photo of Maowei Liang

Maowei Liang

PhD Candidate, Inner Mongolia University & Michigan State University
Landscape Ecology & Ecosystem Science (LEES)

Research Gate | Linkedin | liangmao@msu.edu

Maowei Liang is a PhD candidate at the Department of Ecology, Inner Mongolia University. Previously, his research focused on land use change adaptations (grazing technology integration) to mitigate the effect of climate change on the grassland ecosystem in the Mongolia Plateau. At Michigan State University, he is researching the impacts of global climate and land use change on ecosystem functions in the grassland ecosystem, specifically semi-arid and arid regions. To accomplish this, he seeks to understand the mechanisms behind water and heat balance and their role in both the net primary production and carbon/water fluxes. He incorporates various approaches to research carbon sequestration, including the eddy covariance technique, terrestrial ecosystem modeling of elevated atmospheric CO2, and manipulative experiments. He is also evaluating the potential changes of ecosystem function, such as net primary production and soil carbon storage.

Education

PhD Candidate | 2014 — Present
Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University

MS, Ecology
Department of Ecology, Inner Mongolia University, China

BS, Landscape Architecture
Department of Landscape Architecture, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, China

Publications

Journal Paper

  1. LIANG MW, BAI X, LIANG CZ, et al. (2016). CO2 Fluxes of Succulent More Stable Than Non-succulent in Shrubland Desert Ecosystem. The Rangeland Journal (submitted, English)
  2. LIANG MW, BAI X, LIANG CZ, et al. (2016). Effects of Annual Plants Functional Group on Biomass and Soil Respiration in Typical Steppe. Pratacultural Science. (accepted, Chinese)
  3. MIAO BL, LIANG CZ, LIANG MW, et al. (2016). Responses of phenology to climate change over the major grassland types. Acta Ecologica Sinica. (accepted, Chinese)
  4. LIANG MW, BAI X, LIANG CZ, et al. (2016). The Studies of Grazing Utilization Effect on the Carbon Cycle in Inner Mongolia Typical Steppe. Journal of Inner Mongolia University (Natural Science Edition) 47(03): 278-284 (in Chinese)
  5. CHAI X, LIANG CZ, LIANG MW, et al. (2014). Seasonal Dynamics of Belowground Biomass and Productivity and Potential of Carbon Sequestration in Meadow Steppe and Typical Steppe in Mongolia, China. Acta Ecologica Sinica 34(19): 5530-5540 (in Chinese)

Book Chapters

  1. LIANG CZ, WANG YL, JIA CZ, LIANG MW, LIU XP. (2012). Vegetation Map of Helan Mountain (1:250,000). The Vegetation of Helan Mountain, Sunlight Press, Yin Chuan.

Research

These studies aim to examine and model the changes of the natural and human systems on the Mongolian Plateau as well as the critical feedbacks between them over recent decades.

Hypotheses: While climate change has created pressure on ecosystems and societies in the Plateau, the distinct socioeconomic conditions and development paths of the different administrative units involved have also had a significant effect on the relationships and feedbacks within the human and natural systems. Also, human influences on the systems exceeded those of the biophysical changes but the significance varies in time, location, and ecological setting.

Contact

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