab pet. |
PUBLICATIONS
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1. The paper that I am co-authored on, "Toward a Universal Theoretical Framework to Understand Robustness and Resilience: From Cells to Systems", is published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. It has been a super enjoyable team work.
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2. First author paper on: "Scaling up experimental stress responses of grass invasion to predictions of continental-level range suitability", is accepted in Ecology.
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3. First author paper on: "Contrasting plant responses to multivariate environmental variations among species with divergent elevation shifts" is accepted in Ecological Applications. Woohoo.
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4. Two brilliant MS students, Zhiyuan Fu and Yuanming Lu, got their first paper accepted in Elementa, "Integrating mechanical treatment and biological control to improve field treatment efficiency on invasions", so proud of them and I look forward to seeing what comes next.
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5. First author paper on: "The optimal controlling strategy on a dispersing population in a two-patch system: experimental and theoretical perspectives", is accepted in Journal of Theoretical Biology.
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6. First author paper on: "Directed movement changes coexistence outcomes in heterogeneous environments", is accepted in Ecology Letters. Thanks to all my best collaborators for making the whole journey possible and so enjoyable.
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NEWS 2020
Presentation in the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (the Ohio State University), Workshop: Life on Planet Earth: Above and Below
I was invited to give a presentation recently in the MBI workshop, and I talked about my work on "Connectivity and Ecological Dynamics". The talk includes understanding on: 1. How movement alters carrying capacity in heterogeneous environments, and how consumer-resource model made better and more accurate prediction than the logistic equation; 2. How does directed movement alter coexistence in heterogeneous environments?
There were very nice discussions after the talk.
Talk link is here: https://video.mbi.ohio-state.edu/video/player/?id=4972&title=Connectivity+and+Ecological+Dynamics
Thanks again to all the organizers and to check other talks, click here: https://mbi.osu.edu/events/life-planet-earth-above-and-below
There were very nice discussions after the talk.
Talk link is here: https://video.mbi.ohio-state.edu/video/player/?id=4972&title=Connectivity+and+Ecological+Dynamics
Thanks again to all the organizers and to check other talks, click here: https://mbi.osu.edu/events/life-planet-earth-above-and-below
Received the Elsevier Talk Prize in the 2020 Society for Mathematical Biology Annual Meeting (Section of Population Dynamics Ecology & Evolution)This is a real SURPRISE! I'd like to thank all the judges and I do enjoy my first SMB meeting very much.
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Received the 2020 UC Davis Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research
For the last two years, it has been an incredible journey to be part of UC Davis.
Thank you to my mentors, colleagues, and friends.
Special thanks to my funding support, UC Chancellor postdoc fellowship: https://ppfp.ucop.edu/info/
I still feel it was yesterday when I walked into the Wickson Hall for the first time.
The local farmers market sells my favorite popcorn; I know Peet's coffee until I moved to Davis; Love the Nugget supermarket; Love the local compost project, what else?
Thank you to my mentors, colleagues, and friends.
Special thanks to my funding support, UC Chancellor postdoc fellowship: https://ppfp.ucop.edu/info/
I still feel it was yesterday when I walked into the Wickson Hall for the first time.
The local farmers market sells my favorite popcorn; I know Peet's coffee until I moved to Davis; Love the Nugget supermarket; Love the local compost project, what else?
Publications: |
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3. First author review paper on: "Carrying capacity of spatially distributed metapopulations" is accepted in Trends in Ecology & Evolution! Woohoo.
2. First author review paper on :"An overview of Agent-Based Models in Plant Ecology" got accepted in Annals of Botany. We reviewed > 200 publications on ABM , mainly focused on plant science. We are impressed by all the progress that has been accomplished. Looking forward to new research ideas in this field.
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1. First author paper on :"Effect of stressors on the carrying capacity of spatially-distributed metapopulations" got accepted in the American Naturalist. We are so excited to find a wonderful home for our paper! Great start of 2020.
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NEWS 2019
Received the 2019 Outstanding Paper in Ecological Theory, ESA
Our paper "Carrying capacity in a heterogeneous environment with habitat connectivity" Ecology Letters, (2017) 20: 1118–1128" was selected as the 2019 Outstanding Paper in Ecological Theory, ESA. We thank committees for their contributions to the society and their encouraging words on our work: "The committee and I believe this work will inspire much future work in spatial ecology at the interface of theory and experiment". (Click the link here)
This project is heading towards to another exciting direction with more collaborators involved. Stay tuned.
This paper is accessible on Researchgate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318469044_Carrying_capacity_in_a_heterogeneous_environment_with_habitat_connectivity
This project is heading towards to another exciting direction with more collaborators involved. Stay tuned.
This paper is accessible on Researchgate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318469044_Carrying_capacity_in_a_heterogeneous_environment_with_habitat_connectivity
Publications:
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4. To celebrate the "Partial Differential Equations in Ecology: 80 Years and Counting", we contributed a review paper "Carrying Capacity of a Population Diffusing in a Heterogeneous Environment", published on Mathematics.
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3. The paper that I am co-first authored on, "Ecological contingency in species shifts: Downslope shifts of woody species under warming climate and land-use change" was accepted in "Environmental Research Letters". More to come.
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2. Our paper, "Simulation of post-hurricane impact on invasive species with biological control management" lead by two of my awesome undergrads, Linhao Xu and Marya Zdechlik, was accepted in "Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems A"! We used matrix structure model to look at post hurricane Irma’s effect on an invasive species recovery with and without biocontrol. So proud of them!
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1. The paper that I am co-authored on, "Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with tree species in a planted forest of Eastern China" was accepted in "Forests".
NEWS 2018
Host the Southeastern Ecology and Evolution Conference 2018 in Univ of Miami
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A group of us successfully host the Southeastern Ecology and Evolution Conference in Univ of Miami, Oct 5 - 8. We were honored to invite Dr. Dan Simberloff as the plenary speaker, and over 100 scientists to join us!
It was really fun. Next year, SEEC will move to Auburn University. |
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Attend the NSF-funded EarthCube Research Coordination Network Workshop
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Attend the NSF-funded EarthCube Research Coordination Network Workshop: Advancing the Analysis of High Resolution Topography (A2 HRT), August 21-24, 2018, in Broomfield, CO. Thanks for the travel support, and it was an awesome workshop!
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Awarded a UC Davis Chancellors' Postdoctoral Fellowship.
I will join Dr. Alan Hastings' lab. Very excited and really appreciate this great opportunity. Looking forward to the new journey. |
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Publications:
2. The paper that I am co-authored on, "Carrying capacity of a spatially-structured population: disentangling the effects of dispersal, growth parameters, habitat heterogeneity and habitat clustering", was published in "Journal of Theoretical Biology".
3. The paper that I am co-authored on, "Remote sensing unhelpful resilience to sea level rise caused by mangrove expansion: A case study of islands in Florida Bay, USA" was published in "Ecological Indicator".
NEWS 2017
Two grants received
1. Effects, Impacts and Influences of Hurricane Irma Funding, University of Miami, The College of Arts and Sciences, Co-PI.
2. Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GEPES) Fiscal Year 2018 Post-Hurricane Irma Damage Assessment Award, U.S. Geological Survey, PI.
Looking forward to starting the project soon, with D. L. DeAngelis, M. Rayamajhi, M. Smith and D. Van Dyken.
2. Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GEPES) Fiscal Year 2018 Post-Hurricane Irma Damage Assessment Award, U.S. Geological Survey, PI.
Looking forward to starting the project soon, with D. L. DeAngelis, M. Rayamajhi, M. Smith and D. Van Dyken.
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Successfully defended my dissertation
Mar.31, 2017, I defended my dissertation successfully, I truly enjoyed the six years, and I am grateful for all the support, help and advice from my advisor, committee members, colleagues, friends and families. Thanks a lot for sharing this journey with me, and I am looking forward to the future.
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Publications:
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1. The paper that I am co-authored on, "The Relationship between Sap Flow Density and Environmental Factors in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China ", was published in "Forests".
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Received “NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Awards”, which are supported by the NASA and Michigan State University (MSU) to assist some outstanding junior scholars in attending the US-IALE meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, April 9-13, 2017.
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F1000 Associate Faculty Member, Jan 2017 -
I started to serve as an associate faculty member for Faculty of 1000, in section of Theoretical Ecology. My main responsibility is to check the contents of the following journals to write brief accessible comments to summarize the value of the articles for F1000: - Ecology Letters - Ecological Applications |
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NEWS 2016
Fieldwork in China!
In September, we performed a field work in Dabie Mountain, in China, aiming to detect how different woody species respond to environmental stress (such as drought or poor nutrient) along elevation gradient (up to 1300 m).
Fieldwork in China!
In September, we performed a field work in Dabie Mountain, in China, aiming to detect how different woody species respond to environmental stress (such as drought or poor nutrient) along elevation gradient (up to 1300 m).
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Each red dot represented one field plot that we selected along elevation. Soil, litter fall and leaf samples were collected and currently under analysis.
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Certification:
Publications:
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4. The paper that I am co-authored on, "Spatial patterning of excitatory and inhibitory synapses during spinal circuit development", just got accepted in "The journal of Comparative Neurology". Very exciting news, because we applied spatial analysis (Ripley's L-function) to a neuron science study. Check out Dr.Julia Dallman's lab.
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NEWS 2015
Publications:
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1. The paper that I am co-authored on " Dispersal and spatial heterogeneity: single species" has published in Journal of Mathematical Biology
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News 2014
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I presented the study of "The effects of heterogeneity and dispersal on population biomass" in the "Dispersal and competition of populations and communities in spatially heterogeneous environments" workshop in Lausanne, Switzerland. Aug 2014.
Publications:
1. Invited paper “Effects of Population Dispersal in a Non-Uniform Environment Individual Dynamics and Competition: A Patch Model Approach” was published in Journal discrete and Continuous Dynamical System.
2. The paper that I am co-authored on "Population age and initial density in a patchy environment affect the occurrence of abrupt transitions in a birth-and-death model of Taylor's law" was published in Ecological Modelling. |
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