Dr. Kai Tian

Personal data

Gender:Male

Date of Birth: 1987/05/28

Location: Nanyang, P.R. China

Adress: 1638 Wolong Road, Nanyang, Henan, China (473061)

Working Experience

2019/10-Present: Nanyang Normal University-Nanyang, Henan Province

College/Faculty: College of Life Science and Agricultural Engineering

Henan Field Observation and Research Station of Headwork Wetland Ecosystem of The Central Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Vice-Station Master

Teaching/Instruction: Fundamental Ecology; Ecology and Landscape Ecological Planning; Agroecology; Agrometeorology.

Research Areas

• Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning

• Litter Decomposition and Ecosystem Cycling

• Plant-Soil Interactions

• Ecological Restoration

Education

2013/09-2019/06：Nanjing University-Nanjing, Jiangsu Province Doctor of Science: Ecology

2010/09-2013/06：Zhejiang Normal University-Jinhua, Zhejiang Province Master of Science: Botany

2005/09-2009/06：Northeast Forest University-Harbin, Heilongjiang Province Bachelor of Science: Biotechnology

Research Projects

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (32001300): Roles of above- and below-ground biological resource in determining the home-field advantage effect on forest leaf litter decomposition, 2021/01/01-2023/12/31. Director.

• Henan Province science and technology research project (222102320289): Effective monitoring and protection technology of ecosystem functions in the ecologically fragile area of the headwork of the Middle Route of South-to- North Water Transfer project in China, 2022/01/01-2024/09/01. Director.

• Doctoral program of Nanyang Normal University: Biological mechanisms of temporal and spatial variations in hot spots of forest brown food webs. 2020/06/01-2025/12/31. Director.

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (32001300): The microbiological mechanism of ammonia nitrogen release from litter that driven by mycorrhizal fungi in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, 2022/01/01-2025/12/31. Participant.

• National major research project of Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's

Republic of China (2016YFD060020402): Mechanisms of belowground ecological processes in regulating plantations productivities: composition and function of soil brown food chain under different stand structures. 2016/07-2020/12. Participant.

• Strategic Priority Science and Technology Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences

(XDA05050204):  Current  status,  rate,  mechanism  and  potential  of  carbon

sequestration in forest ecosystems in China. 2013-2015. Participant.

• Special Project of Chinese Academy of Engineering (2019-xz-23): Explanations on the Danjiangkou river chief system (lake chief system) implementation problems. 2019-2021. Participant.

• Scientific research project of water conservancy department of henan province: Driving mechanism of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project on the ecological development qualities in the water receiving area of Henan Province. 2021-2023. Participant.

• Major Science and Technology Project of Nanyang City (2019ZDZX10): Study and demonstration on quality improvement of characteristic industries and the ecological utilization of production wastes in Nanyang. 2019-2022. Participant.

• National Science and Technology Infrastructure Platform  project  (2005DKA21403):

Operation  Service  Project  of  Teaching  Specimen  Subplatform  of   National

Specimen Information Infrastructure: Data Update of Teaching Specimen of Nanjing University. 2015-2017. Participant.

• Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation General Project (Y5100361): Effect of density dependency on evergreen broad-leaved forest biodiversity in Gutianshan. 2010-2012. Paticipant.

Current Research Contents

• In Terrestrial Ecosystem

Litter decomposition is an important ecosystem function. The home field advantage (HFA) hypothesis of litter decomposition predicts that decomposers are more efficient with the plant litters they most frequently encounter, such litter-field affinity effect provides a theoretical basis for predicting forest nutrient cycling variations under climate & environment changing backgrounds. However, mechanistic causality of HFA is still a matter of debate, especially which factors are most important in shaping this affinity is fuzzy. To fill this knowledge gap, I construct a litter-site transplant system among heterogeneous forest types of different succession stages & vegetation types, by using an improved root in-growth core as in situ microcosm unit, controlling the ecological flows derive from canopy litterfall and root growth in the soil. I focus on

1) the degree of specialization of the microbial community composition & function of leaf litters within specific decomposition field;

2) interpret the relationship between HFA and microbial composition variation;

3) explore how local biological resource inputs (both above- and below-ground) will shape the functional differences among microbial decomposers, and

4) reveal their relative contributions to the development of HFA.

• In Wetlands Ecosystem

Long-Term Ecological Monitor & Research (LTER) on the inland secondary estuary (Danjiangkou) and artificial lake (Danyang Lake) wetland ecosystems at the head of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. I am the Assistant Station Master of the Henan Field Observation and Research Station of Headwork Wetland Ecosystem of The Central Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project, this station serves the water conservation & ecological security and regional ecosystem function. I focus on:

1) Biodiversity inventory, plant community dynamics, carbon fluxes monitoring;

2) The combined effects of climate, social change and human water diversion activities on the structure and function of biological community, and their responses and adaptation mechanisms;

3) Ecosystem functions in the water-level-fluctuation and rocky desertification areas (ecologically fragile zone), and key technologies of ecological restoration & function optimization in these zones;

4) Data base construction and openness, sharing, exchange & cooperation.

Pubications

• Tian K, Chen S, Ye R, et al. Initial microbiome and tree root status structured the soil microbial community discrepancy of the subtropical pine-oak forest in a large urban forest park. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2024, 15: 1391863.

• Wang X, Ye R, Li B L, Tian K*. Emerging Microplastics Alter the Influences of Soil Animals   on   the   Fungal   Community   Structure   in   Determining   the   Litter

Decomposition of a Deciduous Tree. Forests, 2024, 15(3): 488.

• Ye R, Tian K*, Hu H, et al. Extraction process optimization of essential oil from Mellissa officinalis L. using a new ultrasound-microwave hybrid-assisted Clevenger hydrodistillation. Industrial Crops and Products, 2023, 203: 117165

• Tian K, Chai P, Wang Y, et al. Species diversity pattern and its drivers of the understory herbaceous plants in a Chinese subtropical forest. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2023, 10: 1113742.

• Kai Tian, Xiangshi Kong, Hong Lin, Zaihua He, Bei Yao, Yanli Ji, Junbo Yang, Shucun Sun, Xingjun Tian. Priming effect of litter decomposition: the role of root exudate depends on its interactions with litter quality and soil condition. Plant and Soil, 2019, 440: 457–471

• Kai Tian, Xiangshi Kong, Jianguo Gao, Yanyan Jia, Hong Lin, Zaihua He, Yanli Ji, Zhanlin Bei, Xingjun Tian. Local root status: a neglected bio-factor that regulates the home-field advantage of leaf litter decomposition. Plant and Soil, 2018, 431: 175- 189.

• Kai Tian, Lei Chen, Xiangcheng Mi, Keping Ma, Jianhua Chen. The effect of habitat filtering on tree seedling distribution in a subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest in China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, 58: 3561-3569. (in Chinese and English abstract)

• Yang J, Tian K, Lu J, et al. Earthworms increase forest litter mass loss irrespective of deposited compounds–A field manipulation experiment in subtropical forests[J]. Ecology and Evolution, 2023, 13(5): e10047.

• Gao Jianguo, Wang Ning & Tian Kai. Tetracentron sinense (Trochodendraceae).

Trends in Genetics. 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.01.002

• Kong Xiangshi, Tian Kai, Jia Yanyan, He Zaihua, Song Siyuan, He Xingbing, Xiang Changguo, An Shuqing, Tian Xingjun. Ecological improvement by restoration on the Jialu River: water quality, species richness and distribution. Marine and Freshwater Research, 2020, doi: 10.1071/MF19262

• Jianguo Gao, Kai Tian. Stem and leaf traits as co-determinants of canopy water flux.

Plant Diversity 2019, 41:258-265

• Yanli Ji, Qiang Li, Kai Tian, Junbo Yang, Haijing Hu, Liuhuan Yuan, Wenshuo Lu, Bei Yao, Xingjun Tian. Effect of sodium amendments on the home-field advantage of litter decomposition in a subtropical forest of China. Forest Ecology and Management, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118148.

• Ji Yanli, Li Qiang, Ye Rumeng, Tian Kai, Tian Xingjun. The Impact of Water-Soluble Inorganic Ions in Particulate Matter (PM2.5) on Litter Decomposition in Chinese Subtropical Forests. Forests 2020, 11: 238.

• Kong Xiangshi, Zhao Yunxia, Tian Kai, He Xingbin, Tian Xingjun. Insight into nitrogen