Name: Gensuo (Jiong) JIA, Ph.D.
Adress: START Regional Center for Temperate East Asia,Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, PO Box 9804, Beijing 100029,China
Phone: +86 10 82995314
Fax: +86 10 82995135
Email: jiong@tea.ac.cn

Brief Experences

Gensuo Jia, also known as Jiong Jia, is a professor of ecology at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). He holds a B.S. in plant ecology from Inner Mongolia University and a Ph.D. in environmental change from Beijing Normal University. He worked as a postdoctoral research associate at University of Virginia, USA from 1999 to 2001 before moving in Colorado State University to serve as a research scientist of ecology, which he served until 2005. Dr. Jia joined CAS Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for Temperate East Asia (RCE-TEA) in late 2005.

Research interests

Dr. Jia has broad research interests in terrestrial ecology and atmospheric sciences, including vegetation dynamics, land use/cover changes, multi-scale remote sensing of land surface processes, land-atmosphere interactions, assimilation of remote sensing and in-situ data for vegetation-climate modeling, vegetation disturbance and carbon sequestration, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Dr. Jia’s study focuses on spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of various ecosystems, especially Arctic tundra and temperate grassland, as well as interactions between land/vegetation processes and climatic change. He has been using field observation, spectral analysis, remotely sensed imagery analysis, and spatial modeling to investigate ecosystem dynamics and to understand vegetation-atmosphere interactions. He is interested in identifying the processes controlling structure/productivity and carbon balance in various ecosystems, such as vegetation enhancement in Arctic in response to climate warming, carbon sequestration of wildland fire, and grassland productivity/carbon dynamics driven by climate fluctuation and grazing. He is also interested in understanding impact of human activities on climatic change. Here are some examples of research projects he has completed in recent years, including vegetation-climate changes in Arctic tundra biome, wildland fire and carbon sequestration in western US, deforestation and environmental changes in central Africa (CARPE), land use/cover changes in temperate East Asia, and long-term dryland ecosystem changes in the Ordos Plateau.

Ongoing Projects

Trends of aridity and human adaptation over northern China, 2006/1 – 2010/12, National Key Basic Research Project (973), Ministry of Science & Technology.

Regional vegetation processes and climatic change, Chinese Academy of Science.

Application of space-based technologies and models to address land-cover/land-use change problems on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, 2006/1 – 2009/6, US NASA LAND COVER/USE CHANGE PROGRAM.

Greening of the Arctic: Synthesis and models to examine pan-Arctic vegetation change: climate, sea-ice, and terrain linkages, 2005/10 – 2008/9, US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies – Inner Mongolia case study, 2007/1-2009/6. China-European Union joint project.

Publications

1. Jia, G.J., H.E. Epstein and D.A. Walker, 2006. Spatial heterogeneity of tundra vegetation response to recent temperature changes, Global Change Biology 12: 42-55.
   
   
2. Jia, G.J., I.C. Burke, A.F.H. Goetz, M.R. Kaufmann, and B.C. Kindel, 2006. Assessing spatial patterns of forest fuel using AVIRIS data, Remote Sensing of Environment 102: 318-327.
   
   
3. Jia, G.J., I.C. Burke, M.R. Kaufmann, A.F.H. Goetz, B.C. Kindel, Y. Pu, 2006. Estimates of forest canopy fuel attributes using hyperspectral data. Forest Ecology and Management 229 (1): 27-38.
   
   
4. Jia, G. J., H. E. Epstein and D. A. Walker, 2003, Greening of Arctic Alaska, 1981-2001. Geophysical Research Letters 30 (20): 2067, doi: 10.1029/2003GL018268.
   
   
5. Jia, G. J., H. E. Epstein and D. A. Walker, 2004. Controls over intra-seasonal dynamics of AVHRR-NDVI for the Arctic tundra in northern Alaska. International Journal of Remote Sensing 25(9): 1547-1564.
   
   
6. Jia, G. J., H. E. Epstein and D. A. Walker, 2002. Spatial characteristics of AVHRR-NDVI along latitudinal transects in northern Alaska. Journal of Vegetation Science 13: 315-326.
   
   
7. Epstein, H.E., D.A. Walker, M.K. Raynolds, G.J. Jia, A.M. Kelley, 2007, Phytomass patterns across the full temperature gradient of the arctic tundra, Journal of Geophysical Research (In press).
   
   
8. Chapin III, F.S., M. Sturm, M.C. Serreze, J.P. McFadden, J.R. Key, A.H. Lloyd, A.D. McGuire, T.S. Rupp, A.H. Lynch, J.P. Schimel, J. Beringer, W.L. Chapman, H.E. Epstein, E.S. Euskirchen, L.D. Hinzman, G. Jia, C.-L. Ping, K.D. Tape, C.D.C. Thompson, D.A. Walker, & J.M. Welker, 2005. Role of Terrestrial Ecosystem Changes in Arctic Summer Warming. Science 310: 657-660.
   
   
9. Walker, D. A., G. J. Jia, H. E. Epstein, F. S. Chapin III, C. Copass, L. D. Hinzman, H. Maier, G. J. Michaelson, F. Nelson, C. L. Ping, M. K. Raynolds, V. E. Romanovsky, N. Shiklomanov & Y. Shur, 2003. Vegetation-Soil-Thaw-Depth Relationships along a Low Arctic Bioclimate Gradient, Alaska: Synthesis of Information from the ATLAS Studies. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 14: 103-123.
   
   
10. Walker, D. A., H. E. Epstein, G. J. Jia, A. Balsar, C. Copass, E. J. Edwards, W. A. Gould, J. Hollingsworth, J. Knudson, H. Meier, A. Moody, and M. K. Raynolds, 2003. Phytomass, LAI, and NDVI in northern Alaska: relationships to summer warmth, soil pH, plant functional types and extrapolation to the circumpolar Arctic. Journal of Geophysical Research Vol. 108, No. D2, 8169, doi: 10.1029/2001D000986.
    
    
11. McGuire, A.D, M. Apps, J. Beringer, J. Clein, H. Epstein, D.W. Kicklighter, C. Wirth, J. Bhatti, F.S. Chapin III, B. de Groot, D. Efremov, W.Eugster, M Fukuda, T. Gower, L. Hinzman, B. Huntley, G.J. Jia, E. Kasischke, J. Melillo, V. Romanovsky, A. Shvidenko, E. Vaganov, D. Walker, 2002. Environmental variation, vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics, and water/energy exchange in high latitudes. Journal of Vegetation Science 13: 301-314.
    
    
12. Stow, D., A. Hope, D. McGuire, D. Verbyla, J. Gamon, F. Huemmrich, S. Houston, C. Racine, M. Sturm, K. Tape, L. Hinzman, K. Yoshikawa, C. Tweedie, B. Noyle, C. Silapaswan, D. Douglas, B. Griffith, G. Jia, H. Epstein, D. Walker, S. Daeschner, A. Petersen, L. Zhou, R. Myneni, 2004. Remote sensing of vegetation and land-cover change in Arctic tundra ecosystems. Remote Sensing of Environment 89: 281-308.
    
    
13. Hinzman, L.D., N. Bettez, W.R. Bolton, F.S. Chapin, M. Dyurgerov, C. Fastie, B. Griffith, R.D. Hollister, A. Hope, H.P. Huntington, A. Jensen, G.J. Jia, T. Jorgenson, D.L. Kane, D.R. Klein, G. Kofinas, A. Lynch, A. Lloyd, A.D. McGuire, F. Nelson, W.C. Oechel, T. Osterkamp, C. Racine, V. Romanovsky, R. Stone, D. Stow, M. Sturm, C.E. Tweedie, G. Vourlitis, M. Walker, D. Walker, P.J. Webber, J. Welker, K. Winker, K. Yoshikawa, 2005. Evidence and implications of recent climate change in northern Alaska and other Arctic regions, Climatic Change 72(3): 251-298.
    
    
14. Epstein, H.E., R.A. Gill, J.M. Paruelo, G.J. Jia, W.K. Lauenroth and I.C. Burke, 2002. The relative aboundance of plant functional types in temperate grasslands and shrublands of North and South America: Effects of projected climate change. Journal of Biogeography 29: 875-888.
    
    
15. Walker, D.A., H.E. Epstein, G. J. Jia, E.J. Edwards, and A. Moody. 2000. Climate, vegetation, soil, and spectral reflectance patterns across zonal vegetation boundaries in arctic Alaska. Eos Transactions 81: F 223
    
    
16. Jia, J., 2000, Rangeland degradation in Ordos Plateau, its nature and assessment, RALA 200: 87-95.
    
    
17. Jia, J. and Z. Jiao, 1999, The Kyoto Protocol and Its Flexible Instruments, World Environment, Vol.11, No.2 (in Chinese with English abstract).
    
    
18. Jia, J. and J. Li. 1998. Global Change – Scientific Insight for a Sustainable Future, Hubei Educational Press, Wuhan (in Chinese, with detailed English abstract and table of contents).