YOU YIJING

PhD Student

Research Title: Vegetation Dynamics, Remote Sensing
Research Group: Tropical Environmental Change (TEC)
Thesis Advisor: Dr Remi Luo

My research interest lies in exploring the interactions between vegetation dynamics and climate change, with a particular focus on vegetation's resilience to climate disturbances and its potential role in mitigating climate change. During my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I concentrated on uncovering the mechanisms driving urban vegetation growth and understanding the consequences of urban greening trends. Specifically, I investigated how urbanization influences asymmetric greening trends across the urban-rural gradients, and quantified the effects of vegetation quality improvements on urban population greenspace exposure and its inequalities.

For my PhD research, I aim to investigate the contrasting climate sensitivities and carbon sequestration efficiencies between afforested and natural forests, given the inconsistency of results reported in existing studies. I plan to examine both the spatiotemporal patterns of forest climate sensitivity dynamics and the underlying physiological mechanisms, using an integrated approach that combines field data, remote sensing, and terrestrial biosphere models.