YAN Tao, Male, born in March 1988, native of Datong, Shanxi Province. Ph.D., Doctoral Supervisor, Researcher. His main research interests focus on the formation and maintenance mechanisms of productivity and ecological functions in plantation forests and their improvement pathways. He specializes in forest ecosystem processes under global change, with emphasis on forest productivity and nutrient-use strategies, plant phenology and climate sensitivity, nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics and cycling, functional traits of leaves and roots, as well as forest management and ecosystem resilience. His research integrates long-term field experiments, controlled warming and fertilization manipulations, laboratory incubations, and large-scale data synthesis to understand how plantation forests respond and adapt to anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. He serves as an editorial board member of the Chinese Journal of Ecology and as Early Career Editor (since 2023.11) of Journal of Plant Ecology. He is also a youth editorial board member for Journal of Plant Ecology (Chinese), Scientia Silvae Sinicae (Forestry Science), and related journals. In addition, he regularly reviews manuscripts for leading international journals including Global Change Biology, Ecology Letters, Functional Ecology, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Tree Physiology, and Forest Ecology and Management, and other leading journals. He has published 22 SCI papers as first or corresponding author in high-impact journals such as Ecology, New Phytologist, Global Change Biology, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Tree Physiology, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, and Forest Ecology and Management. He has been awarded the Outstanding Youth of Liaoning Province for his contributions to forest ecology research.

2014.09-2017.07 Ph.D. in Ecology from Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 2011.09-2014.07 MS in Ecology from Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 2007.09-2011.07 BS in Soil and Water Conservation & Desertification Control, Heilongjiang University, China

2025—present Professor / Research Scientist, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2024—2025 Professor, School of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University 2019—2024 Young Researcher, School of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University 2017—2019 Postdoctoral Fellow, Peking University 2016—2017 Visiting Scholar, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Canada

Plantations; Productivity; Carbon sinks; Nutrient and water strategies; Climate change

1.CAS Hundred Talents Program 2.Liaoning Outstanding Young Science and Technology Talents Award 3.Youth Talent Program of the State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems.

Chinese Academy of Sciences BR Program (2026–2029), Principal Investigator. National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) – General Program: The systemic phenological driving mechanisms of productivity formation in larch plantations: Based on long-term nitrogen addition controlled-experiment (2026–2029), Principal Investigator. NSFC General Program: Mechanisms of water and nitrogen interactions on the formation and maintenance of productivity in larch plantations under climate change (2022–2025), Principal Investigator. NSFC Major Program Special Project: The mechanisms of actual productivity improvement in planted forest ecosystems (2022–2026), Principal Investigator. NSFC Youth Program: Effects of temperature and photoperiod on autumn leaf phenology and nutrient resorption of Larix principis-rupprechtii (2019–2021), Principal Investigator. Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province: Water–carbon mechanisms of decline and mortality in typical plantations of semi-arid Northwest China (2022–2024), Principal Investigator. Lanzhou University’s “Double First-Class” Guided Project Team Building-Funding-Research Startup Fee (2019–2024), Principal Investigator.

[1]Ning SJ, Yan T*, Wang Z, Zhu JJ. 2026. Root resorption completes the tree nitrogen economy: Evidence from a 15-year nitrogen addition experiment across stand ages. New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71019. [2]Song HH, Zhong TY, Zhu JX, Yan T*. 2025. Higher risk of hydraulic dysfunction and carbohydrate depletion of declining Larix principis-rupprechtii trees. Ecological Processes, 14, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-024-00567-9. [3]Ning SJ, He XR, Ma T, Yan T*. 2024. Attenuated asymmetry of above- versus belowground stoichiometry to a decadal nitrogen addition during stand development. Ecology, 105, e4458. [4]Ning SJ, Yan T*, Luo WT, Tao SL, Zou XM, Li YJ, Shangguan ZJ, Wu YN, Zhang ZH, He JS*. 2024. Aridity-dependent resistance but strong resilience of grassland aboveground net primary productivity: evidence from long-term naturally occurring extreme precipitation events. Journal of Plant Ecology, rtae084, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtae084. [5]Yan T*, Fang YT, Wang JS, Song HH, Zhong TY, Wang PL. 2024. Effects of long-term nitrogen addition on the shift of nitrogen cycle from open to closed along an age gradient of larch plantations in North China. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 191, 109295. [6]Yan T*, Wang LY, Wang PL, Zhong TY. 2023. Stability in the leaf functional traits of understory herbaceous species after 12-yr of nitrogen addition in temperate larch plantations. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14:1282884. [7]Li XF, Wang X, Fang YT, Liu DW, Huang K, Wang PL, Zhang JX, Yan T*. 2023. Phenology advances uniformly in spring but diverges in autumn among three temperate tree species in response to warming. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 336, 109475. [8]Yan T*, Wang LY, Zhong TY, Fu C. 2022. Decadal nitrogen addition increases divergence in intrinsic water-use efficiency between sapling and mature larch plantations. Forest Ecology and Management, 523, 120494. [9]Wang PL, Fu C, Wang LY, Yan T*. 2022. Delayed autumnal leaf senescence following nutrient fertilization results in altered nitrogen resorption. Tree Physiology, 42, 1549-1559. [10]Yan T, Fu YS, Campioli M, Peñuelas J, Wang XH*. 2021. Divergent responses of phenology and growth to summer and autumnal warming. Global Change Biology, 27, 2905-2913. [11]Yan T*, Song HH, Zeng H. 2020. Spring phenophases of larch are more sensitive to spring warming than to year-round warming: Results of a seasonally asymmetric warming experiment. Forest Ecology and Management, 474, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118368. [12]Song HH, Yan T*, Wang JS, Sun ZZ. 2020. Precipitation variability drives the reduction of total soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration in response to nitrogen addition in a temperate forest plantation. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 56, 273-279. [13]Yan T#, Song HH#, Wang ZQ, Teramoto M, Wang JS, Liang NS, Ma C, Sun ZZ, Xi Y, Li LL, Peng SS*. 2019. Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration across multiple time scales in a temperate plantation forest. Science of the Total Environment, 688, 479-485. [14]Yan T, Qu TT, Song HH, Sun ZZ, Zeng H*, Peng SS*. 2019. Ectomycorrhizal fungi respiration quantification and drivers in three differently aged larch plantations. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 265, 245-251. [15]Yan T, Zhu JJ*, Song HH, Yang K. 2019. Resorption-related nitrogen changes in the leaves and roots of Larix kaempferi seedlings under nutrient-sufficient and nutrient-starvation conditions. Journal of Plant Ecology, 12, 615-623. [16]Yan T, Qu TT, Sun ZZ, Dbyzinski R, Chen AP, Yao XC, Zeng H, Piao SL*. 2018. Negative effect of nitrogen addition on soil respiration dependent on stand age: Evidence from a 7-year field study of larch plantations in northern China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 262, 24-33. [17]Yan T, Lü XT, Zhu JJ*, Yang K, Yu LZ, Gao T. 2018. Changes in nitrogen and phosphorus cycling suggest a transition to phosphorus limitation with the stand development of larch plantations. Plant and Soil, 422, 385-396. [18]Yan T, Zhu JJ*, Fang YT, Yang K, Li MC. 2018. Effects of thinning on nitrogen status of a larch plantation, illustrated by 15N natural abundance and N resorption. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 33, 357-364. [19]Yan T, Zhu JJ*, Yang K. 2018. Leaf nitrogen and phosphorus resorption of woody species in response to climatic conditions and soil nutrients: a meta-analysis. Journal of Forestry Research, 29, 905-913. [20]Yan T, Qu TT, Song HH, Ciais P, Piao SL, Sun ZZ, Zeng H*. 2018. Contrasting effects of N addition on the N and P status of understory vegetation in plantations of sapling and mature Larix principis-rupprechtii. Journal of Plant Ecology, 11, 843-852. [21]Yan T, Zhu JJ*, Yang K*, Yu LZ, Zhang JX. 2017. Nutrient removal under different harvesting scenarios for larch plantations in northeast China: Implications for nutrient conservation and management. Forest Ecology and Management, 400, 150-158. [22]Yan T, Lü XT, Yang K, Zhu JJ*. 2016. Leaf nutrient dynamics and nutrient resorption: a comparison between larch plantations and adjacent secondary forests in Northeast China. Journal of Plant Ecology, 9, 165-173. [23]Yan ZJ, Chen C, Liu Y, Li YJ, Liu HY, Wang H, Yan T, Jing X, Ren S, Zi HB, Shi Y, Wang T, He JS*. 2026. Quantifying the trade-off between spring phenology and lethal frost risk: a meta-analysis. Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70187-8. [24]Ding GG, Zeng WJ, Yan T, Sun LJ, Chen WL, Lu MZ, Ma ZQ*. 2025. Root-mycorrhizal foraging strategies shift with forest age more than with nitrogen manipulation. Ecological Monographs, 95, e70039. [25]Chen HZ, Zhang B, Potapov A, Hong PB, Meng B, Yan T, Yang Q, Wang SP*. 2025. Long-term nitrogen addition enhances the energy fluxes of soil macro-food webs in young but not mature forest plantations. Soil Ecology Letters, 7, 250338. [26]Lu CY, van Groenigen KJ, Gillespie MAK, Hollister RD, Post E, Cooper EJ, Welker JM, Huang YX, Min XT, Chen JH, Jónsdóttir IS, Mauritz M, Cannone N, Natali SM, Schuur E, Molau U, Yan T, Wang H, He JS, Liu HY*. 2024. Diminishing warming effects on plant phenology over time. New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20019. [27]Ding GG, Zeng WJ, Sun LJ, Chen FS, Lyu Y, Xu J, Yan T, Wang HM, Ma ZQ*. 2024. Root acquisitive traits mirror the functional modules of root-associated fungi. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 190, 109317. [28]Wang X, Zi HB, Wang JB, Guo XW, Zhang ZH, Yan T, Wang Q*, He JS*. 2023. Grazing-induced changes in soil microclimate and aboveground biomass modulate freeze–thaw processes in a Tibetan alpine meadow. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment, 357, 108659. [29]Lu CY, Zhang JJ, Min XT, Chen JH, Huang YX, Zhao HF, Yan T, Liu X, Wang H, Liu HY*. 2023. Contrasting responses of early- and late-season plant phenophases to altered precipitation. Oikos, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/oik.09829. [30]Yang L, Wang JS, Geng Y, Niu SL, Tian DS, Yan T, Liu WG, Pan JX, Zhao XH, Zhang CY. 2022. Heavy thinning reduces soil organic carbon: Evidence from a 9-year thinning experiment in a pine plantation. Catena, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.106013. [31]Yang L, Niu SL, Tian DS, Zhang CY, Liu WG, Yu Z, Yan T, Yang W, Zhao XH*, Wang JS*. 2022. A global synthesis reveals increases in soil greenhouse gas emissions under forest thinning. Science of the Total Environment, 804, 150225. [32]Wang K*, Wang, G, Song LN, Zhang RS, Yan T, Li YH. 2021. Linkages between nutrient resorption and ecological stoichiometry and homeostasis along a chronosequence of Mongolian pine plantations. Frontiers in Plant Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.692683. [33]Wang K*, Zhang RS, Song LN, Yan T, Na EH. 2021. Comparison of C:N:P stoichiometry in the plant–litter–soil system between poplar and elm plantations in the Horqin Sandy Land, China. Frontiers in Plant Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.655517. [34]Wang JS*, Defrenne C, McCormack LM, Yang L, Tian DS, Luo YQ, Hou EQ, Yan T, Li ZL, Bu WS, Chen Y, Niu SL*. 2021. Fine-root functional trait responses to experimental warming: a global meta-analysis. New Phytologist, 230, 1856-1867. [35]Wang JS, Song B, Ma FF, Tian DS, Li Y, Yan T, Quan Q, Zhang FY, Li ZL, Wang BX, Gao Q, Chen WN, Niu SL*. 2019. Nitrogen addition reduces soil respiration but increases the relative contribution of heterotrophic component in an alpine meadow. Functional Ecology, 33, 2239-2253. [36]Song HH, Yan T, Zeng DH*. 2019. Establishment of mixed plantations of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica and Populus x xiaozhuanica may not be appropriate: evidence from litter decomposition. Journal of Plant Ecology, 12, 857-870. [37]Wang J, Yan QL*, Lu DL, Diao MM, Yan T, Sun YR, Yu LZ, Zhu JJ. 2019. Effects of microhabitat on rodent-mediated seed dispersal in monocultures with thinning treatment. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 275, 91-99. [38]Song J, Liu Z, Zhang Y, Yan T, Shen ZH, Piao SL*. 2019. Effects of wildfire on soil respiration and its heterotrophic and autotrophic components in a montane coniferous forest. Journal of Plant Ecology, 12, 336-345. [39]Piao SL*, Huang MT, Liu Z, Wang XH, Ciais P, Canadell J, Wang K, Bastos A, Friedlingstein P, Houghton R, Le Quéré C, Liu YW, Myneni RB, Peng SS, Pongratz J, Sitch S, Yan T, Wang YL, Zhu ZC, Wu DH, Wang T. 2018. Lower land use emissions increased net land carbon sink during the slow warming period. Nature Geoscience, 11, 739-743. [40]Zhu ZC, Piao SL*, Yan T, Ciais P, Bastos A, Zhang XZ, Wang ZQ. 2018. The Accelerating land carbon sink of the 2000s may not be driven predominantly by the warming hiatus. Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 1402-1409. [41]Wang J, Yan QL*, Yan T, Song Y, Sun YR, Zhu JJ. 2017. Rodent-mediated seed dispersal of Juglans mandshurica regulated by gap size and within-gap position in larch plantations: Implication for converting pure larch plantations into larch-walnut mixed forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 404, 205-213. [42]Li XF, Wen YJ, Zhang JX, Liu LM*, Jin L, Yan T, Wang Y. 2017. The effect of low-temperature event on the survival and growth of Juglans mandshurica seedlings within forest gaps. Journal of Forestry Research, 29, 943-951. [43]曲恬甜, 闫涛*, 张文, 曾辉. 2019. 落叶松人工林草本植物群落特征和生物量对氮添加的响应. 北京大学学报, 55, 587-596. [44]闫涛, 朱教君*, 杨凯, 于立忠. 2014. 辽东山区落叶松人工林地上生物量和养分元素分配格局. 应用生态学报, 25, 2772-2778. [45]闫涛, 杨凯, 朱教君*. 2014. 辽东山区主要树种叶片氮、磷、钾再吸收. 生态学杂志, 33, 2005-2011. 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