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Xiao Feng, Ph.D. student. Major advisor: Monica Papeş. Ecological Niche Model, Species Distribution, Invasive Species, Niche Shift, GIS.
M.S., 2012, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Email: xiao.feng@okstate.edu |
Specific Interests
I am especially interested in Ecological Niche Models (ENMs), which enable us to investigate the potential distribution of species. More specifically, I am interested in the following questions: 1. How would species distribution change under climate change? I studied the potential distribution change of Syrmaticus reevesii under future climate change in a time series. Our results showed that the potential distribution would move to higher latitude. 2. How to evaluate the ENMs prediction? I am using virtual species to test different ENMs. Virtual species have a known fundamental niche, thus comparisons between ENMs can be done according to a single standard. 3. Are niches conservative? Is there any "Niche Shift" during invasion process? ENMs assume that niche is conservative across evolutionary scale. But recent invasive species studies revealed “niche shift” between local and invasive populations of the same invasive species. I plan to combine ENM and mechanism model to settle this problem.