Gensuo (Jiong) JIA, Ph.D

Professor of Ecology

RCE-TEA, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

PO Box 9804, Beijing 100029, China
Phone: +8610 82995314
Fax: +8610 82995135
Email: jiong@tea.ac.cn, http://green.tea.ac.cn

Research Interests:

Professor 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.

Professor 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.

Professional Experiences:

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, 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.

Membership in Professional Societies:

Sigma Xi
Ecological Society of America (ESA)
American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Grants and Awards:

· Earth observation of sensitive climate change factors, 1/2009-10/2013, National Basic Research Program (973).

· Remotely sensed vegetation processes and regional climate change, 1/2008-12/2010, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

· Climate change and sustainability in Asia, 10/2008-10/2010, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

· Application of space-based technologies and models to address land-cover/land-use change problems on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, 6/1/06-5/31/09, 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, 9/1/2005-8/31/2008, NSF ARCSS Program.

· Application of Remotely Sensed Imagery to Assessing the Probabilities and Carbon Consequence of Fire, 2003-2006, NASA Application Program.

· Synthesis Study of Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System. 2002-2003. NSF ARCSS Program

· START Fellowship. 1999. International START (IGBP/IHDP/GCRP) Office.

· ESA young membership award. 1997-1999. Ecological Society of America

Reviewer:

Ecological Applications

Remote Sensing of Environment

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS)

Journal of Arid Environment

Arctic

International Journal of Remote Sensing

International Journal of Climatology

US National Science Foundation (NSF)

NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change Project (LCLUC)

US Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan (2003)

Selected Publications:

Jia, G.J., H.E. Epstein and D.A. Walker, 2008, Vegetation greening in the Canadian Arctic related to warming and sea ice decline, Journal of Geophysical Research (submitted).

van Bogaert, R., D. Walker, G.J. Jia, O. Grau, M. Hallinger, M. De Dapper, C. Jonasson, T.V. Callaghan, 2008, Recent Changes in Vegetation, NOAA State of Arctic Report. (http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/essay_vanbogaert.html)

Epstein, H.E., D.A. Walker, M.K. Raynolds, G.J. Jia, A.M. Kelley, 2008, Phytomass patterns across the full temperature gradient of the arctic tundra, Journal of Geophysical Research 113, G03S02, doi:10.1029/2007JG000555.

Y. Hu and G. Jia, 2008, Influence of land use change on urban heat island derived from multi-sensor data, International Journal of Climatology (Submitted).

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.

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.

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.

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, and J.M. Welker. 2005. Role of Terrestrial Ecosystem Changes in Arctic Summer Warming. Science 310: 657-660.

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, et al. 2005, Evidence and implications of recent climate change in northern Alaska and other Arctic regions, Climate Change 72(3): 251-298.

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

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.

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 and 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

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.

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.

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.

Epstein, H. E., R. A. Gill, J. M. Paruelo, G. J. Jia, W. K. Lauenroth and I. C. Burke, 2002, The relative abundance 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.

Jia, J., 2000, Rangeland degradation in Ordos Plateau, its nature and assessment, RALA 200: 87-95.

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.

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.

Jia, J. and Z. Jiao, 1999, The Kyoto Protocol and Its Flexible Instruments, World Environment, Vol.11, No.2 (in Chinese with English abstract).

Jia, J. and J. Li, 1999, Global Change - Scientific Insight for a Sustainable Future, Hubei Educational Press, Wuhan (in Chinese, with detailed English abstract and table of contents).

Footprints:

Western U.S., 2003-2005
Alaska and Arctic region, summer 2002
Eastern U.S., 1999-2002
Germany and central Europe, 1998
Iceland, autumn 1997
Sweden and Norway, summer 1996
Beijing and various eco-regions in China, 1988-1997
Inner Mongolia grassland, China, before 1988.

Hobbies:

Tennis and hiking

Field photography and image processing

Fine food

Last Updated: November 11, 2008