Earth Sciences Division Staff: Biao Zhu

Biographical Summary

Biao Zhu is a postdoctoral fellow in the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Dr. Zhu is a biogeochemist and an ecologist who studies soil carbon and nitrogen cycling in response to climate change. His work uses stable and radioactive isotopes (e.g. ¹³C, ¹⁴C, ¹⁵N) to elucidate mechanisms relevant to the impacts of soil warming, plant inputs, and microbial community on the transformation, mineralization, and stabilization of soil carbon and nitrogen. His main project at LBNL is to investigate the controls of soil organic carbon cycling, and how they vary with depth in the soil.

Research Interests

Ecosystem ecology, terrestrial biogeochemistry, soil microbial ecology; plant-soil interactions, rhizosphere C and N dynamics in response to global change, and stable and radioactive isotope ecology (¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁴C).

Education

• 9/2005 – 8/2010, Ph.D. in Environmental Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz
  • Advisor: Dr. Weixin Cheng
  • Dissertation: Temperature control of rhizosphere priming effect on soil organic matter decomposition
• 9/2002 – 7/2005, M.S. in Ecology, Peking University, China
  • Advisor: Dr. Jingyun Fang
  • Thesis: Carbon stocks of main forest ecosystems in Northeast China
• 9/1998 – 7/2002, B.S. in Environmental Science, Peking University, China
  • Advisor: Dr. Jingyun Fang
  • Thesis: Vegetation and biodiversity patterns in subtropical wet mountains - cases of Nanling, Taoyuandong and Xitianmu

Professional Experience

• 12/2012 – present Postdoctoral Fellow, Margaret Torn Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• 04/2011 – 11/2012 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Jenny Kao-Kniffin Lab, Cornell University
• 10/2010 – 03/2011 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Weixin Cheng Lab, UCSC
• 09/2005 – 08/2010 Graduate Student Researcher and Teaching Assistant, Weixin Cheng Lab, UCSC
• 09/2002 – 08/2005 Graduate Research Assistant, Jingyun Fang Lab, Peking University
• 07/2001 – 08/2002 Undergraduate Research Assistant, Jingyun Fang Lab, Peking University

Awards and Honors

• 2012 Travel Award ($436), “Scaling Root Processes: Global Impacts” Workshop, NSF
• 2010 Doctoral Student Sabbatical Fellowship (Spring 2010, $5,460 plus tuition and fees), UCSC  
• 2008 Travel Award ($350), ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2008 Annual Meeting, Department of Environmental Studies, UCSC
• 2006-2009 Summer Research Award ($3,260 totally), Department of Environmental Studies, UCSC
• 2005-2006 Regents Fellowship ($8,290 plus tuition and fees, Fall 2005 and Winter 2006), UCSC
• 2005 Outstanding Graduate Award, Peking University
• 2003-2004 Guanghua Scholarship and Outstanding Student Award, Peking University
• 2000-2001 Xiyue Scholarship and Outstanding Student Award, Peking University
• 1999-2000 Outstanding Student Award, Peking University

Teaching Experience

• Teaching Assistant - Department of Environmental Studies, UCSC
  • ENVS 23: The Physical and Chemical Environment (Spring 2007/2008), Instructor Dr. Weixin Cheng
  • ENVS 24: General Ecology (Fall 2006/2007/2009), Instructor Dr. Jan Washburn
  • ENVS 25: Introduction to Environmental Policy & Economics (Winter 2009), Instructor Dr. Brent Haddad
  • ENVS 80B: Ecological Forecast for Global Warming (Fall 2008), Instructor Dr. Michael Loik
• Guest Lecturer - Department of Environmental Studies, UCSC
  • ENVS 168: Biogeochemistry and the Global Environment (3/2/2007)
  • Title: The Global Environmental Change II: Carbon Sequestration

Professional Training

• 2011 Radiocarbon 2011, Radiocarbon in Ecology and Earth System Science summer course at University of California, Irvine, July 11-16, 2011
• 2010 Iso-Camp 2010, Stable Isotopes in Ecology summer course at University of Utah, June 14-25, 2010

Professional Service

• 2012 Reviewer for manuscripts submitted to Global Change Biology (1), European Journal of Soil Science (1) and Journal of Plant Ecology (1)
• 2011 Reviewer for manuscripts submitted to Global Change Biology (1), Journal of Plant Ecology (2), Environmental Research Letters (1), Global and Planetary Change (1) and Journal of Soils and Sediments (1)
• 2010 Reviewer for manuscripts submitted to Science in China Series C: Life Sciences (4), Arid Zone Research (1), and Journal of Soils and Sediments (1)
• 2010 Presider of COS 31 -- Biogeochemistry: C and N cycling in response to global change III (ESA 2010 annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 08/03/2010)
• 2010-12 Executive Committee Member of Sino-Ecologists Association Overseas

Academic Affiliations

• 2007- Sino-Ecologists Association Overseas
• 2006- Ecological Society of America (Soil Ecology Section)
• 2006- American Geophysical Union (Biogeosciences Section)